Bake cake — we’ve made our best cake pops with a boxed cake mix.  Just follow the directions on the box. Our favorite is white cake with sprinkles, but you can use funfetti cake or any flavor.

Crumble cake — if you decide to form and decorate the same day, make sure the cake is completely cooled. We slice off the top and sides of the cake. And remove the inner cake leaving the very bottom. Which will make it easier to crumble.

Fold in frosting — mix 2/3 can of frosting (3/4 if you didn’t cut off the sides of cake) of any flavor you choose into the cake crumbles. Our favorite is the canned vanilla frosting.  The cake should stick together well.  If it doesn’t, you’ll need to add more frosting until it does.

Form cake balls — for basic round cake pops, use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to measure the cake and roll them into balls.  However, we’ve also made shapes with a silicon mold or handheld tong mold. They tend to turn out really well.

After forming, place cake balls onto wax or parchment paper. We like to use 2 separate plates with wax paper. That way, half of them can stay in the freezer while you’re dipping the others.

Freeze before dipping — place cake balls in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Don’t freeze too long, or they will expand after you coat them and ooze out the sides.

Dip the end of each cake pop stick into the melted candy and insert it into the cake pop.  Let the pops sit for a few minutes before dipping.

Dip First, Then Sprinkle, and “Glue” on Details When Dry — if you are using sprinkles, then sprinkle right after dipping. However, if you are adding details, then dip first, let dry, and then add the details using the melted candy as glue.