Perfect Cupcake Cake Pops - The Cake Pops Everyone Wants to Master

 The Cupcakes are my favorite cake pop design!

PREFACE/VERY IMPORTANT: Before you begin to follow this tutorial, you need to perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake ball pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed with instructions below to create cute cupcake cake pops. First say that 3 times, fast!

Ingredients/Materials for Creating Cupcake Shape and Decorating:

• Basic ingredients to make cake ball pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE. For the cupcake cake pops coating, you will need both white AND chocolate/brown almond bark or white AND chocolate/brown candy melts.)
• Small flower-shaped cookie cutter.
• White icing for decorating gel (Comes in a tube and can be purchased online at www.foodservicedirect.com or just click HERE.
• Sprinkles
• Some kind of small, round candy to simulate cherry/candy on top of cupcake. (Candy buttons on top of my cupcake pops.)

STEP 1: MAKE DOUGH INTO CUPCAKES

• Roll dough into logs - You should scoop out a handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands, rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed and doesn't separate or crack when you use the cutter to shape it. As you are "kneeding" the dough from hand to hand, start to roll it into a log, but not a skinny log...more like a log/ball (photo). The logs need to be wide enough so when you place the cookie cutter on them, it doesn't go OVER them like a ring on a finger, It needs to cut THROUGH the dough with excess left around the edges of the cutter. The logs also need to be long enough so dough spills over the top, once the cutter hits your cutting surface, to create the "muffin-top" effect. I prefer to cut each log with the cookie cutter right after I have rolled it instead of kneeding all of the dough into several logs and then cutting each. My though process is, I'm going to have left over dough either way and will have to repeat the kneeding/cutting process either way.
• Cut logs with flower cookie cutter - Standing the dough log upright on your cutting surface, place your flower cookie cutter at the top and press it down/into the dough. About halfway to the bottom of the log, you will need to tactfully hold the cutter at the sides or at the very edges of it while working it down as to not mess up the dough that spills out of the top. You don't want to make your own dents into the muffin-top with your fingers. After you've pushed the cutter to the bottom of the log, a little more tact is needed to remove the dough from the cutter without ruining the shape. Remove the excess dough from around the cutter and pick up the dough by the sides of the cutter. Carefully and slowly push the dough from the bottom end (not muffin-to end) working the dough out. I have to loosen the dough from the cutter by pushing the dough, with my index finger, little by little, around the circumference of the base of the cupcake shaped dough until it easily slides out.
• NOTE: There is a quicker way to make your dough into cupcake shapes but I find the aesthetic result is not AS perfect, but still cute. If you roll your dough into individual log/balls making sure their width is a bit longer than the width of your cookie cutter, you can press the cutter into each log/ball as they sit on a cutting surface and before the cutter reaches the bottom of the log/ball, pull off the cutter. The pressure of pushing down on the cutter will shape the "cup" of the cupcake perfectly while moving the excess dough to the bottom of the log. The excess dough at the bottom of the log that you did not cut through should look like a muffin-top and your cupcake will be sitting muffin-top down.
• Freeze to set - Put each cupcake into the freezer after it's cut out so the cake can set more while you are cutting the others.

Crafty Gal Tip: It doesn't hurt to roll some of your dough into cake balls instead of shapes. They nicely break up the design presentation.

STEP 2: PREPARE CAKE POP COATING FOR FIRST LAYER

• Arrange your work space so it is functional as related to the process - Before you continue working with your cake shapes, take a minute to make sure you are READY to proceed....IMPORTANT: IMMEDIATELY after you prepare your dipping chocolate so it is the right color and temperature, you will be working with it to make the pops and coat the cake. Your work space needs to be clean and efficient. It is best to put your foam board in the freezer and put your pops in it, one-by-one, after you coat each. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one pop at a time, all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so the "flow" of your space is vital to your final product. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough shapes on a pan covered with aluminum foil next to my microwave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I may sprinkle/decorate the pops right after they are coated.
• Melt chocolate - Grab a few squares of your brown/chocolate, almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I use a recycled Duncan Hines icing jar. Put your chocolate in the microwave and start heating it, checking and stirring every 15-30 seconds, until consistency is smooth. I have to set my microwave at power 6, otherwise, burn baby burn! And overheated chocolate is not salvageable. You may need to STIR in a little water, condensed milk or Crisco (canned) in between heatings, to make the chocolate thin enough to enclave the dough shapes easily.
• PROMPTLY move forward to instructions for C. Make Cupcake Dough Shapes into Pops and Coat with First Layer.

