Valentine Cake Pops

If you look at any food blogs these days like Amy Atlas's blog here you'll see that dessert tables are all the rage. This is my dream job to have a bakery and my specialty would be dessert tables. Actually, I'm in the process of starting a little side baking business. More to come about that later. Anyway, every dessert table has cake pops on them that are made to go with the theme of the table. Cake pops were actually introduced a couple of years ago. But, not until recently did they become so popular. I will admit that the first time I made these last year they seemed to hard and time consuming. They were falling off the sticks when I was dipping them into the chocolate. It was just a mess and I decided that even though they were so cute and such a cool idea, I wasn't going to make them again. It just wasn't worth the effort. BUT, then I came across a link for a recipe for them from one of the food blogs I look at and she had the best idea. WHY, WHY didn't I think of that idea? Her secret to making them was to keep them VERY cold. Let me tell you, it made ALL the difference. They were so easy to make this way. I have fallen in love with them again, and will make them all the time. So, here is how I made them.


First I made my chocolate cake. Obviously, you can use any recipe or flavor you want here. Be creative with these. It's so much fun. Other things you'll need: a bag of lollipop sticks (I got mine from Michael's in the cake aisle), chocolate (use any color) for dipping the balls (also from Michael's in the cake/candy aisle) and then anything you want to use to decorate the balls. Following is another of my favorite chocolate recipes.


Luscious Chocolate Cake (again from Martha Stewart)
Ingredients:
-1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature (this does make a difference, the cake is lighter when all the cold ingredients are at room temperature)
-1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon best quality cocoa powder
-1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
-3/4 cup milk
-2 1/4 cups flour
-3/4 teaspoons baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 3/4 cups sugar
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla (I'm in the process of making my own vanilla, more about that to come)
-3 large eggs, slightly beaten
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease your pan. Your going to crumble the cake when it's cooled so it doesn't matter what pan you bake it in.
Stir cocoa into the boiling water until smooth; gradually whisk in the milk. Set aside to cool.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream the butter until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the sugar, scraping down the sides twice. Beat in the vanilla.
Add the eggs a third at a time, beating after each addition. Alternate the flour mixture and cocoa into the butter mixture a little at at time, starting and ending with the flour mixture.  
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Let this cool completely.
My favorite chocolate icing recipe.
Melt 1/2 cup butter, Stir in 2/3 cups of cocoa. Alternately add 3 cups powder sugar and 1/3 cup of milk. Beat till your desired consistency. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Now to the fun part. Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper. 


Crumble your cake into a big bowl. Add the icing and mix together. Your hands really work best for this. 


When it's all mix together form into balls. Place on the cookie sheet and put in the freezer for about 15 minutes or until they are hard.


While they are freezing melt your chocolate. The key to keeping them on the stick is to dip your stick into the chocolate then into the ball. Put back into the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the freezer and then dip into the chocolate and then into any sprinkles you want to use. You can also drizzle another color of chocolate on them. Here is where the sky is the limit. You can do whatever you want. Put into the freezer or refrigerator until the chocolate is hard. 

Remove from the refrigerator and ENJOY!!! Aren't they so cute? I LOVE them. Take these to your next party and people will be taking about them for weeks to come.
Christine