Guest Post - Red Velvet Cake Pops (by Melissa!)

Once again, my cousin-in-law, Melissa, has written a guest post for the blog. Good job on the recipe, Melissa! You should mail some to us :-) (and PS - I hope you used a Michael's coupon for the Lollipop Sticks!)

Everything from here on is all Melissa's words. Enjoy!

RED VELVET CAKE POPS!

While doing my routine Facebook stalking, I came across pictures of cake-pops that my friend made for Thanksgiving desert. I was instantly inspired, as it's unlike anything I've ever done before. So after doing a bit of research I decided to attempt it. I probably shouldn't have done this after work when I was exhausted because prep through clean up took me FIVE hours. Seriously.

Here's what you'll need:

Lollipop sticks
Parchment Paper
Candy Melts
Sprinkles (Optional)
Frosting
Cake Mix
Piece of styrofoam

Of course, you can make your cake and frosting from scratch, but I had a box of Duncan Hine's Red Velvet mix that I wanted to use (I bought it on sale and with a coupon -- SCORE!)

I went to Michael's for the lollipop sticks, candy melts, sprinkles, and styrofoam.

First, bake the cake following the box directions. Let it cool. I let it sit out for an hour, then put in the freezer for ten minutes.


Take the cake out of the pan and put it in a mixing bowl, crumbling it into pieces.


Then add a bit of frosting and start to mix together, gradually adding more frosting as needed. I initially mixed with a rubber spatula, but towards the end I used my hands to make sure everything was evenly coated.

Next, shape the dough into small balls, placing them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Slip them into the freezer for 10 minutes so they hold together.

Toward the end of the 10 minutes, melt your candy melts. I did this in the microwave as I don't have one of those special double boiler things to use on the stove.


Take the balls out of the freezer.

Take your lollipop sticks and dip them into the melted chocolate, then insert them into the balls half way. After you've inserted the sticks to all your cake balls, place the baking sheet in the fridge for about ten minutes - it will help the cake stay on the stick.


Once you take the cake balls out of the fridge, you can start dipping! I found this part to be extremely difficult. After testing a lot of different methods, I realized it was easiest for me to melt a large amount of the chocolate in a tall, narrow coffee mug. I dipped the entire ball into the chocolate and slowly pulled it out. The melted chocolate makes it REALLY HEAVY, so be careful when you pull it out of the mug so as not to yank the stick out.

I held the chocolate covered ball over the mug for a little while to let the excess chocolate drip off. Then, I put sprinkles all over it!



Then stand the pops upright in a styrofoam slab to dry. For me, this made 42 pops.

EAT!

Like I said, this took a really long time. It's not something I'll make often, but it tasted great and would be fun for a kid's party or family event.