STEP 3: MAKE CUPCAKE DOUGH SHAPES INTO POPS AND COAT WITH FIRST LAYER

• Use skewers/lolli sticks to make dough shapes into cake pops - Grab a stick and dip it about 1/4 inch into the melted chocolate. Take a cake shape and while nestling it in one hand, carefully/slowly slide your skewer/lolli stick about halfway into the cupcake through the bottom of the "cup".
• Coat cake pops with melted chocolate - Immediately after you've made a cupcake into a pop, dip the cupcake into the melted chocolate so it coats the cupcake right up to where it meets the stick. You'll find yourself tipping the container of chocolate at somewhat of a 45% angle while maneuvering the cupcake around slowly and carefully so it gets covered evenly. Do not double dip. Let excess drip off as you hold the pop upside down or on its side over the container of chocolate. You may cautiously tap the stick on the side of the container to aid in getting excess coating to drip off.
• Freeze coated cake pops to set - Back in the freezer Cupcake...Place each coated pop in the foam board in the freezer to set while you work on coating the other pops.

STEP 4: PREPARE COATING FOR SECOND LAYER

• Melt white almond bark or white candy melts - Repeat instructions from B2 but with white bark or candy melts while incorporating next step of adding color...
• Add icing dye/food coloring to chocolate - Adding your color can be tricky. You have to wait until the chocolate is melted so you can smoothly integrate the coloring and achieve an even shade. Then, you have to heat the chocolate again to make up for the liquid coloring which more than likely cooled your chocolate a bit. I used pink food coloring gel and stirred it in until I got the color I wanted for my cupcake top.

STEP 5: DIP CAKE POPS INTO SECOND LAYER COATING AND DECORATE

The second layer of coating is to cover the muffin-top of the cupcake so it looks like frosting. Just as you did in step 3, repeat. Except when you dip the cupcake into your colored coating, you will only cover the muffin-top. 

Make sure the muffin-top is engulfed with the colored coating and then pull the pop out of the coating just when the color reaches where the muffin-top turns into the "cup" or base of the cupcake. 

Hold the pop, muffin-top straight down while the excess drips off but before the coating is dry and hard add sprinkles. 

Put in foam board, in freezer to set. Again, to break up my presentation design,  I skipped the sprinkles on the coating of some of my cupcakes but added them later to the "cream" of the cupcake. 

Add "cream" to your cupcakes by using white icing gel and applying it, in a swirl, starting from the dead center of the muffin-top until you have a dime-size circle at the top of your cupcake. 

For the cupcakes you spared from sprinkles in their coating, add some now to the white icing or "cream" of the cupcake. Top off your cupcakes with a Red Hot or other small candy embellishment. Freeze to set.

YOUR FEEDBACK/COMMENTS/QUESTIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOME HERE.

Scotty Dog and Bones Cake Pops Recipe

PREFACE/VERY IMPORTANT: Before we even begin to talk Scotties and Milk Bones, you need to perform steps 1-5 of my tutorial on making cake ball pops which are listed HERE. Once you have completed my steps or your own method to make cake ball dough and your dough has set in the fridge or freezer so it is easy to shape, proceed to my instructions for creating Scotty dog and bone cake pops.

Ingredients/Materials: 

• Basic ingredients to make cake ball pops (can be found in my tutorial on making cake ball pops HERE)
• White almond bark or candy melts

• Icing dye or food coloring in black and brown
• Confetti style (flat, circular) sprinkles (specifically white ones if you want your Scotties to have eyes) 
• Yellow sprinkles (the ones that are long not round)
• Icing for writing gel in white and brown

• Black Foodwriter edible marker (Optional for eyes...Can use dyed coating from Scotties instead)
• Red icing for writing (not gel)
• Scotty dog and bone small cookie cutters (I got cutters used for this project at Hobby Lobby. They are called "mini cutters" and are made by Sunny Side Up Baking Essentials. You can purchase my Scotty dog and bone ones in a pack of 6 online HERE). 

