Chocolate Cake Pops (Recipe + Video)

Learn to make home made chocolate cake pops utterly from scratch, with no field cake combine or canned frosting. Mix wealthy chocolate cake with the most effective chocolate buttercream, and coat in melted chocolate for a deal with that can make your tastebuds pop! Watch the video tutorial for all my finest suggestions.

See my vanilla cake pops recipe, too.

I initially printed this recipe in 2018 and have since added new pictures and a video.

Chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + colourful sprinkles = essentially the most lovable deal with! In the present day we’re making chocolate cake pops as a result of, after I shared my vanilla cake pops, I obtained so many requests for a chocolate model! Your want is my command.

This recipe was a Sally’s Baking Problem again in 2018, and readers have beloved them over time:

One reader, Sophia, commented: “Such an superior recipe—these are principally Starbucks dupes and tremendous yummy! I made the cake pops for a buddy’s birthday however my household nearly ate all of them earlier than I might give any to her, LOL. ★★★★★”

One reader, Jen, commented: “This recipe was nice! Made them for my son’s celebration and had a number of individuals ask for the recipe! My son even mentioned they have been higher than Starbucks! ★★★★★”

By the way in which, for those who’ve ever eaten store-bought cake pops—these style completely totally different. They’re from scratch. There’s no cake combine, there’s no canned frosting. You’ll be able to really TASTE the home made.

chocolate cake pop with rainbow sprinkles.

I’ve loads of step-by-step pictures, a video tutorial, and plenty of success suggestions as we speak as a result of I need you to know each instruction earlier than it’s your flip to make them. In any case, the method isn’t troublesome—you’re actually simply baking a chocolate cake and making frosting after which mixing them collectively. However issues simply get a bit specific in terms of rolling, lollipop-sticking, and dunking/dipping. If you can also make bread bowls, you’ll be able to deal with cake pops. (They’re extra enjoyable to eat too… sprinkles!)

Easy methods to Make Chocolate Cake Pops

Since we’re ditching field cake combine and canned frosting, we’ll have to take a bit additional time to prep each from scratch. Right here’s an outline of the method:

Make a 1-layer chocolate cake and let cool.
Make chocolate frosting.
Crumble cake into frosting and blend.
Roll the combination into balls.
Dip in melted chocolate.
High with sprinkles and let dry.
EAT!

Fast tip: Each time I make cake pops from scratch, I at all times start the evening earlier than. I make the cake, cowl it, and let it sit out at room temperature in a single day. I additionally put together the frosting, cowl, and refrigerate. This manner all the pieces’s able to go the subsequent day.

chocolate cake in a baking pan after baking

Make a 1-Layer Chocolate Cake

It’d appear to be the swap from vanilla cake pops to chocolate cake pops is straightforward. Exchange some flour with cocoa powder, proper? And vanilla frosting with chocolate frosting? I want! Chocolate is a sophisticated soul and requires a bit finesse; that’s why my vanilla cake and chocolate cake recipes are so totally different! I baked a number of single-layer chocolate muffins earlier than stopping with this one.

Behind the Scenes: Recipe Testing

The primary few started with creamed butter + sugar. My favourite chocolate muffins and cupcakes usually depend on oil for the fats as a result of (1) moisture and (2) the flavour of butter actually isn’t vital as a result of chocolate overpowers it anyway. My preliminary thought with cake pops, nonetheless, was that I wanted a barely drier cake to get the most effective texture for cake pops (as a result of will probably be blended with frosting). Properly this was simply an enormous mess from the beginning, as a result of dry cake is gross.

That being mentioned, you’ll want oil for the cake. And some different fundamentals like cocoa powder, sugar, flour, and eggs. Sizzling water can also be a should. The recent liquid encourages the cocoa powder to bloom and dissolve. After I make chocolate cake, I normally attain for decent espresso (as a substitute of scorching water) as a result of espresso accentuates the chocolate favor—however that’s not as essential right here, as a result of we’re simply crumbling the cake and mixing with chocolate frosting.

