Chocolate Cake Pops

These chocolate cake pops are made with a moist and fudgy chocolate cake dipped into a melted chocolate candy shell. The best bite-sized dessert that's better than Starbucks!

Prep Time: 40

Freeze: 20

Total Time: 1

Servings:

Equipment

20 cake pop sticks

Ingredients

15 ounce box chocolate cake mix , bake according to package directions in a 9x13" pan
10 ounce package dark chocolate melting wafers , I prefer Ghiradelli

Buttercream Frosting

½ cup salted butter , softened
2-2 ½ cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder , more or less, to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon heavy cream or milk

Optional: Sprinkles, jimmies or other desired decorations

Instructions

Make Buttercream Frosting

In a medium bowl, whip 1/2 cup salted butter. Add in 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until combined. Add 2-3 Tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla and additional powdered sugar, a little at a time. Add 1 Tablespoon of heavy cream or milk to make the frosting thick and creamy. It should hold a point.

Make Cake Pops

Bake cake and once the cake has cooled, crumble the prepared cake into fine crumbs. If the edges of the cake have browned I like to remove the edges. Add 2 spoonfuls of buttercream frosting to the cake. Combine with your hands or a spoon. Gradually add more frosting until the cake holds together if squeezed. You don't want it too crumbly or it won't hold together.
Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out 1 scoop of cake mixture. Roll into a ball and place onto a plate. Repeat until all the cake mixture has been formed into balls.

Dip in chocolate

In two small microwave safe dishes, melt a few of the dark chocolate wafers. Begin by heating for 30 seconds and then stirring. Add more wafers and repeat until all the wafers are melted.
Dip the end of the cake pop stick into the melted chocolate and then push the stick into the cake pop. Then push the stick into the cake pop. Repeat until all cake pops have a stick. Place the plate of cake pops in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
Right before they are ready to be taken out of the freezer, melt the chocolate. A deep, 2 cup measuring cup will allow you to dip the cake pop in the chocolate, or in a shallow dish, you can spoon the melted chocolate over the cake pop.
Once coated in chocolate, gently tap the stick on the side of the melting dish to let the excess drip off. You can also spin or twirl the cake pop to remove the excess.
Before the chocolate starts to harden, add sprinkles, jimmies or other decorations. If decorating with more chocolate, let the chocolate covering harden on the cake pop. Then, using a spoon or fork, drizzle with the additional melted chocolate if desired.
Push the cake pop stick into a styrofoam block or use a glass filled with rice (or beans) to hold them upright. The chocolate will be set in about an hour. Store for 3-4 days in an airtight container in a cool place.

Notes

You can also use 8 ounces of frosting from the store (half of a 16 ounce can) to make it easier, I just prefer the homemade buttercream.

Make sure that you're only working with about five cake pops at a time. Leave the rest in the freezer so that they don't soften too much while you work on the others. You want them to be really cold when working with them.

After dipping the stick in melted chocolate, let it dry first before sticking into the cake ball. It’s easier to work with this way and is less likely to fall off when dipping the whole cake pop into melted chocolate.

Discard any brown edges of the cake before crumbling.

Nutrition