A. Make Dough into Dogs and Bones

Prepare your station with a cutting board or pan covered with wax paper or foil. You should scoop out a handful of cold dough and squeeze the dough between your hands rolling it from one hand to the other so the dough is tightly packed and doesn't separate or crack when you use the cutters to shape it. Place the mound of dough on your foil or wax paper and pound it like a patty with the palm of your hand only a few times so the inside of your Patty is about 3/4 - 1 inch in thickness. Use your cookie cutters to create the dog and bone shapes one shape at a time or as many as you want from each Patty. Put each shape into the freezer after it's cut out so the cake can set more while you are cutting the others. It also doesn't hurt to roll some of your dough into cake balls instead of shapes. I think they nicely break up the design when in presentation.

STEP 1: PREPARE CAKE POP COATING

• Arrange Your Work Space so it is Functional - Before you continue working with your cake shapes, take a minute to make sure you are READY to proceed...IMPORTANT: IMMEDIATELY after you've prepared your dipping chocolate so it is the right color and temperature, you will be working with it to make the pops and coat the cake so you will need to make sure your work space is clean and efficient. Keep your foam board close to your dipping station or in your freezer. It is best to put your foam board in the freezer and put your pops in it, one-by-one, after you've coated each. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one pop at a time, all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so the "flow" of your space is vital to your result. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough shapes on a pan covered with aluminum foil next to my microwave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I may sprinkle/deco the pops after I dip them. 
• Melt Chocolate - Grab a few squares of your white almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. I use an old Duncan Hines icing jar. It's plastic and deep like a mug which is perfect for dipping...OR use a large coffee mug. Put your chocolate in the microwave and start heating checking periodically and stirring until consistency is smooth. I have to set my microwave at power 6 or 7, otherwise, burn baby burn! It is easy to overheat the chocolate and then it is not salvageable. You must check and stir every 15-30 seconds. You may need to STIR in a little water, condensed milk or Crisco (not oil but the spread that comes in a can) in between heatings, to make the chocolate thin enough to enclave the balls easily...Careful here though. If you feel you DO need to thin the chocolate, add your choice of thinner little by little, stirring and heating in increments. Your mixture will reach it's temperature perfect for dipping and if you are under or over by a few seconds, it won't be easy to work with or you won't be able to work with it at all. If you are a first timer, hang in there. I've thrown lots of burnt or runny or clumpy chocolate. 
• Add Icing Dye/Food Color to Chocolate - Adding your color can be tricky as well. You have to wait until the chocolate is melted so you can smoothly integrate the coloring and achieve an even shade, then you have to heat the chocolate some more to make up for the liquid coloring which more than likely made your chocolate cool a bit. I used icing dye in black, dropping pea size servings into the chocolate and stirring until my coating was black, not grey. 
• PROMPTLY Move Forward to Step 2.

STEP 2: MAKE CAKE SHAPES INTO POPS AND COAT
You are about to realize the importance of your work station set-up. Your chocolate is warm and creamy and ready for it's first dip...but the first dip comes from dipping your skewer/lolli stick, not your cake shape.

•  Use Skewers/Lolli Sticks to Make Dough Shapes into Cake Pops - Grab a stick and dip it about 1/4 inch into the melted chocolate. Take a cake shape and while nestling it in one hand, carefully/slowly slide your skewer/lolli stick into it being cautious of pushing the stick too far where the cake risks sliding DOWN the stick after coated in chocolate, and also being leery of not pushing it in far enough where your cake could fall OFF the stick after coated. I don't mean to speak like it's a crap-chute and you definitely get the hang of it with practice. 
• Coat Cake Pops with Melted Chocolate - Immediately after you've made a shape into a pop, dip the cake end of the pop into the coating so the chocolate enclaves the shape right up until where it meets the stick. You'll find yourself tipping the container of chocolate at somewhat of a 45% angle while maneuvering the cake shape around slowly and carefully so it gets covered evenly. Do not double dip. If you've made your coating correctly, one dip should cover the entire cake shape and the excess should drip off easily as you hold the pop upside down or on its side over the container. You may cautiously tap the stick on the end of the container to ensure all excess coating drips off. 
• Add Deco if Needed - If you've decided to make your Scotties have eyes like the photo, now is the time to place one white confetti sprinkle where the eye would be while the chocolate is soft on the cake pop. 
• Freeze Coated Cake Pops to Set - Back in the freezer boys...place each coated, eyed, Scotties in foam board in freezer to set while you work on the rest but you don't want to leave them freezing after you've finished coating and eyeing the dogs. Transfer them to the refrigerator to avoid bubbles or cracks in the coating. 

