Cake Pops

Friend Shanna and I spotted cake pops for the first time on one of the blogs we frequent. I can't remember which one it is now, so Shanna if you read this and remember, please leave a comment with that blog title. Anyway, Shanna was the first to tackle the project, and she experimented and came up with a successful method. Here's how to make those delicious little evil things.

1. Choose a Duncan Hines cake mix. (Between Shanna and I we have tried, Chocolate, Strawberry, Red Velvet, White and the Butter Recipe. The Butter Recipe is the only one that has come out less than stellar. It was just too sticky or something. Didn't work well, and for some reason was not as tasty. Chocolate is my personal fav.) ANYWAY, bake the cake according to the box directions.
2. After cake is baked and completely cooled, crumble it in a large bowl. Mix in 3/4 to a full container of store bought Cream Cheese Frosting. Mixture should look like a dough once mixed together. Store mixture in refrigerator for about an hour. (This makes rolling the balls a bit easier and less sticky.)
3. Take about a tablespoon of mixture and roll into a ball using your palms. Ball should be roughly 3/4 inch. (This may seem small at first, but once you get the candy coating on, it will get bigger, and keep in mind that you don't want it too heavy or it will fall off of your stick.) Place rolled balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Once your cookie sheet is full, place in freezer for several hours. Cake balls will firm up, but never freeze completely solid.
4. Melt a small portion of your Candy Melts (picture of these below). Once melted, remove balls from freezer, dip one end of Lollipop Sticks (picture also below) into the melted candies and then press into center of each ball. After you have inserted all sticks, place cookie sheet back in freezer to re-firm. (This helps your balls stay on their sticks.)
5. After a short time of firming back up (20/30 minutes or so), melt the remainder of your Candy Melts and dip your cake pops into it. You may need to use a spoon to help cover the entire cake ball. Then holding the cake pop in one hand, sprinkle non-pariels over wet candy coating. (Shanna and I like non-pariels over sprinkles; but sprinkles work fine too.) You can place cake pop either top down back on your cookie sheet to dry, or you can stand it up in a piece of styrofoam for a fully coated cake pop.)
6. I always place my tray back in the freezer one last time (although, I'm not sure this is entirely necessary) and then once all cake pops are dry, store them in a Zip Lock freezer bag. (I have left these frozen for up to a week; however, if you are using them within a couple of days of making, no need to do this.)

Side Notes:
-We would not recommend using Almond Bark, food coloring, or those old school wooden Popsicle sticks.
-Hobby Lobby, Michael's, JoAnn's and even Walmart have a variety of Lollipop Sticks and Candy Melts colors.
-I have mixed various colors together to get interesting shades.
-These directions seem really long, but really this is a pretty simple process once you do it. It's actually an easy thing to make even if you have kids running around, because each of the steps is so quick, and the worst that can happen is you have to re-heat your candy melts or firm up your balls in the freezer. No big thing if you can't do it all at one time. In fact, I never have done all of these steps in one day.
-Shanna and I have both served these in various ways, but the easiest and least complicated way is top down on a platter, like the picture at the very top of this post.

Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions.