Cake Pops 101: Tips, Tricks, and Creative Ideas for Bite-Sized Cake Delights

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Cake pops are the cutest little bite-sized treats, don’t you think? You can keep it simple and decorate cake pops with just a chocolate drizzle or some pretty sprinkles. Or if you’re really ambitious, you can create fun shapes and characters to really fit a party theme! Cake pops are a great addition to a sweets table or dessert table, and they’re sweet party favours! Or if you don’t really want a slice of the birthday cake, have a cake pop to satisfy that sweet craving 🙂

The beginner’s steps to making cake pops is a little bit of a process though, and it can take some practice to master – just like everything else 😉 In this post we’ll go over the basics of making these delectable desserts!

Making the Cake Pop “Dough”

There’s a certain consistency you need for cake pop dough so that you can roll cake pop balls that can be dipped into melted chocolate. Like, if you add too much buttercream or too little buttercream, the cake pop balls can fall apart when you try to dip them in chocolate. 

There’s not really an exact ratio to use as a guide when making cake pop dough, but you don’t need too much buttercream frosting. So it’s best to start with a few tablespoons of buttercream and mix the dough. We have the most delicious and not-to-sweet buttercream recipe in our post for an easy and moist Vanilla Cake recipe!

Start with a baked cake or cupcakes and crumble the cake in a large bowl. I like to use disposable gloves so my hands don’t get too messy 🙂 I’ve also seen other dessert makers and cake decorators mix the cake dough when it’s still hot in a stand mixer then add the buttercream frosting

Add a small dollop or a few tablespoons of buttercream to the crumbled cake and you’ll slowly see it come together. You’ll know that the cake pop dough is ready when you can hold the entire dough in one big ball – like cookie dough!

Forming the Cake Pop Balls

I like to use a mini ice cream scoop to portion out the cake pops so that they’re fairly even in size. Try not to portion out too much cake pop dough as it may get too heavy – this can cause the cake pop to fall off the stick!

Here are some steps to rolling a cake pop ball:

1. Squish and compress the cake pop dough with your hands and roll it into a ball
2. If you find it doesn’t quite look like a ball, roll with your hands forming a “v” shape – this tends to help get a nice round cake pop ball
3. Rest the rolled cake pop balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

I like to do this 1 day in advance, it helps the cake pop balls retain their shape. If you refrigerate the cake pop balls, make sure to thaw them completely before dipping so they’re not too cold when you dip them in chocolate. You want to avoid any moisture getting into the chocolate. If you’re making a shape that you can’t form by hand, you can use silicone moulds and refrigerate them before removing them from the mould 🙂

Prepping the cake pops with sticks

Before you can dip the cake pops, you have to insert the cake pop sticks into the prepared cake pop balls! To do this, dip the stick in the melted chocolate and insert it into the cake pop balls. I like to use 6″ cake pop sticks or lollipop sticks for cake pops – they’re the perfect size! 🙂

Dipping the stick into the chocolate first helps the cake pops stick…to the stick 😌 Allow the chocolate to set before starting to drip the cake pops into the melted chocolate

Cake Pop Coating

There are a couple of different popular choices for cake pop coatings: candy melts and chocolate 🙂 I prefer using chocolate or white chocolate (specifically Mercken’s Melting Wafers), as it has a better consistency for dipping the cake pops. The consistency is thinner and removing the excess chocolate is easier after dipping the cake pops. 

If you choose to dip the cake pops in candy melts, you can use some paramount crystals to thin out the consistency. Add only a little bit of paramount crystals at a time (maybe a teaspoon at a time), and melt it in the candy melts. 

Using candy melts is a little bit harder to manage because even if you add paramount crystals, you may not get a smooth coating. 

Check out this YouTube video on perfect cake pop coating and dipping – it really helped me out!

Melting the Chocolate or Candy Melts

There are a few essential tips you should always remember when it comes to melting chocolate and candy melts! If you forget any of them, then you’re in for a disaster 😭

1. It’s best to melt both chocolate and candy melts at a low temperature and slowly. If you’re using a microwave, heat at 50% power and microwave in increments of 20-30 seconds (even 10-second increments once they’re getting close to being completely melted). Mix or stir the candy melts or chocolate after each increment.
2. DON’T GET WATER IN THE CHOCOLATE OR CANDY MELTS!!!! Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell…it’s just so important!!! Even a drop of water will ruin it all and the chocolate will seize up and become useless!
3. If you decide to use the double boiler method, be careful not to get that simmering water into the bowl of chocolate. Also, make sure the water is simmering in the pot, not boiling. 
4. Don’t overheat the chocolate and candy melts. Overheating chocolate or candy melts will have the same effect as water – they will seize up 🙁 That’s why it’s so important to melt them low and slow.
5. If you’re melting them in a microwave-safe bowl, sometimes the heat of the bowl will help melts the chocolate/candy melts as you’re stirring – so you might not even have to put in back in the microwave.

