Pop. Dip. Eat. Repeat.

America is being hit by one confection craze after another. Admit it, you’ve tried the gourmet cupcake shop around the corner, searched the city for the most flavorful whoopie pie, become addicted to “froyo”, and are on a first name basis with the Crepewalk owner. Keeping up with the latest dessert trends is not only entertaining but palatable as well. So what’s the next obsession soon to sweep America? Two words: cake pops.

Coming from Texas where cake pops are the current trend, I was surprised when I nonchalantly mentioned cake pops to my friends at Penn and received blank stares in return. Their perplexed faces motivated me to not only bake cake pops for my sheltered friends but to alert the rest of the Penn population to this must have treat.

So what exactly is a cake pop you ask? A cake pop is a super-moist mixture of cake and frosting formed into a ball about 2 inches in diameter. It’s then dipped in chocolate or almond bark, coated with sprinkles, and put on a stick. Although they are fully cooked, cake pops have a consistently that resembles that of dough more so than cake.

The origin of this dessert is a more difficult story since various bakers claim to have made the first cake pop. Regardless of who really was this dessert genius, Angie Dudley, the woman behind the blog Bakerella, can be credited for the popularization of cake pops in America. In February of 2008, Dudley posted information about her chocolate cupcake pops on her blog and received national attention and a call from Martha Stewart to appear on her show. After such success, Dudley wrote the book Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats. This book includes step-by-step instructions and photos of cake pop projects, as well as tips for presenting, decorating, and dipping cake pops.

There are two ways to approach baking cake pops: the old fashioned way by hand or the state of the art Babycakes maker way. Babycakes is an electric cake pop maker that allows you to make up to 12 cake pops at a time. Both methods are included here so take your pick or be ambitious and try both! Although I used the Babycakes maker method, I’ve tried the by hand method as well. Since I am not very skilled at rolling balls of cake and frosting, I find the Babycakes method to be much more aesthetically pleasing. However, the old fashioned way is a lot of fun, and if you’re the type of person who likes to eat cake batter, then I highly recommend it because there are plenty of opportunities to eat cake crumbs.

Cake Pops by Hand (Funfetti Flavor)*

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
6 egg whites (3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 ¼ cups flour
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks), softened
½ cup of long sprinkles
1 cup vanilla frosting
1 24 oz. package of white chocolate almond bark
Lollipop sticks
Sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch cooking pans with a nonstick cooking spray. Combine the milk, egg whites, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a small bowl. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add butter and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth and there are no large clumps. Add the milk and sprinkles and beat until smooth. Spray the cake pans with cooking spray. Divide the batter evenly and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool for 5 minutes and then crumble them up and put them in a container. Put container in the freezer. After cake has been chilled for 2 hours, remove the container from the freezer and mix in vanilla frosting with the cake mixture. After frosting is thoroughly mixed, use a cookie dough scooper or your hands to scoop dough from the mixture. Roll the scoops into balls and place on a tray until all of the cake mixture has been used. Melt a few blocks of almond bark in the microwaveable safe container. Microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. Microwave almond bark for another 30 seconds and stir again. If bark is not completely melted, then repeat. After the bark is melted, dip the balls of cake using tongs into the almond bark. Make sure the cake balls are completely covered with almond bark. After dipping a cake ball, put it on a tray and add sprinkles. The cake balls should harden after a few minutes. Remove the cake balls from the tray and put each on a stick to serve.

Cake Pops via Babycakes (Red Velvet Flavor)*

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 24 oz. package of almond bark (chocolate or vanilla)
Lollipop sticks
Sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
Combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract to mixture. Mix well. Add egg and continue to mix. Add red food coloring and buttermilk. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth. After plugging the Babycakes maker into the wall, spray the cooking surface with a nonstick cooking spray. Wait for the green light to switch on. Add a tablespoon of batter to each hole and close the maker. Wait for red light to switch to green light. Unlock the maker and using tongs, remove each cake ball and place on a rack to cool. Repeat until all of the batter is used up. Melt a few blocks of almond bark in the microwave container. Microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. Microwave almond bark for another 30 seconds and stir again. If bark is not completely melted, then repeat. After the bark is melted, dip the balls of cake using tongs into the almond bark. Make sure the cake balls are completely covered with almond bark. After dipping a cake ball, put it on a tray and add sprinkles. The cake balls should harden after a few minutes. Remove the cake balls from the tray and put each on a stick to serve.

*Note these recipes are adapted from nomnivorous.com and the Babycakes manual.