STEP 3: REPEAT STEPS 1 AND 2 for BONE SHAPED DOUGH
The only adjustments you will be making when you repeat B and C for your bones, will occur at B3 where you will replace black dye for icing with brown, adding smaller amounts at a time so you can achieve the beige Milk Bone shade, and C3 which you will skip entirely.

STEP 4: EMBELLISH SCOTTY DOG SHAPED CAKE POPS
Your dog shaped cake pops should be nice and cool after setting in the fridge so let's get a pretty plaid sweater on them.

• Draw Sweater onto Scotty Dog's Body - Use your red icing writer to outline a sweater onto the dog's body. Then, with the same writer, color in the sweater but be conservative because the icing has to stay put, not slide off. It helped me to squeeze some icing in the middle of the sweater and use a toothpick to spread it out thinly.
• Place Yellow Sprinkles onto Scotty Dog's Sweater in a Plaid Pattern - Using tweezers, yes TWEEZERS, gently grab one yellow sprinkle at a time and place it onto the red icing of the sweater.
  (This part is the most time consuming, although as with almost every other step of making/decorating cake pops, it begins to be a piece of "cake" after you've decorated your 3rd or so pop.) The plaid pattern is easiest accomplished by placing the sprinkles in 3 rows of Vs, with the Vs of alternating rows upside down...like so:
  /\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/
  /\/\/\/\
  You will be placing the rows right on top of each other so there will be no spaces like the figure above and the Vs from one row will connect with the Vs on the next row so the 3 rows of connected Vs will look just like plaid print.
• Add Black Dot to Eye of Scotty - If you chose to give your Scotties a white confetti sprinkle for an eye, complete it by making a black dot on the sprinkle with your Foodwriter edible marker or dot the white sprinkle a toothpick dipped in your batch of melted, black, chocolate coating.
• Freeze to Set Completed Cake Pops - After deco is complete, always set pops in the freezer, then transfer to refrigerator.

STEP 5: EMBELLISH BONE SHAPED CAKE POPS
No bullets necessary for this. Simply use your white and/or brown gel icing writers to outline the bones and squeeze out 3 linear dots in the middle of the bones. Freeze to set. Then refrigerate.

FINALLY, ENJOY!

YOUR FEEDBACK/COMMENTS/QUESTIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOME HERE.

Music Note Cake Pops Recipe

PREFACE/VERY IMPORTANT: This tutorial begins after cake ball/cake pop dough has been made from baking a cake, letting it cool, mixing the cake with frosting or other mixer and freezing the dough. If you need instructions on how to make cake ball pops to this point, follow steps 1-5 found HERE, then proceed with this tutorial. If you're already adept at the skill of cake balling, then you probably know where to start following my instructions on making them into music notes (after you've created your "dough" and let it chill in fridge or freezer).

Ingredients/Materials: White almond bark or white candy melts, colored icing writing gel or icing for writing, a picture of the music notes you wish to create handy (if free-handing shapes) and small but sharp knife or blade.

STEP 1: CREATE THE NOTE SHAPES FROM YOUR COLD DOUGH

We begin with your cold cake mixture or dough. Because, I made my music notes free-handed, without the use of a cookie cutter, I took parts of the dough at a time to work with and I cut one shape at a time. If you don't trust yourself to draw the notes by looking at a figure, you may want to start Googling "off the beaten path cookie cutter shapes" or maybe just "music note cookie cutters":).

• Make a Dough "Patty" - Grab a handful of your dough mixture and throw it on a cutting board covered with wax paper or aluminum foil. Pound it with your hand a couple times so the width is even. The middle of the "patty" should be approx. 3/4 inch. 
• Place Your Music Note Image Where You Can See it for Reference or Place it on Top of "Patty" to Trace
• Draw Music Note Shape in "Patty" with Tip of Knife - I used the point on the end of a knife to draw my note into the middle of my "patty" making sure to cut the shape all the way through the dough. 
• Peel Away the Dough from Around your Shape and Repeat - Set your cut outs on a pan covered with wax paper or foil and keep it in the freezer. So with each note you make, you should add it to the bunch setting in the freezer. Sooo easy peasy. 
• Mix Up Shapes - I made a couple different note styles and then some regular round cake balls so my bouqet had variety.

