Halloween Cake Pops

My version of Halloween Cake Pops

Every year, my good friend has a Halloween party for her son and daughter and their friends, and every year, I make a special Halloweenie treat to send over. This year, after seeing these photos on Pinterest, I decided to make my own.



Eyeball Cake Pops



Evil Eye Cake Pops



I read a lot about making cake pops because even though I like to bake and I think, are more adept at cooking than a regular Joe or Jane, I didn't want to mess these unique little treats up...and they can be messed up. Online horror stories abound. Talk about scary stories...lol! Below are my treats and what I did to make them. I may change the method a little next time, or I may not. They were pretty good the way they were...just very sweet. Just what kids love!

First, I bought a box mix of red velvet cake and prepared it as directed. Any cake will do, but I wanted the middle of my pops to look like blood so I chose  red velvet cake mix. Some people had said that sometimes the red will show through the white candy coating, but I thought that if it did, it would only make it look spookier. I didn't find it to be a big problem either way. After the cake cooled completely, I broke it into pieces and pulsed it to crumbs in my food processor. Then I transferred the crumbs to a deep mixing bowl.

Next I used a can of frosting from the grocery store, adding a big spatula full at a time, so as not to add to much. After each spatula full, I would  mix it up with the spatula. I used 1 scant frosting can to hold mine together. The trick is getting it well mixed enough to stick together so you can roll it easily into balls without making it so sticky that it's too sticky and won't roll into anything. This is trial and error from what I have read, that is why I did it a spatula full at a time so as not to over do the icing, and this plan worked well.  I rolled the mixture into golf ball size balls and set them on a tray covered with wax paper.

While the balls rested, I melted a small amount of white chocolate candy melts in the microwave (follow pkg directions on this). Then I dipped the tines of a plastic fork halfway into the chocolate and pierced each ball. As I put the forks in, I reshaped some of the balls to make sure they stayed roundish. I put all forked balls into the fridge to set overnight.

The next day, I melted 1 1/2 bags candy melts in the microwave and transferred the balls to the freezer for a little bit. When I was ready to dip the balls, I  only took them out a few at a time. After dipping, I used a spoon to run along the bottom of the balls to get off the excess icing. I then set each ball upright on a cookie sheet covered with parchment or wax paper. I had to hold each for just a second so they wouldn't fall over. I pressed a green candy met onto each chocolate covered ball for the iris, holding each for a second so it would stick in place.  I did this until most of the balls were dipped.

Then, I melted some -green candy melts and dipped a few of the balls in that so I could make the googly eyed monster balls. Once those were covered in green chocolate, I gently placed candy googly eyes all over the balls.

  Lastly, I set these dipped balls into the fridge for about 15 minutes while the chocolate set.

Next I used a toothpick to put some melted chocolate on a googly candy eye and pressed it gently onto the green iris, holding it for  a few seconds till it set. Finally, I took some red icing and made squiggly lines on the white balls radiating around the iris so the eyeballs would look bloodshot.

These were a huge hit at the party and for my first fore into the world of cake pops, I thought I did a pretty good job. They were super cute, but time consuming...not a quick treat, but well worth the effort for a party.