Dipping Cake Pops

After the chocolate is all melty and smooth, it’s time to dip the cake pops! To make dipping the cake pops easier, I like to have the melted chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl or cup. I prefer using a cup that’s deep enough that the cake pops don’t touch the bottom, but wide enough to dip the cake pops without them touching the inside of the cup 🙂

Here are some best practices to use when dipping cake pops

1. Dip them straight down into the chocolate or candy melts, then straight back up and out of the chocolate. 
2. You can gently tap the stick on the edge of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate, but I’ve also heard that’s not recommended. Instead, you can gently bounce the cake pop up and down with the stick vertically. 
3. Be careful not to tap or bounce the cake pop too hard. The cake ball might fall right off the stick!
4. Try to get as much excess chocolate off the cake pop as you can. If you’re making the cake pops stand on their own with a flat bottom, you’ll end up with a pool of chocolate under the cake pop if there’s too much chocolate. On the other hand, if the cake pops will be going into a cake pop stand, the chocolate might drip down the stick. 

Decorating Cake Pops

Once the cake pops are dipped, you may want to decorate the cake pops right away while the chocolate is still wet. For example, if you’re adding sprinkles, you don’t want the chocolate to set yet because the sprinkles will fall right off when trying to decorate the cake pop! 😅

On the other hand, if you’re going to apply a drizzle design on the cake pops, then the chocolate should be set in this case so the drizzle doesn’t blend into the recently dipped cake pop 🙂

Then there are times when you’re making characters or adding a couple of extra parts to the cake pop. Like adding ears and a horn to make a unicorn! Depending on how you’re decorating the cake pops, you may have to make some add-ons ahead of time so you can add them to the cake pops when the time comes (like those sea shells on the picture above that I made out of fondant with a sea shell silicone mould)

If you’re using white chocolate instead of candy melts to dip the cake pops and you want to dye the white chocolate, make sure to use an oil-based food colouring. Using a water-based food colouring will cause the candy melts and chocolate to seize up!

Sometimes I’ll use a mix of coloured candy melts and white chocolate instead of using food colouring. But I only do this when I need to make a light or pastel colour – so I don’t have to use a lot of candy melts 🙂

How to Package and Display Cake Pops

There are a couple of different ways to package cake pops, whether you’re using them as party favours or just transporting them to a venue. If they are sweet and simple with some sprinkles or chocolate drizzle, they’ll survive in a box without getting ruined 🙂 

But if they have decorations that are delicate or may fall off easily, you’ll have to include some extra support. For example, if they have a flower or butterfly that can fall off if the cake pops roll around in the box, I’ll put the cake pops in mini cupcake cups so they don’t budge. And I’ll also package them in a single layer and not on top of each other 🙂

If the cake pops are cute little party favours, you can package them in cellophane wrap for your guests to take away and enjoy! But if the cake pops are part of the dessert table display, you can find a cake pop stand, lay them out on a fancy plate, stick them in fruit or leave them in a decorated mason jar 🙂 You can get so creative with displaying cake pops!

Cakesicles, Rice Krispies, Chocolate Covered Oreos, and More!

Many of these tips for making cake pops apply to more desserts – especially the rules for working with chocolate and candy melts! When you’re making cakesicles, dipped Rice Krispie squares, chocolate-covered Oreos, dipped pretzel rods, etc – you need the same or similar consistency for the coating you’re working with. 

All of these yummy desserts use that candy or chocolate coating, so you’ll have to keep the same concepts in mind 🙂

So have you made cake pops before? Are there any tips we’ve missed and you’d like to share?? I used to struggle making cake pops because I couldn’t get the right consistency or my cake pops would fall right off the stick. But once I started using chocolate instead of candy melts, I’ve been way more successful!

We hope these tips have helped you!

Happy cake pop making!

Mich