Cake Pops

  Ah, cake pops. I've wanted to try my hand at these for quite some time, but never got around to it until now. Deceptively simple seeming, there are actually quite a few things to pay attention to the first time you make them, as I found out.
  This is another one of those desserts that is endlessly customizable. There are an infinite number of fillings, coatings, and toppings you can use. For my first batch, I used plain old yellow cake (from a box mix) and white chocolate for the coating.

  Your first step is to bake a beautiful cake. Make it from a box, or from scratch, and in whatever shape you like. It won't matter when you get to the next step, which is...

  ...to completely obliterate your beautiful cake. Turn it into crumbs. I used my stand-mixer, but you can use any method you prefer. If you use a shotgun, be sure to pick the pellets out of your cake-crumbs before moving on to the next step.

  Next, you'll add some frosting to the cake crumbs, and combine them well, until they form a "dough." I say "some" frosting, because it's a bit subjective. If you use too much, your cake pops will be overly dense and mushy. If you use too little, they will crumble apart and not hold their shape. I used about half of a standard frosting container. You also want to be careful with what frosting flavor you choose. Make sure it compliments your cake flavor. I picked plain white, which really doesn't have a flavor.

  Now, roll the dough into small balls no bigger than about 1 1/3" in diameter. Some people will want to use a scoop for this, so all their pops are exactly the same size, but I just eyeballed it. In order to help the balls better maintain their shape, I gave the dough a slight squeeze before forming it. Throw them in the fridge for a little while as you work on the next step.

  Using a double boiler, or heating it in the microwave, melt your chocolate coating. If you double boiler it, be careful to not get any water in your chocolate, because it will seize. If you use your microwave, do it in no longer than 30-second bursts, or you will risk overheating the chocco.

  You see here that my white chocolate is completely melted, but still looks pretty thick. That's okay, because the first thing I'm going to do with it is dip the ends of my cake pop sticks into it.

  Take your cake balls out of the fridge and insert the sticks into them, first dipping them in the chocolate. This will glue the balls to the stick, and form a nice little support that will keep them from sliding down the stick when they're right side up. Throw them back in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to let the chocolate firm up.

  Now comes the fun part. Dip the cake pops in your melted chocolate coating, being sure to coat the entire thing (my white chocolate was a little thick for dipping, so I added a couple tablespoons of canola oil). Go easy on them, or you'll knock the cake ball right off. Too much up-and-down dunking or twisting motions will bring you to grief. Just dunk them, then bring them out and let the excess drip off. Turn them on their side and rotate them, giving a gentle tap as you do so.
  Don't roll them in your coatings just yet. At this stage, the chocco is so gooey that it won't be able to hold them and the whole thing will slide right off. Instead, let them sit for a couple minutes until they start to take on a dull sheen. Then, you can stick them in your sprinkles or nuts, or mini-chips, or whatever you like.
  Don't refrigerate them, because it will cause them to sweat. Leave them out on the counter to firm up for a few hours, or overnight. Trust me, they will be perfect.

  Enjoy!