We used chocolate cake and orange melts for our cake pops recipe but you can make vanilla cake pops, red velvet cake pops, and even Oreo cake pops and still cover them with the orange Wilton Candy Melts.
Bake cake as directed in a 9 x 13 pan and let cool completely.
Crumble cake up into a large mixing bowl.
Remove lid and seal from frosting and place tub in microwave for 10 seconds to soften.
Add half of the frosting to the crumbled cake and mash with a fork until the cake and the frosting is mixed. Use more icing, if needed.
Pick up a small amount of the cake/frosting mixture and shape into about a 1-inch ball (or square if you're making Spookley pumpkin). It should hold together without breaking apart. If mixture is too dry, add a little more frosting to the cake mixture in the bowl.
Continue making cake balls (or squares) and place on a wax paper lined baking cookie sheet.
Make sure balls are tightly packed and look smooth with no cracks. If they appear cracked, add more frosting.
Transfer cookie sheet with cake balls to freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.
While cake balls are in the freezer, place 12 ounces of the candy melts in a small, deep microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring each time until completely melted. The melted coating should coat a spoon but still be able to slowly drip off. (Or, you can use the small crock like we described in the post.)
Remove cake balls from freezer. Dip the lollipop sticks into candy coating and then insert the sticks into center of your cake balls, taking care not to go all the way through. Let them set for 1-2 minutes, with sticks in the air.
Pick up cake pop by the stick and dip into candy coating. Rotate the cake pop to help get rid of excess coating.
Reheat and/or melt more candy coating as needed.
Place cake pops sticks into the cake pops stand (or a block of styrofoam). Allow to dry completely, about 5 minutes.
TO DECORATE THE PUMPKIN CAKE POPS
Draw face onto the cake pop and let dry.
Cut green gum drops in half. Use warm candy coating to stick half of the gum drop to the top for the pumpkin stem.
Stick back into the cake pops stand to dry completely before placing in favor bags or container.
Repeat until all pumpkins have faces!
Notes
• DO NOT use food coloring with the Wilton's chocolate melts. It will make the melts break apart and you will not be able to get them smooth again. If you cannot find the orange Wilton candy melts, use the Wilton Color Setmade specifically for the melts.• DO NOT use one of those decorating gels to make the faces. The gel never completely dries, so you can’t put them in treat bags without them smearing. (We found out the hard way!)• DO NOT use a soft tip decorating food pen. It's too soft to make little faces on the pumpkins. (Use the thick tip baking markers instead.)
Nutrition information is estimated. Changes to the recipe and use of different brands may cause changes to the nutritional information to vary slightly from the ones provided here.
Don't forget to pair the recipe with Spookley the Square Pumpkin children's book!