If you have never had a cake pop, I am very sorry for what your life is lacking. If you are my friend Ally, you eat these on nearly a daily basis. She lives a very blessed life. If you have not had one, or have not had one in a while, it is time for you to make these. Make them now. I mean it. Now.
So these cake pops I made are cannoli cake pops. Its vanilla cake and vanilla frosting mixed together to form little balls, then dipped in white chocolate and pistachios. I am not going to lie. They are amazing.
Cake pops take a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, its SO easy. You can see in my picture above that not all of them are totally perfect. Some are sort of oblong. Some are round. Some have drips. Usually when you make cake pops they go handle side down. I made them handle side up to make it a little easier since this was my first time making them.
So lets get started!
Ingredients:
- 1 box vanilla cake mix (or your favorite recipe), baked and cooled thoroughly
- 1 container store bought vanilla frosting
- 1 pkg white chocolate candy melts
- 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
- 1 cup pistachios, chopped finely
- 1 package lollipop sticks
- parchment paper or waxed paper
Directions:
Prepare cake mix as directed in a 9x13 pan and allow to cool completely. Cut the cake into four large pieces. Take one quarter of the cake and break it in half with your hands. Then rub the two edges together over a bowl to create crumbs. Do this until all the cake is crumby. Alternatively, you can do this step in a food processor.
Next mix in 2/3 of the can of frosting into the cake crumbs. Use a wooden spoon to mix the two ingredients together until it forms a nice dough.
Next, roll small balls of the dough and set aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can use a small cookie scoop to help get round and uniform balls. Be careful not to roll them too tightly. You want them just formed into a ball, but a loose one.
Chill the formed balls in the fridge for 15 minutes. DO NOT CHILL THEM LONGER. If they get too cold, they will expand as they warm up and crack the chocolate coating. And that is not pretty.
While the balls are chilling, prepare the candy melts for dipping according to the directions on the package. Use a deep bowl for dipping, as this will make it a lot easier to get a nice coat on the cake balls. Once it is melted, add the shortening to the candy melts. This will make the chocolate much smoother for dipping. If you were not making cake pops and were simply making cake balls (basically the same thing, just without the stick, so it looks like a truffle), you could use oil instead. But for the cake pops you need to use shortening since it will set up stiffer. Also put the pistachio in a container that is suitable for dipping as well.
First dip the lollipop stick in the white chocolate. Then insert the stick into one of the cake balls, about halfway into the ball. Do not insert it any more than halfway, or the cake ball will start sliding down the lollipop stick. And that is not pretty.
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| this ball was not perfectly round. :( It still tasted good though. |
Let it sit for a few seconds to set just a little bit, then dip the whole ball back into the candy melts. Be gentle when dipping the ball back in. Make sure the coat around the ball touches the chocolate on the stick from when you dipped the stick into the chocolate.
When you lift the ball out of the chocolate, be sure to slowly spin the lollipop stick to as to allow the chocolate to evenly cover the ball. If there is too much chocolate on the ball (which is likely), GENTLY tap your wrist with your other hand. DO NOT tap the lollipop stick. T his will make the cake ball fall off. And that is not pretty. (It is also a pain to fish the cake ball out of the melted chocolate... trust me).
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| sorry for the fuzziness. :( |
As soon as you have the cake ball coated appropriately, dip the bottom of the ball into the pistachio. Just enough of the nuts will adhere to the cake ball to be pretty.
Then set the cake pop down on some waxed or parchment paper to set, pistachio side down. Let them set up at room temperature. Putting them in the fridge will likely make the chocolate "sweat" and that is NOT PRETTY.
You can also store these for up to one week at room temperature. But they probably will not last that long.
I made these for a party we had. They were the perfect size dessert after a huge meal and everyone gobbled them up right away.
Go make these now. You won't regret it. I promise.
These look incredible!!! Great job! (And I so have almost one a day... they are essential to my diet..and to my tastebuds). :)
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