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Homemade Chocolate Cake Pops

Perfectly fudgy and moist, and surprisingly easy to make at home! Made with a mix of rich, fudgy chocolate cake, sweetened condensed milk, and silky chocolate frosting - roll into balls, dip into chocolate, and dig in!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Dessert
Keyword How to Make Cake Pops, Best Chocolate for Cake Pops, How to Shape Cake Pops, Dessert for a Crowd, Birthday Party Desserts
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Cake Cooling/Cake Balls Chilling 4 hours
Servings 56 cake pops
Author Stephanie Simmons

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cake

  • 12 TBSP salted butter, softened
  • 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP cane or granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 TBSP vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Frosting

  • 8 TBSP butter, softened 1 stick
  • 1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 TBSP Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 TBSP milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Additional Ingredients + Tools:

  • 1 cup Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • cake pop sticks linked below
  • 40 ounces high-quality chocolate baking bars or melting wafers See note below about NOT using chocolate chips
  • sprinkles, for decorating

Instructions

  • Prep: Grease two 9-inch cake pans well with shortening, then dust with flour, tapping the pan to coat completely. Tap out the excess. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Make the Cake: Cream softened butter in a large mixing bowl with mixer until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add sugars and cream until well combined and creamy/fluffy - another minute or so. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add the milk - the batter will become super runny but that's ok! Add the dry ingredients next and mix until just combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure no dry pockets are hiding. The batter will be thicker now.
  • Bake: Divide batter between prepared pans and bake for 25-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs not wet batter. Let cakes cool in pans 10-15 minutes, run a butter knife around the edges, and invert onto cooling racks to cool completely.
  • Make the Frosting: Cream softened butter in a medium mixing bowl until light and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add powdered sugar and mix until well combined. If it's lumpy, don't fret. Add the milks and vanilla and mix - it should smooth out now! If not, add just a splash more milk. Add the cocoa powder and mix until well combined.
  • Make the Cake Ball Mixture: Break and crumble up the cake layers into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup of the frosting (measure it - the frosting yields a few spoonfuls more than a cup, just to give you some wiggle room/a tasty snack) and 1 cup of the sweetened condensed milk. Mix with electric mixer until everything is well incorporated and you have a moist - but not super sticky - mixture that rolls easily into balls.
    Form Shapes: Roll into balls. To form football or heart shapes, see video clips above in the blog post. Start with a ball for either shape. For a football, gently press the edges to form sort of a rounded diamond with four sides. For a heart, flatten the ball a bit and form a triangle with the wide part at the top. Pinch the bottom into a point and make an indent at the top with your knuckle.
    Place in an airtight container and chill in the fridge 2 hours (or up to overnight) before dipping.
  • Dip + Assemble the Cake Pops: Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring between. A deep bowl or a glass 1 or 2 cup measuring cup works well here - you want a deep vat of chocolate to dip into.
    If making round cake pops, get out a cardboard box and poke small holes in it - the cake pops can stand in these holes while the chocolate sets and the backs of the cake pops won't flatten up. If making footballs or hearts, it's fine for the backs to be flat - they can lay on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet or counter to set up.
    Let 1/4 of the cake pop balls set out for 5 minutes before you begin so they're not SO cold - this will cause the chocolate to crack as you dip them (as you finish that batch, set out the next batch - if you set them all out at once the ones you get to last will be way too warm and soft to dip). Additionally, make sure the chocolate isn't hot to the touch either. It should be completely melted but not hot.
    Dip a cake pop stick about 1/4" into the chocolate, then stick halfway into the cake ball. Dip into the chocolate, making sure the chocolate covers the cake ball and meets the chocolate that's on the stick. This will help secure the whole thing. Gently tap or swirl the cake pop stick against the side of the glass to remove excess chocolate. Add sprinkles while the chocolate is wet. Stick in the prepared box or place on wax/parchment paper to set up. Drizzle on extra chocolate, if desired.
    Football Decorations: Once the chocolate is set, pipe on the football laces, using white decorating/writing gel.
    (If your chocolate cracks a bit on the cake pops, do NOT worry! If you can avoid it, great, if not, it won't affect the taste or outcome at all. It happened on some of mine, too.)
  • Serve + Store: Serve immediately once the chocolate is set! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. You should also be able to freeze these in an airtight container for 1-2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
  • Make Ahead Tips: Cake balls can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for 1-2 months, before dipping them in the chocolate. Thaw in the fridge overnight before dipping. You can portion out a few at a time or make a half or whole batch all at once for any event! I usually freeze half the yield for a later date, since this recipe does make quite a few cake pops.
    Recipe Yield: You can cut the recipe in half, as well.