Monday, March 5, 2012

Pot O' Gold Cake Pops

Where's the leprechaun? These are the perfect little treat for St. Patrick's Day... even if they're not green.

What You Need
1 Cake, baked and cooled
1-2 cups icing, I prefer cream cheese icing
Dark Chocolate Candy Melts (They do make black, but I think these taste better and look just as good)
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Gold Dragees Sprinkles (or yellow nonpariels or yellow sanding sugar)
Rainbow of colors of Candy Melts (to make rainbows)
Lollipop Sticks
Parchment or waxed paper
Styrofoam
Optional:
White Candy Melts
Rainbow of sanding sugar colors
Ice pack to keep cake balls cool while you work
Heating pad to keep candy warm while you work

Click the link to see my complete tutorial on How To Make Cake Pops. (I will give you the shortened version here.)

To make the cake balls, you need to make your cake into small crumbs (after it's cooled). Add about 1-2 cups of icing, until the cake and icing stick together into a ragged dough. Using firm pressure roll the cake into 1-2 tsp.-sized cake balls. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours to overnight.

Melt Dark Chocolate Candy Melts with 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil on low power until the candy is just melted. Candy should not get hot or it will seize.
Dip about 1/2" of the lollipop stick into the melted chocolate. This helps keep your cake pop on the stick. If you skip this step you may notice that your cake ball falls off of the stick more often.

Insert the lollipop stick halfway into the cake ball.

Dip the pop into the melted chocolate, being careful not to twist or twirl the stick or that will loosen the pop. Try to just dip straight in and straight back out.

Tap the lollipop stick on the side of the cup. This is where these directions differ from regular cake pops.
Usually, I caution to tap the stick with the pop at an angle above the stick. This time, do the opposite.
You want to have the cake pop below the stick, as you see in the photo. Because you want the extra candy to pool on the "top" of the pop. That makes the "lip" of the pot.
Now, you do have to be careful with the tapping here. Don't tap too hard. You're basically daring the pop to fall off of the stick by tapping it like this.

Let the candy set, and create the top of the pot by placing the pops on their tops directly on waxed or parchment paper.

While the cake pops set, if you would like to add the rainbows, melt your rainbow of colors of candy melts in small squeeze bottles or in decorating bags. (This day in Beki-land, there is no purple in the rainbow... and I'm okay with that.)

Squeeze small rainbows onto a piece of parchment or waxed paper that you set on a cookie sheet or pan. You may want to refrigerate these to help them set up more firmly and quickly. If you try to move the paper to a cookie sheet later, the rainbows kind of smear.

Once the cake pops and the rainbows have set, use a squeeze bottle or decorating bag to squeeze a small amount of melted chocolate (or yellow, if you wish) candy on the top of your pot.

Pour some of your "gold" into a small bowl or dish. Dip the top of your pot into the sprinkles to get them to stick.

The top of the pot should be covered with "gold."

You want to add a rainbow to the pot immediately, using the melted chocolate to help the rainbow stand up straight.

Allow the candy to dry by placing the stick into styrofoam. This shouldn't take long to set up.

If you can't find the gold dragees... or you don't want to use them... as I'm not 100% sure you're really supposed to eat them in large quantities... you can use yellow nonpariels like you see here.

You can also use yellow sanding sugar sprinkles... but be sure you use white or yellow candy underneath, to stick it to the pop. Using the dark chocolate makes the sugar dark, and it doesn't look very shiny or golden.

If you want to make a rainbow of cake pops to find your pots of gold, those are super easy. You can just dip the cake pop in white candy, and cover them in a rainbow of sanding sugars.

Enjoy!

Click the Links Below to See:
How to Make Cake Pops
How Long Do Cake Pops Really Take?
Other Cake Pop Decorating Ideas

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11 comments:

  1. How much of the chocolate melts do you melt at at time w/the tbsp of oil? I've never put oil in my melts like that...does it work better for you this way? I know when I make cake pops I have a really hard time w/the melts b/c they don't get "runny" enough and are really thick. Maybe this is why - that I'm not diluting them?
    Thanks for any tips/advice!
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jen,
      I usually try to use about 1 Tbsp. per bag of Candy Melts. And what you describe is precisely why. Without the oil, I find that it's just too thick.
      Good luck!!
      Beki

      Delete
    2. What a great idea!!! You ROCK

      Delete
  2. Wow it is an amazing idea. They look very very cute.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So imaginative and creative. Definitely the types of cake pops to generate some discussion (and envy) at the buffet table. Highlighted your work, as always, at my blog: Rainbow Cake Pops

    Kate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How do you put the canding melt inside of the bottle? I tried and got a mess!

    Thank you! You are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fernanda,
      This can be a real pain, I will admit.
      Usually, I break up the Melts into about 3 pieces for each disk and put them in. Then, melt it in the bottle.
      Another option is melting them in a disposable decorating bag and then squeezing that into the bottle, but if I melt them in the bag, I generally just use the bag to squeeze them onto the pops.
      Hope this helps!
      - Beki

      Delete
  5. I really love this idea!!!!! I have just one question though....about how much do you think everything costs altogether?

    Thanks,
    Alex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alex,
      I'd say depending on how easily you can find the supplies you need, it would be $15-20 for an entire batch, which should be at least 50 pops.
      Good luck!
      - Beki

      Delete

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