A Guide to Cake Pop Making for Beginners

Part of the appeal of making cake pops is their relative simplicity. Instead of baking a cake that has to be the perfect size so that the layers perfectly align so that you can spread a perfectly even coating of frosting in the middle and around the whole thing, you bake a cake. That's it! Sure there are steps that you have to take afterwards to actually create the official "cake pop" (like cooling/freezing), but unless you plan to go "Van Gogh" on the presentation (which is actually part of the fun), you have a relatively simple task ahead of you.

What You Need

Aside from making sure you are not hungry while making yummy balls of cake, you will need the following equipment and ingredients:

Equipment

Cookie sheet(s)

Parchment paper/aluminum foil

Large mixing bowl

Double-boiler or melting pot (for melting chocolate)

Cake pop or lollipop sticks

Cake Pop Baller (optional)

Room in your refrigerator and/or freezer

Ingredients

Cake mix or cake recipe, if you like making cake from scratch

Frosting, cream cheese, ganache, peanut butter or other thick and moist binding agent to keep the cake balls together

Baking chocolate, caramel (if you want to go caramel apple style), shredded coconut, sprinkles, mini M&Ms, candy melts or whatever else you would like to coat the cake pops with

The ingredients list is the most variable as it is dependent on how creative you want to get with the coating of your cake pops. Chocolate, whether white, milk or dark, tends to be the most popular, however fondant and even edible wax are also options.

Basic Steps

Cake pops can be made with any type of cake, be it chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, German chocolate or tiramisu, as long as you have a binding agent to ball it all together. Regardless of the cake, however, to make cake pops, you should follow these basic steps:

Bake cake, let it cool completely

Break cake apart into crumbs in a mixing bowl or with a food processor

Add binding agent(s) and mix in

Cool in fridge

Form 1-2 inch diameter balls using the Cake Pop Baller , or roll by hand and place onto parchment paper/aluminum foil on cookie sheet

Cool in fridge/freezer

Melt chocolate or prepare other coating

Put cake pop sticks into cake ball and add coating(s)

Cool in fridge/freezer

You're done! Just make sure they are out of the freezer at least two hours, or fridge for at least one hour, before serving

Make Them Your Own!

Cake pops are a perfect opportunity to experiment with different cake flavors and coating combinations . Even the simplest cake pop combinations, like chocolate cake covered in chocolate coating, are delicious, but don't be afraid to take risks and throw a bit of your personality into them, whether it is the flavor of the cake, the unique coating, or both! Package cake pops and give them as gifts or favors for any occasion. Try different shapes and characters, or even use mini ice cream cones to make festive cake pops that suit many different party types! Cake pops are meant to be fun as well as sophisticated after all.