Vanilla Cake Pops

I have long wanted to make cake pops.  Cake, frosting, and chocolate, sounds dreamy doesn't it?  But while I love to bake, I'm a really horrible cake decorator so I was a little nervous to give these a try.  I think they turned out rather cute, not anything like Bakerella's cake pops, but cute in a shabby chic kind of way.

Most cake pop recipes use boxed cake recipes and canned frosting, but I wanted to do it from scratch (would you expect anything less? haha).  I used my new favourite yellow cake recipe by Nick Malgieri.  I often find yellow cake recipes to be dry and dense.  Not this one.  It's moist, buttery, and perfect.  For frosting I used vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  I did two different coatings, one was melted Guittard vanilla white chocolate chips and the other was Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I wasn't terribly pleased with the decorations, the white cake pops got a milk chocolate drizzle, and the dark ones got white fondant polka dots.

In all honesty I loved these a lot less than I thought I would.  I read somewhere that cake pops were going to be the new cupcake.  Well cupcakes, I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about.  They are a little too sweet for me and I'm not entirely sure I like the texture, maybe I used too much frosting?  That said, the kids LOVED them.  I made them for a playgroup's Valentine's Day party and they were a huge hit.  Especially with my kid who keeps asking "where's the lillypops??" :)

Cake Pops

Basic Yellow Cake
from Nick Malgieri

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temp
3/4 cup milk
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Butter and line the bottom of two 9x2-inch round cake pans.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.  Whisk eggs and milk together, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla extract.  Scrape down sides with rubber spatula.
On low speed add 1/4 of the flour mixture until it is absorbed.  Increase speed to medium low and beat in 1/3 of milk mixture.  Repeat this, including change of speed 2 more times. Scrape bowl and beat in remaining 1/4 of flour mixture.  Scrape again, increase speed to medium and continuously beat the batter for 3 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top. Bake cake(s) about 20 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack, remove paper and let cool completely.


Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 from thefoodnetwork.com

• 4 large egg whites (1/2 cup)
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla

Place egg whites, sugar and salt in medium-sized heatproof mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk gently and constantly until egg whites are hot (about 140 degrees) and sugar is dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whip by machine until thick and cooled, about 5 minutes. Beat in butter and continue beating until buttercream is smooth and spreadable. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, for up to 5 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature and beat smooth by machine. Beat in vanilla, a little at a time, and continue beating until buttercream is smooth, about 2 minutes longer (always flavor buttercream immediately before using it).

Putting together the Cake Pops

from Bakerella

Lollipop sticks (you can find these at Michael's)

Decorations (I used a fondant writer for the polka dots, sprinkles, nonpariels, and edible glitter would also be fun ideas)

1. When the cake has cooled completely, crumble it into pieces with your hands, the crumbs should be pea-sized or smaller.  Mix the frosting and cake together in a large bowl until the cake is moist.  Start with about 1 cup of frosting and try rolling it into a ball about the size of a quarter.  If the ball falls apart add 1/4 cup more frosting and try again.
2. Form the cake and frosting mixture into balls with the hands and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
3. Melt a small amount of chocolate in a double boiler and dip each stick about 1/2-inch into the melted chocolate, then stick about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the cake ball.  If it starts to crumble just reshape.
4. Place the finished balls onto a sheet of parchment paper and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes or longer.
5. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or VERY carefully in the microwave.
6. Remove the cake pops one at a time from the refrigerator and dip them into the melted candy. Rotate them as the candy drips off to thoroughly coat. 
7. If you're using decorations that stick on do this before the chocolate dries, so pretty much right away.
8. Place the finished pops on parchment paper until thoroughly cool.

Linked to Sweet Tooth Friday 
and Sweets for a Saturday