Valentine's Day Cake Pops

Recipe Review: Sweet treats to get ready for Valentines Day! They taste as good as they look!

I have FINALLY figured out how to dip cake pops! I've had so much trouble before. Leave it to Bakerella- the cake pop guru to make a video so it suddenly seems so simple! Turns out I never melted enough chocolate and so I was having to twist the pops all over the place and that's why it wasn't working.

I had a cupcake job this weekend and had some leftover batter. I decided to tint it pink and purple and make some cake pops for valentines day! Cake pops are awesome because you can make them a few days in advance and they stay fresh and yummy. Now that I had mastered the cake pop dip, it was time to decorate. I bought conversation hearts but only a few of them actually looked good, and most of the phrases have been updated to things like "text me" and "tweet me" yuck. What happened to "Be Mine"?? I ended up crushing the heats with a rolling pin and sprinkling them onto the pops. Cute!!!

I've updated my cake pop instructions with hints that I've learned along the way.

Here we go!

1. Bake a normal sheet cake and crumble into a bowl. I like to cut off any hard corners or brown edges.

2. Add frosting. I use about 1 cup for an entire 9 x13 cake. Mix well so that frosting is evenly distributed. Its better to add it a little at a time if you are unsure about how much to add. At this point the mixture should be moist but not heavy and you should be able to easily roll into balls.

3. Roll cake/frosting mix into 1 inch balls, pop them in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. (I have even left them overnight)

4. Melt your chocolate or candy melts according to the directions on packaging.  I like to use a glass measuring cup rather than a bowl because the depth is good for dipping.

5. Press a lollipop stick about halfway through the cake ball. Remove and dip into melted chocolate then reinsert. Place upside down on baking sheet. Once you have dipped all the sticks place in fridge for 5 minutes

6. Dip entire cake ball straight down into melted chocolate. Rock slightly if needed to make sure whole surface is covered but do not twist. Remove from chocolate and gently tap sides while rotating to let any extra chocolate drip off.

7. Sprinkle with any decorations if desired, and carefully place into styrofoam or floral foam to dry.

Only one week till Valentine's Day! Now that I've got the treats and blogging done I should probably figure out what to get Kevin!

P.S. I'm pretty proud of myself for actually doing this ahead of the holiday rather than after. The only downside is that I doubt these will last until Valentine's Day so I'm sure I'll end up baking something else this weekend.