Traditional Cake Pops

Why This Traditional Cake Pops Works

In the oven, the boxed cake mix bakes into a light, fluffy cake with a lot of tiny air pockets. After it cools and gets crumbled, those soft crumbs break down easily. Once the softened butter and confectioners’ sugar go in, the fat from the butter slides between the crumbs and the sugar fills the gaps. Everything presses together and becomes a smooth, dough-like paste instead of loose crumbs. That’s why the cake balls hold their shape instead of falling apart.

As the rolled balls sit in the freezer, the butter inside firms up. The cold centers stay solid when the warm melted chocolate goes on, so the cake doesn’t slide off the sticks. In the microwave, the chocolate chips and vegetable oil melt into a smooth coating that flows over the cold cake balls and then sets back into a firm shell. By the time the cake pops stand upright to cool, the inside stays soft and moist, and the outside has a crisp, even layer of chocolate that keeps everything together.

Mistakes To Avoid

Using warm cake instead of letting it cool completely makes the crumbs gummy instead of fluffy. The butter and sugar then smear into a paste instead of blending in, and the cake balls turn heavy and wet, which makes them slide off the sticks or crack once coated.

Adding too much milk or not enough confectioners’ sugar and butter leaves the mixture too soft. The balls feel squishy, don’t hold a round shape, and tend to fall apart in the hot melted chocolate or slip down the sticks.

Skipping or shortening the freezing time keeps the cake pops from firming up. As soon as they go into the warm chocolate, the centers loosen, the sticks twist inside the cake, and the pops can break off or get big cracks in the coating.

Overheating the chocolate in the microwave makes it thick and grainy instead of smooth. The coating then goes on in clumps, doesn’t drip off cleanly, and sets with a rough, uneven shell that can pull the cake apart.