STEP 2: MAKE MUSIC NOTES INTO POPS
When your shapes are cool and hard enough to work with without getting mis-shapen easily, you can put your skewers or lolli sticks into them.

• Slide Skewer or Lolli Stick into Cold Dough Shapes - You'll need to strategically and carefully glide the sticks into the shapes one by one and place them flat down on your sheet in the freezer while preparing your dipping chocolate.

STEP 3: PROCEED WITH COATING YOUR POPS BY FOLLOWING STEPS 8-10 FOUND HERE

STEP 4: DECORATE COATED MUSIC NOTE CAKE POPS

Now your pops are cool again and ready to decorate. Your music notes may not look very much like they are supposed to. They could even look like down right blobs on a stick. That's why this last step is necessary.

• Outline Shapes with Icing for Writing - You're basically going to trace the outline of each note with icing writer gel or icing for writing on cakes with. Some you can color in with your writer after you've made your outline and some you can leave as outlined only. The pop in the pic that looks like it has a record on it is just a candy melt that I stuck onto the cake ball pop right after I dipped it in the coating so the candy stuck to it. Then when set, I used my black and red writers to make the record.

STEP 5: SET CAKE POPS IN FREEZER
Put your pops in the freezer or fridge to set the gel icing so it is less likely to run or melt. I think it is better, in this case, to have pops lying down while they set or until you are ready to make your presentation.

ENJOY! YOUR FEEDBACK/COMMENTS/QUESTIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOME HERE.

Happy Hour Martini Cake Balls Recipe

I've been experimenting quite a bit with these little guys...and they've become a staple outlet for my manic creativity urges...or splurges. I've trial and error'd my way through all the internet recipes and tips/tricks for making cake pops and I'm currently devoted to a pretty honed in process. It is my pleasure to share it with you and hopefully you can use it or take from it what you need for your process. Because anyone who has attempted cake pops knows it is not a simple as it seems and almost every step requires the skill of seasoned cake popper to avoid the "1 good pop for every 10 bad ones" technique. Read on to learn my steps on how to make cake pops and scroll down to follow my steps to decorating your cake pops like my Happy Hour Martini ones.

How to Make Basic Cake Balls/Cake Pops

Basic Ingredients - Cake mix (and ingredients to bake a cake), jar of icing, sweetened condensed milk, vegetable shorting in block form, almond bark or candy melts, skewers or lolli sticks, foam board, sprinkles or candy to decorate.

STEP 1: FLAVOR COMBINATION

A basic cake ball's consistency is very...well, basic. Cake and icing. So you want to get your box of cake mix (and ingredients needed to bake it) and jar of icing, taking into consideration flavors that compliment each other. I have recently become more adventurous using other mixing agents other than icing from a jar (like Nutella and condensed milk) but at first, I stuck to...the basics:) Some ideas: Strawberry cake and strawberry icing, chocolate cake and chocolate icing, lemon cake and lemon icing, red velvet cake and cream cheese icing, and brownie mix and milk chocolate icing, white cake and vanilla whipped icing adding package of powdered icing flavoring.

STEP 2: BAKE A CAKE

If you're using a mix, simply follow the instructions on the box. Bake it just as you would if intended result was an entire cake.

STEP 3: DESTROY A CAKE

Let the cake cool enough so you aren't burning yourself handling it but cooling is not for any other reason than that. So whenever you can stand it, dig in! I cut the cake into equal sections and start crumbling each section, with my hands, over a large mixing bowl until the whole cake is devolved into crumbles. DO NOT CRUMBLE THE CAKE INTO DUST OR SUPER FINE PIECES. Once you add your icing or mixing agent you still have a lot of kneading and breaking down of the cake to do and if you are working with such a fine mixture, your cake balls will be waaaaay too doughy and gooey. A couple taste tests resulting in, "PLEGH! (Spitting out of cake ball bite) This isn't cooked!" and you'll understand.

