Red Velvet Cake Pops

I saw a picture of these on pinterest and I HAD to share!! Cake pops were introduced to me my senior year and they are just so cute! They are the perfect cake bite (and can be dangerous because you can pop so many into your mouth 🙂 ) Great for parties or just because – and red velvet is my FAVORITE cake! (But of course you can make your favorite cake flavor!)

Red Velvet Cake Pops

Cake pops are fun to make and fun to decorate! You can make them simple with some sprinkles or elaborate with candy decorations. You can even make your favorite characters. Whatever you do, have fun with it!

Adapted from Garlic Girl.com

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s is great!)
• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (or rice milk with 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar)
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 ounces red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Frosting

• 1 cup frosting – Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker frostings are gluten free (make sure you read the labels or you can make your own frosting
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter (Earth Balance)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (more or less to acheive thick consistency)

For the coating:

• 2-3 packets Wilton Candy Melts (in color/flavor of your choice). For red velvet, Try red, chocolate mint, and white chocolate for great results!! Be creative! You can find Wilton Candy Melts at craft stores like Michael’s (LOVE Michael’s!)
• Sprinkles, decorations of your choice

For the assembly:

• lollipop sticks or wooden skewers (6 inch skewers) (You can’t make cake pops without the sticks!)

Let’s get started!

1. For the cake, preheat oven to 350ºF and generously grease 12 inch cake pan with vegan butter.
2. In medium bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa and salt.
3. In large bowl add oil, eggs, buttermilk (or rice milk), vinegar, pure vanilla extract, food coloring and beat on low with electric mixer until blended. (Or just beat by hand)
4. Slowly add dry mixture and continue to beat until batter is smooth.
5. Pour mixture in cake pan.
6. Bake for about 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry when inserted in top.
7. Cool on wire rack, remove from pan and cool completely.
8. Time to make the cake pops! This part is a lot of fun! Make sure you hands are nice and clean AND DRY and break up cake with your hands (or you can use a large spoon if you don’t want to use your hands but where is the fun in that) and put in mixing bowl. Continue to crumble with hands in the bowl until very crumbly. Discard any crusty or corner pieces. (Dry pieces aren’t the best for cake pops)
9. For frosting, beat half and half and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. Add vegan butter and pure vanilla extract and continue to beat until mixture forms soft peaks.
10. Add one cup of frosting into cake crumbs and mix well with hands.
11. Scoop out handful, about 1 1/2 ounces, form a round ball, and place on tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat until mixture is used up.
12. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours (preferably overnight). If you’re in a rush, you can place in freezer for about 40 minutes. This step is important to prevent cake pop from crumbling during the coating process.
13. When ready to coat, prepare the candy melts according to package directions.
14. Dip tips of sticks in the chocolate to coat top inch and let harden for a couple minutes. With the covered end, insert into cake ball, making sure to not go all the way through. Inserting about halfway is the best.
15. To coat, tilt bowl with left hand and dip and twirl the top of the pop into chocolate. Rotate for an even coat. You’ll get the hang of it after you do a couple.
16. Sprinkle the top with topping of your choice and place upright in a holder (like styrofoam) until dry.

There you go! Cake pops! Remember – you can take your favorite cake flavor and make cake pops! 

Here are some great cake pop tips!

• Allow extra time for cake balls to rest in refrigerator for 2 or more hours. Overnight works too.
• Cake balls can be frozen until ready to frost and serve.
• Use Wilton’s Candy Melts for the frosting. It tastes great, hardens quickly, looks wonderful, and is easy to melt and work with. Found at craft stores.
• Have a proper stand for post dipping. Floral bricks work wells (used for flower arrangements – you can find them at Michael’s or any other craft store), but styrofoam works fine.

Kwegyirba Croffie is a freelance Associate Producer at News 12 Connecticut and a Special Events/Event Planning and Social Media Intern at College Lifestyles (TM). She is a Quinnipiac University alumni and a sister of Alpha Delta Pi. She enjoy cupcakes,Broadway musicals, Forever 21 ,giraffes, peacock feathers, orchids, lillies and anything Disney.