Cake Pops

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Cake pops. Photos by Keri White

Cake pops, aka cake truffles, are small orbs of heaven.

They are an excellent way to use excess cake — which sounds like a fantasy — but hear me out. When baking and frosting a cake, it is often necessary to trim the top or sides to make the layers even. That’s why bakery cakes always look so perfect — they slice the bumps and uneven bits off and cover them with icing.

Smart bakers then repurpose these “scraps” into the aforementioned orbs of heaven. Mixed with icing and then dipped in chocolate or candy melts, these little balls, created as an afterthought, might make you forget the cake!


I made my traditional cameo cake jewishexponent.com/2018/01/08/cameo-cake/  earlier this month to celebrate my husband’s birthday. The three layers were bumpier than usual, and this made for a very lopsided cake. I decided to saw off the bumps, and this resulted in a pile of cake scraps.

Cake pops prepped

Now, it would be completely in character for me to just nibble on said scraps to avoid waste, but I thought it might be fun to make them into something a little prettier and more interesting. Technically, cake pops are served on a lollipop stick, but I didn’t have any, so I guess I would call these cake truffles … but a cake pop by any other name still tastes delicious.

You may have to play with the proportions; if your cake is dryer, more icing will be needed to bind it.

Makes about 16 cake pops

3 cups cake scraps, crumbled
⅓ to ½ cup icing
¾ cup chocolate chips
Powdered sugar or sprinkles and lollipop sticks, if desired.

In a large bowl, mix the cake crumbs with the icing — start with ⅓ cup and add more if needed to bind the crumbs together.

Line a cookie tray with wax paper.

Cake pops being mixed

Using a tablespoon, scoop the cake mixture, and roll it into firmly packed balls using your hands. The balls should be a bit smaller than a golf ball. Place the balls on the wax paper, and insert lollipop sticks if desired. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

In a Pyrex measuring cup, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave oven on 50% power for 3 minutes. Dip the cake balls in the melted chocolate, and put them back on the wax paper-lined tray. If using, add sprinkles to the balls before the chocolate hardens.

Allow the cake pops to harden at room temperature or in the fridge. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar to decorate before serving.

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