By the way in which, you’ll be able to completely get pleasure from this chocolate cake by itself. When you ever want a single-layer chocolate cake—use this recipe. It’s so good. Deep and darkish chocolate taste. Tremendous moist. Tremendous wealthy. High with chocolate buttercream, whipped cream, peanut butter frosting, or crimson wine chocolate ganache.

What was a bit harder than testing the proper single-layer chocolate cake was determining how a lot frosting I wanted. An excessive amount of frosting and the cake pops are moist and greasy, whereas too little frosting means there isn’t sufficient to bind the cake crumbles. After plenty of trial and error, I lastly discovered the proper quantity… and it’s not a lot, as a result of the chocolate cake is already so moist.

Crumble the cake into the bowl of frosting, and sure, you’ll really feel very bizarre doing this. You simply made this stunning chocolate cake and can now break it up right into a bowl of frosting. As a result of that’s what cake pops are—cake crumbs and frosting.

hands crumbling up chocolate cake and cake crumbles shown in bowl.

As soon as the 2 are blended collectively, it’s time to roll the combination into balls. This half is EASY. I discovered the chocolate cake pops a lot simpler to roll into balls than my vanilla model. This combination is simply sooo clean! Your arms will get a bit sticky, however simply roll with it. 😉

chocolate cake mixture in bowl and shown again rolled into balls.

Ideas for Home made Chocolate Cake Pops

Success Tip #1: Make Smaller Cake Pops: When you roll the cake pops too massive, they’ll wobble off the lollipop stick as a result of they’re too heavy. You want 1 Tablespoon of the cake pop combination per ball (about 20g). No extra, no much less. You’ll find yourself with 40 of them. Quite a bit—however these freeze fantastically! And you’ll reward them to anybody and everybody. Who doesn’t love a home made cake pop?

These cake balls want to relax within the fridge earlier than we pop ’em on a lollipop stick. Why? They’re a lot too delicate proper now; they’ll utterly collapse. Which jogs my memory… you do NOT should make these as pops. You may make them truffle-style by merely rolling them and coating in chocolate (similar to how we make Oreo balls). Both approach you get pleasure from them, chill the cake balls earlier than coating. I simply place them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate them for a pair hours.

Talking of chocolate, you’ll be able to dunk the cake balls into melted chocolate (white or semi-sweet), which is what I want for finest style, however that’s fairly costly. And also you want a superb quantity for all 40 cake pops. As a substitute, you should use sweet melts/sweet coating, and I give each choices within the recipe beneath, together with notes for every alternative.

Success Tip #2: To make sure the cake ball stays safe on the lollipop stick, dip one finish of the stick into the melted chocolate coating first (nearly 1/2 inch down), after which insert the coated finish into the middle of the cake ball. This helps the cake ball adhere to the lollipop stick.

ball on lollipop stick being dipped in chocolate.

Success Tip #3: A 2-cup glass liquid measuring cup is the proper depth for dipping the cake pops. If I’m utilizing melted chocolate, like I did in these pictures, I soften it in a double boiler then spoon a bit at a time into the measuring cup. I don’t like dipping proper into the entire pot of melted chocolate. Let the melted chocolate calm down for about 5 minutes earlier than you dip the chilly cake balls into it. (In any other case the coating may crack because it dries.)

Success Tip #4: One of the best ways to permit the coating to dry and set—with out ruining the superbly spherical cake pops—is to position them right-side-up in a big styrofoam block or perhaps a field. I used a field, as pictured beneath, for this batch. I simply poked little holes into it. Straightforward and low-cost.

vanilla and chocolate cake pops with rainbow sprinkles.

When you’re topping with sprinkles (at all times really useful!), add them now earlier than the chocolate units. Cake pops dry/set inside an hour or so. Get pleasure from!