How to Make Cake Pops: Easy Spring Recipes

Cake pops are a fun delicious treat to make for a wide variety of occasions during the spring. Gather a cake mix, frosting recipe, and lollipop sticks, and you'll be on your way to whipping up a batch. Like regular cakes, there are numerous flavors for both cakes and frosting as well as many possibilities for decorations, making this a dessert option for virtually anyone. Happy spring and happy baking!

• Cold cake mixed with a Kitchen Aid. Opinions vary on this topic, but many people use cold cake and cold frosting. They mix their cake and frosting with the paddle attachment of a Kitchen Aid.
• Proper cake to frosting ratio. There is no perfect ratio, and the ratio will vary for different kinds of cake and frosting. It is important to experiment with a small batch and find a mix that works before whipping up a large batch.
• Cookie scoop. Many people like to use a cookie scoop to get evenly formed round cake balls.
• Sticks. Some people recommend dipping the lollipop sticks in candy melts or melted chocolate before they insert them into their cake balls. Put the stick approximately halfway into the ball. Do not stick it all the way through or you will break the other end.
• Refrigerate. After you have formed cake balls and inserted the sticks, refrigerate your cake for a minimum of two or three hours. This step ensures that the cake pops will not fall apart when you frost them. If you want them cold faster, you can put them in a large Ziploc and freeze them for 20-30 minutes.
• Frosting. Work in small batches of no more than six at a time. Some people like to use a spoon to drizzle the frosting and then gently tap off the excess. If you're using candy melts and they're too thick, add a few drops of vegetable oil.
• Sprinkles. If you choose to add sprinkles to your cake pops, add them immediately after the frosting before it hardens.
• Hardening. Lay a piece of wax paper under a baking cooling rack to keep the cake pops from touching each other or flattening while they harden. Once they've hardened, refrigerate or freeze them until finished or stick them into a wrapped Styrofoam square.

• Birds.The most popular designs for spring bird cake pops are blue birds.It may not be very spring specific, but when you search for bird cake pops, there are a number of ideas for Angry Bird cake pops. One of the most popular Angry Birds tutorial is from The Girl Who Ate Everything. Big Bird is another popular bird option.
• Bunnies. One of the most fun parts about making bunny cake pops is the bunny ears. Many other bakers use candy corn. Look for seasonal Jelly Belly candy corn in pastels. Moscato Mom uses marshmallow confetti. If you don't mind using a non-edible option, think about making pipe cleaner ears. Consider mini M&Ms for the feet and tiny candy hearts for the noses.
• Chicks. Pint Sized Baker put together a great set of chicks in eggs, chicks partially hatched, and chicks fully hatched. You can mix and match these options as you please. Bringing Beauty has just one of the examples out there for full chick bodies made from two cake balls. Some people take it one step further and create nests for their chicks.
• Easter eggs. You can apply virtually any Easter egg decorating technique to cake pops. Look for seasonal sprinkles and small candies that can serve as decorations.
• Eggs in nests. Take the egg concept one step further and create nests for them. Some people opt to make more realistic bird egg cake pops to put in nests. Check out eggs in nests tutorials from 1 Fine Cookie and Thistlewood Farms.
• Flowers. You can attach just about any kind of edible flower to a regular round cake pop. Cake Journal makes her flower petals out of fondant. Life, Love, and Sugar has a detailed tutorial for fancy ruffled flower cake pops. Candy corn makes beautiful flower pedals. Candy corn pedals are also a great option.

• Insects. Bees are a little bit complicated as they involve candy melts for the stripes and fondant for the wings. Midtown Sweets has a lovely set. Chasing Some Blue Sky has great tips for creating ladybug half shells with candy molds.
• Lions and lambs / sheep. Lion and lamb cake pops can be a perfect component for a lion and lamb unit with preschoolers or kindergarteners. Lambs can also be fun for Easter. Some people use mini marshmallows for the wool while others use mini candies. Check out Cooking Creation's version of Bakerella's idea for lambs.
• Pastels. You can use pastel colors for just about any idea in this article or simply decorate regular cake pops in pastel colors. Passion For Baking decorated her pastel cake pops with edible buttons.
• Patterns. Stripes, chevrons, and polka dots are all very popular designs for cake pop decorating. Don't feel limited to these ideas. The possibilities as endless.You can simply drizzle candy melts on cake pops to create more free form designs as well.
• Rain boots. I only found one photo for this idea from Catch My Party, but I had to include it here because it's so cute. Rain boots are such a classic spring item, but who would have thought that you could incorporate them into food?