Cake Pops

Today's first attempt at cake pops proved to be a successful one. Since they really were easy, I thought I'd share the how-to's. I found this on Pinterest and knew I had to make it:

I have read the directions on how to make cake balls before, and they were on my Christmas cooking list one year before I trimmed down the list. Here is what you will need:

• Boxed cake mix, any flavor (I used 2 boxes)
• Canned icing, any flavor (I used one whole container and about 1/4 of another)
• Candy coating (like Wilton's - I used one small tub plus some from a bag)
• Lollipop sticks
• Floral foam
• Shortening (like Crisco, optional)
• Sprinkles

Okay, so you bake the cake according to the directions on the box and let it cool. Crumble the cake into small pieces and mix in the icing, a little at a time. You are going for a consistency that will allow you to roll the mixture into formed balls. The thing that kept coming to mind was truffle consistency. Roll out your cake into small balls or whatever shape you want. You don't want them to big too big or they won't stay on the stick. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes.You aren't freezing them, you just want them to firm up. In the meantime, heat up the container of candy coating according to the directions. Mine came in a plastic container, and I heated in the microwave. Many of the tips suggested added a little shortening to the coating in order to thin it enough for easier coating. I did add it to mine - about a tablespoon or two to make help the consistency. Take your cake balls out of the freezer. Dip your lollipop stick in the coating and then push into the cake pop. Let it set for a second or two then dip in the candy coating. Make sure to tilt container and swirl pop around. Then you want to tap the cake pop on the side of the container to remove excess coating.  Next, use sprinkles to decorate and place in floral foam to dry. Voila!

*If your cake balls start to have trouble sticking to the stick, you either need to reheat coating or place the cake balls back into the freezer for a few minutes.

*If they fall off from the start, they may be too large.

*I used 2 sizes of sticks, and the shorter, fatter sticks were easier to work with. I saved the long, skinny sticks for the smaller cake balls.

*By no means am I a perfectionist when it comes to baking, so the sprinkles helped cover up any craziness on the cake balls :)

I bought an Easter basket from Wal-Mart for $1.97 and some Easter grass to finish off the look. I made sure my foam fit into the basket BEFORE placing the cake balls in the foam. I loved the look of the grass, but when I went to Michael's today to get some, it was $5.99 for a tiny little section. I would have spent about $30 in grass alone. Uh, no, thank you. I used strawberry cake mix and cream cheese icing for these, but I am already envisioning all the possibilities for flavor combos. Jason "sampled" the leftovers and proclaimed them a success. Jake had so much in his mouth that I believe he said they were yummy.

For instructions that are perhaps better than these, check out this site.