Cake Pops

I love cake pops they are cute and yummy and everyone is very impressed by them. That being said they do take a bit of time to make but are very worth it. If you need a pick me up, try making these and giving them away, they will be oooh'd and aaah'd over and you will feel so good about your new found talents. If you google cake pops you will be amazed at how many designs people make. Make them plain or with sprinkles or puppies or whatever your excellent mind can think of and they will be wonderful!

1 Box of Cake Mix any flavor, make according to the directions on the box

1 can of frosting, whatever you like

1 pkg Chocolate or Vanilla Almond Bark

Sucker Sticks

No more than 1/8 C Crisco

Decorating items, like sprinkles or whatever

Piece of foam, I use a large white rectangle shaped piece I found by the fake flower section at wal-mart, Cover this in Saran wrap in case your pops drip

1. Bake cake according to directions. Cut out the center of the cake, leaving the crunchy edges. Break them up and put them in a bowl to cool down. Cover it with Saran wrap so it doesn't dry out.
2. Once it's cool add about 1/2 can or frosting. Mush together. If you try to make a ball and it falls apart then add a little more frosting until you can make a ball that will stay together. Be careful to not add to much if you do it will be really smooshy and they won't work so BE CAREFUL.
3. Roll all that cake and frosting into little balls, you can also use a cookie scoop, small ice cream scoop or your hands.
4. Put them on a plate or tray or whatever will fit in your freeze. Freeze them for about 15 minutes and no longer than 25 minutes. I guess if they get too cold then after you dip them in chocolate the chocolate will crack while cooling (some of mine always crack, I give those to my kids)
5. While cake balls are cooling, melt your chocolate in a tallish but narrow cup, (I usually use a plastic cup) because you want the chocolate to be deep enough to cover your cake. I usually microwave it a minute at a time then stir, until melted. For every square of chocolate you melt add 1 t. of Crisco, it helps thin it out and makes the chocolate not so crunchy when you bite into it.
6. Get a nice clean working space and  set out your melted chocolate, your sticks, and your decorating items. Put your Saran wrap covered foam in the fridge with plenty of space so  the pops will not touch anything.
7. OK now your set, cooling cake balls in the freezer, melted chocolate. Lets make some cake pops
8. Take out 1 cake ball at a time. Dip you stick in the chocolate then into the cake ball, this will help the cake ball stay on the stick (hopefully)
9. Dip the cake into the chocolate all the way it needs to be covered completely! Now here is where it gets tricky. Take it out of the chocolate and swirl it around and tap it lightly on the side of the cup so all that chocolate covers it nice and flawlessly wait for it to set a bit but not all the way  then quickly add sprinkles or whatever before it cools and they won't stick.
10. Then once the chocolate  is no longer drippy, put it in the fridge to finish setting. 
11. Viola you have made you first cake pop, good for you.
12. Now repeat steps 8-10 until they are all done. Plan on at least 1/4 of them cracking, they still taste Delicious even if they are a little flawed.

**Flavors I have tried that I liked are Spice Cake with Cream Cheese frosting, and Chocolate Cake with German Chocolate frosting you know the kind with coconut and nuts. I would like to try lemon with cream cheese frosting or lemon frosting and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I like cream cheese frosting a lot.
** To make the dog pop above I used edible zebra print paper from wal-mart and cut them into ears and attached them with a little frosting. I used frosting for the nose and outer eyes, I put hard ball candies for inner eyes and I drew the eye balls, mouth, and whiskers with a black sharpie.Good Luck