STEP 4: ADD ICING OR CREAM

Adding icing into your crumbled cake will give you a yummy, easy to roll and shape dough. So many recipes I've read call for 1 jar or icing to 1 box cake mix but I find (and my taste-testers agree) that a whole jar of icing is way too much. It makes the cake balls too liquidy and under-baked tasting and also too sweet. I suggest 1/3 to 1/2 jar of icing to 1 cake mix. Taste-testers also gave two thumbs up to cake balls in which I added sweetened condensed milk coupled with whipped icing to the cake...I used about 1/4 jar whipped icing and about 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk. Once you've made a few batches, you will be able to eye-ball it and know when you've got THE mix depending on the consistency. Using a fork works great to blend the icing into the crumbled cake until icing is distributed into the mixture evenly and you have a dough. (One box of cake mix makes a large batch of cake balls so I suggest using a couple different flavors of icing/mixing agents after crumbling the cake into two bowls or three if you have three different mixing agents or icing flavors. Again the powered icing flavor packages come in handy here so you're not opening several jars of icing and dumping or saving and never using the rest.)

STEP 5: REFRIGERATE/FREEZE DOUGH

Stick your bowl of dough in the freezer for 15 mins. This will make it easy to roll the mixture into balls/shapes. You can save the mixture to roll for later or even another day by keeping dough in refrigerator or freezer but be sure to cover if you do to avoid any fragrance from other foods seeping into your dough. Nothing worse than "Fish Taco Cake Balls".

STEP 6: ROLL DOUGH INTO BALLS/SHAPES

From your dough bowl, you are going to pull out chunks and roll into balls 1 inch in diameter. I've found an inch and a half to be too big! Once you've iced/decorated inch and a half dough balls, they are too heavy to maneuver, especially on sticks (they fall off), AND half the treat gets tossed in the trash anyway because people cannot eat a whole one at an inch and a half. Place each perfectly round ball onto a pan covered with aluminum foil or wax paper and refrigerate/freeze again for 15 minutes. You can save the balls to ice for later or even another day by refrigerating or freezing with cover.

If you are making Happy Hour Martini cake balls, do NOT proceed to step 7 but scroll down to the How To instructions below. Onward to step 7 to continue traditional cake pops.

STEP 7: MAKE DOUGH BALLS INTO POPS

You will need your foam board close or in your freezer. You will be dipping, decorating and setting one cake ball pop in the foam to dry/set all in the matter of about fifteen seconds so your space will need to be arranged for efficiency. I have my foam board in the freezer, my dough balls on a pan next to my mircrowave, and aluminum foil covering my counter where I coat and sprinkle/decorate the cake balls. Because I work with different colors and flavors of almond bark/candy coating in one batch of cake balls, I prefer using the microwave over a double boiler/melting pot so I can use multiple microwave safe containers instead of all the scraping, cleaning and reheating that goes along with the one-pot-process. If you have tried and failed with the microwave before, please read on. I feel your frustration. I've lived it. I think I've come out on the other side though. I use barbeque skewers for sticks. They are long so I break them in half or start by using scissors to cut them in the middle and then break them on the cut. Lolli sticks work just fine, but they are a bit larger in diameter which makes a larger hole in the cake ball when inserted and ultimately the risk of the cake ball sliding down the stick once they become heavier with the chocolate coating is larger too. In order to help your balls stay on the sticks, you need to first dunk the sticks into melted almond bark or candy melts (melting instructions in step 8) about 1/2 an inch and then put the melted chocolate end of the stick straight into your dough balls. Best that you repeat this for your entire batch, followed by another short vacation in the freezer with sticks in place, and then begin coating them with melted almond bark or candy melts.

STEP 8: MELT/DYE CHOCOLATE

So you have your dough pops ready for dipping...

