How To Make Homemade Valentine's Day Cake Pops

Celebrate Valentine's Day this year and learn how to make homemade Valentine's Day cake pops! This kid friendly recipe is fun to prepare with your littles. With just a handful of pantry ingredients and Valentine's themed sprinkles, these cake pops are ready in just under one hour!

If you like this recipe, you have to try this Valentine's Themed Cereal Bar, Easy and Chewy Sugar Cookies or these Honey Truffle Sea Salt Cookies!

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This venture down cake pop making started with "Fun Friday's" at my daughter's preschool. If her week ends with good behavior all week, we find the nearest Starbuck's to grab their tasty cake pops. To explain, I am normally underwhelmed with "drive-thru" treats but if you have tried their cake pops, they are indeed to-die-for!

Thus began the venture down the idea if I could recreate this treat at home and do it well. I'm happy to share this recipe as it comes pretty close to a copycat recipe for Starbuck's Birthday Cake Pops!

ARE CAKE POPS HARD TO MAKE?

As a beginner baker, it can be daunting to attempt recipes that "look" hard to prepare. Luckily, this recipe is made with box cake therefore, most of the steps are fairly easy if followed by the detailed instructions listed in this post. So no, cake pops are in fact, not hard to make and for this reason, I hope you give this homemade Valentine's Day Cake Pop recipe a try!

To explain, the recipe starts with box cake that is prepared according to instructions. The trick is adding cream cheese frosting to the baked cake (after it has cooled) and forming the cake into dough like balls. It really is that simple and "looks" harder than it seems.

HOW LONG WILL CAKE POPS LAST?

This is one of the top questions I perceive a reader to have. With that said, you are in luck that these cake pops can last up to one week. Simply store them in an airtight container or as I did, in a twist-tie sealed bag and enjoy them when you are ready to devour them.

It is also important to note, the baked cake batter freezes well too. Be sure to wrap the baked cake batter into a freezer safe wrap such this brand and thaw until room temperature when you are ready to form the batter into cake balls!

CAKE POP INGREDIENTS

With just a handful of pantry staple items, you will have cake pops in hand in no time. In detail, here is what you will need:

• Vanilla or White Box Cake Mix
• Eggs
• Water
• Oil (for box cake)
• Coconut Oil (for melting chocolate)
• Cooking Spray
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Melting Chocolate
• Sprinkles
• Lollipop Sticks
• Red food coloring

WHAT TO STAND CAKE POPS IN

In this case, you don't have to use a stand to make cake pops. You can prepare them as cake balls and lay them on parchment paper or a flat surface to dry. However, if you'd like to make traditional cake pops with a lollipop stick, you can purchase this set that I found on Amazon.

This set was helpful as it came with lollipop sticks, ties, the stand and clear bags for sharing!

WHAT CHOCOLATE WORKS BEST FOR CAKE POPS?

To explain, identifying a good chocolate will make the dipping process a breeze. The best chocolate for melting and dipping is called "couverture" chocolate. This chocolate is high quality and has a higher percentage of cocoa butter than baking or eating chocolate. In the event that you can't find couverture chocolate, here are a few chocolates selections that will work.

• Candy Melts
• Chocolate Chips
• Chocolate Bark (this is what I used)

HERE ARE A FEW TIPS WHEN MELTING THE CHOCOLATE FOR CAKE POPS

• Use "a lot" of chocolate. This helps to keep the chocolate smooth, warm and dippable. For this recipe, I used about one pound.
• Use a quality oil when melting the chocolate. I used coconut oil.
• When tempering the chocolate, be sure to heat/melt the chocolate slowly. If you are using a microwave, melt in thirty second increments stirring thoroughly.
• Add oil while melting chocolate. For this recipe, I added one to two teaspoons at a time. This ensures the chocolate stays smooth.

HOMEMADE VALENTINE'S DAY CAKE POP RECIPE

First, prepare the box cake per the recipe instructions. It is important to note that this recipe to make the cake pops require less oil. To clarify, only use three tablespoons of oil versus the listed instructions. You can even omit the oil entirely. This will ensure for a spongy or doughy like texture similar to Starbuck's Cake Pops!

Next, after the cake is baked, allow time for the cake to cool. After the cake has cooled, crumble the cake by using a hand or stand mixer. Crumble the cake until all of the cake is crumbled and broken down. At this instant, add in the cream cheese. It is important to note that you should begin by adding up to two tablespoons at a time and will mix until the texture of the cake is doughy and spongy like playdough.

Now, it is time to prepare the cake balls. It is helpful to use a cookie scoop or tablespoon and a half to keep the balls relatively the same size. After forming the cake balls, place on lined flat surface and freeze for 10-15 minutes. While, the cake balls freeze, now is a good time to melt the chocolate.

HOMEMADE VALENTINE'S DAY CAKE POPS RECIPE VIDEO

WHY ARE MY CAKE POPS FALLING APART?

If you find that your cake pops are crumbly, this simply means you need to add more cream cheese to the cake batter. Add up to two tablespoons at a time until the cake batter is a spongy and consistency similar to playdough.

METLING THE CHOCOLATE FOR CAKE POPS

Now it's time to melt the chocolate. Begin by placing the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and add up to two teaspoons of oil at a time. Microwave the chocolate in thirty second intervals and stir thoroughly between each increment. Continue this process until the chocolate is smooth and slightly runny. Last, add in a few drops of red food coloring at a time. To achieve different shades of pink and red, add only a few drops of red (5-6), stir and dip cake pops. For a deeper tone of red, add more drops of red food coloring and dip remaining cake pops.

HOW TO DIP CAKE POPS

Now it is time to dip the cake pops into the melted chocolate. Begin by taking the lollipop stick and slightly dipping the stick into chocolate. This will help with adhering the cake pop to the lollipop stick. After dipping the lollipop stick, slowly insert the stick into the cake pop, about halfway through the cake pop.

Now, slowly dip the chocolate into the chocolate and use a spoon or spatula to ladle chocolate over the cake ball until thoroughly coated. Hold the cake pops upside down and allow all the excess chocolate to drip from the cake pop. After the chocolate on the cake pop does not drip, now add the sprinkles to the top of the cake pop. Lastly, place the cake pop on the stand and allow the cake pops to dry. This step will take 15-20 minutes.

If you like this recipe, you have to try

Valentine's Themed Cereal Bar

Easy and Chewy Sugar Cookies

Honey Truffle Sea Salt Cookies