I was intimidated by making cake pops dough for the longest time. Seemed too easy and at the same time I’d probably make gooey, gummy inedible balls and waste a lot of time and supplies from my stocked pantry. I’ve learned to never fear a new recipe (although Beef Wellington deserves a pause)! I found a few tricks with and without icing that are near full-proof, in my opinion. I thought you had to use icing to make a good cake pop, but I’ve found that using a food processor and water resulted in a better texture and less over-the-top sweet flavor than the icing version. My tween twins will probably disagree! We used this for the base of our Oreo Cream Cheese Cake Pops that look like ornaments.
My main tip – take it slow the first time and don’t overthink it. But that’s my advice for everything (insert the twin’s tween eye roll here).
No Icing No Problem Cake Pop Dough
For this, you’ll need a handheld mixer. The beauty of this recipe is you can make the cake pop dough and finished product with a small handheld mixer and a tabletop oven or air fryer. Seriously. This is great dorm room food! Or you can buy a plain pound cake or sheet cake at the grocery store (look in the clearance bin!).
Instructions
Break up large chunks of pre-baked cake or cake scraps into a bowl or a food processor. Mix the cake on low for 1-2 minutes. For a food processor, use the chopping blade and run for about 1-2 mins or until the big chunks are pretty uniform in size. You want it to be crumbly but not too fine. Stir the cake to make sure the large pieces are broken up. Pulse a few times if needed.
Add 1 tablespoon of water and mix for one minute or run in the food processor until the cake crumbs begin to fly around the bowl. Add one more tbsp of water and mix until a wet dough forms. This is the base for your cake pop ornaments because it molds well and doesn’t get too sticky.
Cake Pops with Icing
Instructions
Break the cake into crumbs with a whisk or large spoon. Add a small spoonful of icing and
mix for several minutes until it forms a dough. Continue to mix in small half spoonfuls of icing if the cake crumbs don’t stick together. This will make a sweeter and chunkier cake pop dough than the above version.