Grab a few squares of your white almond bark or if you are using candy melts, a couple handfuls and put into a microwave safe container. Again, I've trial/error'd every type of container, mug, bowl, etc. you can think of and it's the small ZipLock containers that are perfect in size as well as conducting and distributing the heat from the microwave evenly so your coating doesn't burn when melting. Fill the container about halfway with candy melts or a couple squares of almond bark and microwave on half power for 30 seconds. Stir contents though not much melting has begun. Microwave in 30 second intervals while stirring in between until melting has taken over about half of the bark/melts. Now it's time to add the vegetable shortening to thin the coating. DON'T BE CRAZY AND SKIP THIS STEP. If you forgot to get shortening, go to the grocery now and save yourself a couple hairs that you would be pulling out of your head should you proceed without it. Add shortening by the tablespoon, stirring then microwaving in 30 second intervals. You may need to add bark/melts to attain a consistency adequate for flawless coating and have enough in your container to be able to dip and engulf the cake ball. "Tasty Cake Pops" on YouTube rocked this procedure in her tutorial. I suggest you watch it if the process isn't quite coming together in text.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku4DD3inero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQc29pmavY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuxovCIddcQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_iVqNweWZ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDmPdEwgxno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJV3YVARQTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8qpH6i2MRQ

Color Coating - If you are using white almond bark/candy melts and want your coating to be colored, add food coloring or icing dye, a little at a time in between heatings/stirrings until desired tint achieved.

STEP 9: ICE/COAT YOUR POPS

Once your coating is warm and smooth, you can start dipping the cake pops. Cover the ball entirely with the coating, then let excess drip by holding the pop sideways or ball down. Tapping the stick on the side of the melting container while spinning it slowly helps remove excess coating so your coating finish is flawless in texture. If you are going to add sprinkles or decorations you have to be very quick. The coating cannot dry before you decorate or nothing will stick. Dry time begins the moment the pop is removed from the coating and is completely set in about 10 seconds.

STEP 10: SET YOUR POPS

When you are done decorating your cake pop, put the pop stick into the foam board (I put them in at a slant so the ball doesn't get too heavy and start to slide down the stick.) and let them set. Again, I have my foam board already in the freezer so when I put each pop into it, the cold air helps them set quicker and avoids dripping or moving of the ball. I like to keep the pops on the foam board in the freezer for 20 mins or until outside is hard and then remove them and place them on a foiled cookie sheet or place in large Ziplocks. Store cool but do not keep in freezer for long periods or the coating will crack and the dough will harden.

(Click foam board image to purchase.)

Decorating Happy Hour Martini Cake Pops
(Mini plastic martini glasses bought at Party City)

Ingredients/Materials - Green food coloring or food coloring gel, white almond bark or white candy melts and plain M&Ms (orange).

This really is the easiest deco idea I've done...and easiest not to mess up. All my olives looked pretty perfect.

Once you are ready to make your cake balls turn into martini olives (after completing steps 1-6 above) you just need to be ready with green food coloring or food coloring gel and orange plain M&Ms. BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR STICKS INTO YOUR DOUGH BALLS, you need to make a hole for the M&M to stay inside the cake ball to make the orange interior of the olive. If you simply dip the cake ball into the melted chocolate and expect the M&M to stick to the chocolate, you'll be playing a little game I like to call "SH*T!". The candy won't stick for very long and it won't look like a real olive with the inside on the outside anyway.

So take your dough ball and while holding it in your hand, push your M&M through it about 1/3 of the way. While the M&M is in the ball, reshape the ball, rolling it between your palms so it is round because it will have flattened a bit when you push in the M&M. You need to roll it back into a ball but keeping the M&M just at the surface so the M&M hole is prominent but not too deep and you can pluck out the M&M once your desired shape is achieved. Put the M&M to the side as you will reuse same M&M in a second.

For my stick or "tooth pick" (tooth pics are too small and too thin and the cake ball will plop off or it will be too hard to dip into the chocolate) I use skewers again. The skewers that I had cut in half for my usual cake balls I cut into half again.  Gently push the skewer threw the dough ball with the M&M hole facing out. I use two cake balls to one stick for this project because I thought two olives looked better than one, especially if you put them in the mini plastic martini glasses. So, hold first dough ball in between thumb and fore finger while pushing stick all the way through leaving just enough space for another ball to be added on to the end, and just a smidge of stick in between the two. If you leave this small space in between the balls, when you dip them into the chocolate, the chocolate will seep in between them a little really making it look like two olives instead of a uni-olive.

Once both dough balls are on the stick, you are ready to dip. White almond bark can be colored green with food coloring as instructed in Step 8 above. Dip your dough balls into the warm, melted coating, tap excess off and place orange M&Ms, logo down, into the pre-made spaces in each ball. Continue to Step 9 above to set cake balls.

                

(Click on candy coating dye image to purchase.)

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