Home Edition: Pop it

Baking: there's nothing better than a batch full of fresh, warm desserts ready to be devoured, especially ones that are homemade. Unfortunately, seeing that I live in a kitchen-less dorm where even noodle-cookers are banned, I basically never have the opportunity to bake. But Thanksgiving break finally came and needless to say, there's a kitchen with all the baking tools I need! For awhile, my sister and I have been wanting to try making cake pops and finally, we have! So I must admit, we used Betty Crocker cake mix. And though it was our first time making these decadent desserts, it was surprisingly easier than we anticipated. Just to give a quick rundown of the ingredients and step-by-step process.

Ingredients

• A box of cake mix (and whatever you need through the request on the box, so basically two eggs, water, and oil)
• A tub of egular vanilla frosting
• Bags of melting chocolate (we used white chocolate and milk chocolate)
• Toppings: sprinkles, jimmies, cookie crumbs, chocolate drizzle
• Lollipop sticks
• A styrofoam board 
• Aluminum foil

Steps:

1. First you have to make the cake like you would regularly. Just follow the ingredients and the steps on the back of the box. If you prefer to make your own cake out of scratch (probably because you have insane amount of culinary expertise or you're just skilled like that), you can certainly do so.
2. After baking the cake and letting it cool, break the cake up into little crumbs. You can use a food processor, but I personally think it is a lot easier to do with you hands. Plus, you know what they say: your hands are the best tools given to you!
3. Put in about 2-3 spoonfuls of vanilla frosting. This is what will bind the cake together and help maintain that ball shape. Depending on how much cake you have, the amount of frosting you need will vary. Basically, add frosting at your own risk (of potentially being on a sugar high.)
4. Form little cake balls! We formed ours to about the size of a tootsie-pop. Make sure you handle them lightly because they are still delicate enough to easily break. 
5. Gently stick in the lollipops into the center of the cake balls. You will then put them into the aluminum-wrapped styrofoam board standing up so they stay up and out of contact from everything else. Let them cool down and harden a bit in the refrigerator.
6. In the mean time, you can melt bowls of chocolate for dipping. We used milk chocolate, white chocolate, and also pink chocolate (we put red food coloring into a bowl of white chocolate.) Also, pour your toppings into individual bowls. Basically, you want to set up an assembly line of some sort. 
7. You can now just dip your cake pops into the chocolate, decorate them with your various toppings, then stick them back into the styrofoam board!
8. Put them back into the refrigerator to cool down a bit and then eat until your heart's content!

We made exactly forty-two cake pops, half of which we gave to our cousins and the rest we kept for ourselves. I couldn't stop eating them which is kind of sad but I was on break: it's a good enough reason for me to indulge. After making the pops, I became so excited for Christmas to roll. Every year, my sister and I always make some desserts to bring over to our family's houses and what not. But this year, we're going professional: christmas-themed cake pops. What better way to stay festive than to keep the food shouting the holiday cheer? 

Cake Pops: check! Next endeavor? Perhaps brownie pops!  I love trying new things and I'm so glad I finally made these cake pops. If you've made cake pops before, I would love to hear your stories! What kind did you make? How did you decorate them? And for the punch, how did they taste? Also, if you have any other fun suggestions to bake, let me know, because I am always all ears for more creative things to do!