Cake Pop 101

I just can't stop going over the fact of how awesome A Beautiful Mess is. I literally can spend hours just going through this website, which might I say, actually motivated me to be creative and actually go do something. Thus I have decided that by the end of this month, I will try to make Cake Pops. Looking at the pictures is already making me drool. Would anyone like the join me?

1. Bake a cake. Any flavor you like, I used a box mix Red Velvet cake for these. Pictured is half of the cake recipe, as it made two square pans. 2. Add 2 cups of frosting. Any kind you like is fine, I used a store-bought cream cheese frosting for these. 3. Use your clean hands to mix together the frosting and cake. This step is pretty messy! 4. Form your cake pop batter into small balls, about 3-4 tablespoons each. You don't want them to be too big, just so they easily fit in the palm of your hand.

1. Once you have formed all your pops (a standard size cake will make around 50 pops) put them in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or the freezer for half and hour or so. 2. While those are in the refrigerator you can get your candy melts and other supplies ready. I like to use candy melts with 1 tablespoon of oil (canola or vegetable) and melt them in the microwave. You will probably use about twice what is pictured for all the pops. 3. Dip a lollipop stick in the melted chocolate. 4. Push the stick 2/3 through a cold cake pop. 5. Dip the pop in the melted chocolate. 6. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off the pop before inverting it in the craft foam.

You will need to leave the pops in the foam while the chocolate sets. I like to drizzle on a bit more chocolate after I've dipped all the pops, just to add some texture. Once the chocolate is set these are ready to serve to guests!

Recipe and Pictures courtesy of A Beautiful Mess