READY IN 2½ hrs

Cake Pops by Duncan Hines®

Read Reviews (19)

"Mini-bites of candy-coated Duncan Hines cake sit playfully atop lollipop sticks. The decorating possibilities are endless with these tasty treats." — Duncan Hines® Canada

Directions

Bake cake as directed in a 9 x 13 pan and let cool completely.
Crumble cake up into a large bowl.
Soften frosting for 10 seconds in microwave. Add frosting to crumbled cake and stir with a fork until frosting disappears and is completely incorporated into the cake crumbs. Test your mixture by picking up a handful and squeezing it together. It should hold together without breaking apart. If mixture is too dry, add more frosting.
Roll mixture into walnut-sized cake balls and transfer to a wax paper lined baking cookie sheet. Make sure balls are tightly packed and look smooth with no cracks. If they appear cracked, you may need to add more frosting.
Transfer cookie sheet with cake balls to freezer or refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.
Place 16oz. of the candy melts in a small, deep microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring each time until completely melted. The melted coating should coat a spoon but still be able to slowly drip off. If coating is too thick, add shortening or vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Do not exceed 2 teaspoons per 16 ounces of candy coating or the cake pops will crack.
Remove cake balls from freezer. Dip tips of lollipop sticks into candy coating and insert sticks no more than halfway into center of your cake balls. Let them set for 1 to 2 minutes, resting on the cake ball, sticks in the air.
Pick up cake pop by the stick and dip into candy coating. Gently tap stick against side of bowl and rotate cake pop to help excess coating fall back into bowl. (Reheat and/or melt more candy coating as needed.)
If decorating your cake pop, add your sprinkles, nuts or candy right after dipping, before coating dries.
Poke stick of cake pop into Styrofoam block to stand up straight and dry completely, about 5 minutes.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 1 hr 15 mins
READY IN 2 hrs 30 mins

Footnotes

Kitchen Notes:
Make sure your Styrofoam block and all sprinkles, nuts and decorations are ready to go before you start dipping your cake pops. The candy coating hardens within a minute, so you have no time to lose!
For decorations, check your local craft store or baking aisle at the grocery store for colored sprinkles nuts and candies. You can also use M&M's, chocolate chips, colored sugar, or coconut.
If you want to draw on your cake pop, you can buy decorating pens. They work like markers but are food safe, with edible ink.

Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review

May 27, 2012

We LOVED these, despite how long they took to make. (Anything shaped by hand is going to take a while - it's not a function of the recipe you use) My kids would have eaten all of them immediately if I had let them. I read a lot of other recipes before trying these and here are some tips that I found...1. Crumble the cake into crumbs, not just into chunks, before adding the frosting so that you don't have any dry pieces of cake in the pops - that might make them more likely to break during the dipping and tapping process 2. don't tap the cake pops on the side of the bowl as this loosens the cake and they will fall off. Hold the pop by the stick and with your other hand, tap your hand. This causes the chocolate to drip off without shaking the ball so hard that it falls off. Only one of mine fell off when doing this, but that one was a bit loosely packed when I was making the ball 3. I had a little difficulty getting the chocolate to drip off so I held 2 dipped balls in one hand, did the tapping, then lightly touched the 2 together and that caused that last big blob of coating to fall off. The times I didn't do this, it dripped off when the pops were standing upright so it was better to get the excess coating off right after the tapping and back into the bowl instead of dripping onto the counter! I used the devil's food cake mix and dark chocolate fudge icing and they were so rich and fudgy! Tomorrow I'm going to use the yellow cake and vanilla icing with a few drops of vanilla.

—kwren

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Most Helpful Critical Review

May 07, 2012

Looks pretty in the photo doesn't it? Seems like fun? What a nightmare!!! These are terribly hard to make! It takes a few hours and the clean up is horrible if you are using different types of chocolate. Most of the time the cake ball fell off the stick as I was dipping it. The chocolate never coated the cake ball nicely... I could go on and on ... and mine look a mess! I gave it one star because it is still sweet and tastes good.

