DIY Chocolate Cake Pops and Trees for Christmas Treats

Holidays are baking time in the Morgan household. It's a great excuse to eat more goodies from the kitchen. Plus it's fun to get creative. If you have some time, these are a great addition to your holiday baking. They look really decorative too. This is a big commitment so be sure to allow enough time. Also if you check out last year's blog. You'll see photos of the ingredients and the process of how they're put together step by step. Here's the link: at http://tomandanitamorgan.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-season-chocolate-cake-pops.html

Here they are all wrapped up. We bought the sticks, the plastic bags wrappers, candy melts and sprinkles at our local kitchen store, The Wooden Spoon. Here's how to put it together.

MAKES: 20 pops and 10 trees
PREP TIME; About an hour (preps are done in stages) + 1 1/2 hours to decorate + 2 hours in the fridge
COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix
1 can frosting (use about 90% of the frosting)
1 ounce of semi sweet chocolate
1 bag of white Candy Melts
1 ounce of green Candy Melts
1 bag of 6" lollipop sticks
1 bag of lollipop bags (optional, only if you want to wrap them)
1 container of mixed sprinkles (I used the one with Christmas colors)
12" round styrofoam

PREPARATION:
1. Bake the cake in a loaf pan. For a 21 ounce cake mix, I used a 9 x 9 pan. Let cake cool completely.
2. When cake has cooled, crumble it by putting it in the mixer.
3. When the cake has been crumbled, add about 90% of the frosting and thoroughly mix together.
4. Coat your hands in a cooking oil to prevent mixture from sticking to them then form about a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball. Place balls on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper or parchment paper. When 20 balls are formed then make 10 trees. (The number may vary according to how large you make each pop.) Place in refrigerator for about 2 hours. Do not put them in the freezer to speed up the process!
5. Before removing the pops, melt about 1 ounce of chocolate chips in the microwave according to instructions until chocolate is just soft but not runny. Take pops out of the fridge and dip one end of each lollipop stick into the chocolate about 1/2" and insert into a pop to make the lollipop. The sticks should be inserted to almost the top of the cake ball. This serves as a glue to hold the stick in the pop. Now they go back in the fridge for another hour or two. Do not put them in the freezer to speed up the process!
6. For the decorative coating, I chose white Candy Melts. Candy Melts come in a lot of colors so you have choices. You can also melt chocolate and cover the pops with chocolate. I experimented with white chocolate but it didn't melt smoothly and was too thick. Candy Melts are easy to use, they don't get hard quickly so you have plenty of time to dip your cake pops and not stress about timing. Dip each pop into the Candy Melt mixture and set each one into a piece of styrofoam for coating to set. If you plan to use sprinkles, do it immediately while the coating is still soft. If you are going to decorate using a different color on top of the white, wait until Candy Melt has firmed up. Sprinkles will only adhere to a soft texture. I used green Candy Melts to make Christmas trees and poinsettias then added the sprinkles while the Candy Melt was still soft. Stick each pop into the styrofoam so they will not touch each other.
7. If you are giving them as a gift you can wrap them in a small plastic bag that is made specifically for the cake pops. You can see from the photo the finished product. Everyone loved them, and we did too!

Bon appetit,

Anita and Tom

#American #dessert #cakepops #chocolate #Christmas #snack #holiday #baking

DIY Chocolate Cake Pops and Trees for Christmas Treats