—shyvv

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22 Ratings

May 06, 2012

Yeah. Sure sounds easy to make, my kids and I were super excited for this. Wrong! While it was tasty, it was kind if a nightmare. The cake balls fall off the stick 1/2 the time, and it is a HUGE mess. Afterward, my kitchen looked like a candy explosion. I'll find a different recipe if we do this again.

—Inna

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May 31, 2012

I saw baseball cake pops on another site and I wanted to make them for DS's 4th birthday. I used this recipe and tips I'd found on the internet, like dipping the stick in melted coating before sticking into the ball. This helps them stick when dipping the entire ball into the coating. I also found the coating set faster after I placed the pops (uncoated) in the freezer for 15 mins. For me, the hardest part was waiting for the coating to dry so I could draw the red "seams." Overall I'm happy with the end result just took a little more time than I anticipated. I used chocolate cake mix and cream cheese frosting, and they tasted fantastic and stayed moist. DS had fun helping form the balls, then dipping the sticks and inserting into the pops.

—Loves2Cook

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Jun 18, 2012

Taste great! Kids loved them even though they looked a mess! If I had made them they would have looked more like the pictures (I wish I took one of ours!) The reason I made them was for the process with the kids. Rolling out the balls the melting chocolate, crumbling up a cake, melting chocolate! These are all really fun things for a kid. I knew it would it would be a nightmare mess and my kitchen did look like a candy explosion as one other reviewer warned but it was a joyful mess! I like to think of it as a great memory and experience with my kids rather than a nightmare. Making messes like that with your mom is what being a kid is all about. Make these, just don't try and make them perfect! When the ball falls off the stick cover it with chocolate, scoop it out with a spoon, put it in a tray and stick the stick in the top, and put it in the fridge or freezer. Just have fun! We called them cake blobs on a stick and had a great time. We sent our messy blobs in as my daughters birthday treat and all the kids were impressed. Worth the mess.

—Gus

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Nov 21, 2012

I loved this recipe. For people who have had troubles, you really need to read through the directions carefully a few times, and have patience. They are simple, but if you're sloppy, they're sloppy. The coating didn't turn out to be perfectly smooth - it had more of a swirly texture to it - but that could have very well been a mess up on my part. I'm 16, and I love to make these when I have get together or study groups, and everyone loves them. I also like to try and use different cake/frosting mixes, for example, Red Velvet/Cream Cheese, White/Strawberry, and the Confetti mixes. I also found that making very thin cake layers, and then cutting them into quarters to crumble is much easier. I hope I helped. :)

—kierarose

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Jan 17, 2013

I teach first grade and have a student whose family was not able to provide a party for her. She really wanted cake pops so - seriously -what could I do. The kids loved the flavor and have no idea that it took me several hours to create these delicious bites when I should have been entering grades. I think I made the better choice considering the look on the birthday girl's face.

—Sandy

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Aug 21, 2012

First try and came out wonderfully!! Make sure you tab your hand gently to get rid of excess coating. Make a few at a time and leave the rest in the fridge until ready to dip them. Love theses Cake Pops!

—twoyorkiesmom

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Nutrition

Calories
217 kcal
11%

Carbohydrates
26.2 g
8%

Cholesterol
16 mg
5%

Fat
13.9 g
21%

Fiber
1.6 g
6%

Protein
3.2 g
6%

Sodium
107 mg
4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Cake Pops by Duncan Hines(R)

Serving Size: 1/40 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 40
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 217
Calories from Fat: 125

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 13.9g 21 %
Saturated Fat 6.7g 33 %
Cholesterol 16mg 5 %
Sodium 107mg 4 %
** Potassium 146mg 4 %
Total Carbohydrates 26.2g 8 %
Dietary Fiber 1.6g 6 %
Protein 3.2g 6 %
** Sugars 0.8g
** Vitamin A < 1 %
** Vitamin C 0 %
** Calcium 2 %
** Iron 12 %
** Thiamin < 1 %
** Niacin 3 %
** Vitamin B6 < 1 %
** Magnesium 8 %
** Folate 2 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.