Strawberry Cake Pops
Cake pops are such a wonderful bite-sized treat. They are perfect for parties and every time you want a quick dessert to-go.
When it comes to making them yourself, I find these even easier than a classic cake. The thing about cake pops is that you do not have to worry about leveling your cake layer or dealing with perfectly smooth frosting.
You just have to bake up a cake, let it cool, tear it into fine crumbs, stir in something to hold it all together, and roll it into balls. That is the beauty of cake pops. Whenever I want to impress my friend and family with an easy recipe, I make cake pops.
These cake pops are cute, tasty, and a great way to use leftover cake, so let the magic begin!
What is inside these cake pops?
These cake pops are made with strawberries, and they have an amazing strawberry flavor.
I whip up the strawberries into the cake, and the frosting, and even added some strawberries as a décor. So, you will get a full strawberry flavor with every bite of the cake pops.
They are coated with white chocolate, because chocolate and strawberries pair wonderfully, and if you want to use dark chocolate that is fine too. I went with the white chocolate as it is more elegant for this dessert.
How To Make Cake Pops
Cake pops, like any cake, start with a cake base or sponge. For this version, I went with a strawberry cake sponge, enriched with homemade strawberry jam.
I truly advise you to make homemade jam as it tastes better than any store-bought version and it does not take that much time.
Once your jam is ready, make the cake sponge by combining all the usual ingredients – butter, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla…and then add in your homemade jam.
Bake the sponge and allow it to cool down completely before you break it into pieces. For an amazing texture, I process my sponge cake in a food processor until I have fine crumbs.
Once the base is done, now, we have to make something that will hold our cake pops together. I went with good old-fashioned buttercream, but I enriched one with freeze-dried strawberries.
You can also add chopped fresh strawberries. The freeze-dried strawberries are my favorite thing in the world, and I add them to the desserts any time I have a chance.
Once your base is combined, pop it into a freezer until almost firm. It is easier to work with a firmer base instead of a very soft one. Shape the sponge mixture into the balls and insert lollipop sticks or skewers.
Make sure you dip the sticks into the melted white chocolate, so they have a firm grip. Without the chocolate, the cake pop may just fall off. How do I know? Because it happened to me once and I learned from my mistake immediately.
Arrange the cake pops on a baking sheet and freeze for 10-15 minutes. This may round a bit their perfect round shape and if you are a genuine perfectionist, you can use cake pop molds.
There are pretty good silicone ones, that have holes on the top where you can insert your skewer.
These molds are usually meant for baking the cake pops, but sometimes I like to shape my cake pops to fit the molds perfectly and just let them cool down in these.
This will ensure you have a perfectly round cake pop. There are also heart-shaped cake pops and I think those would work nicely with the strawberry cake pops.
Once the cake pops are all firmed up, dip them into melted white chocolate and chill in a fridge. You can invert these on a baking sheet, and in that case, you will get a chocolate “foot” at the bottom.
I know it is not the most appealing, but some people do it. My preferred method is to stick these in Styrofoam and just let them drip and chill like that.
Before the cake firms up, you can garnish the cake pops with freeze-fried strawberries or just omit this step.
Once the chocolate is firm, you can serve your cake pops.
What Can You Use For A Pop Of Flavor?
To make this extra special I placed strawberry gummies (from Haribo) in each cake pop. This gives a bit of chewy bite to each cake pop.
Of course, this is not required, and you can use a piece of strawberry instead. I just find these interesting because the strawberry gummies bring up the strawberry flavor to the maximum.
How To Make Strawberry Cake Pops
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Servings: 18
Ingredients
For the sponge:
- ¼ cup strawberry puree
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 5 tbsp butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ tsp vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp milk
- 24 candy strawberry gummies (optional)
For the frosting:
- ¼ cup freeze-dried strawberries
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 ½ tsp milk
For the coating:
- 2 ½ cups chopped white chocolate
Instructions:
To make the sponge cake, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the strawberry puree in a sauce pot and simmer, stirring for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool down.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar.
Add egg whites and beat until fluffy.
Stir in vanilla powder, yogurt, and milk.
Add flour and baking powder and stir until combined.
Finally, fold in the strawberry puree. Pour the batter into an 8-inch spring form and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool the sponge completely.
To make the cake pops, crumble the sponge cake in a food processor until you have small crumbs.
To make the frosting, beat butter with sugar and powdered milk until smooth.
Process the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor until you have a powder. You can leave some chunks in if you want to.
Stir the freeze-dried strawberries into the frosting. Add frosting to the dough and stir to combine thoroughly.
Transfer the cake pops mix to a freezer for 10-15 minutes.
To assemble, divide the dough into 18 portions.
Flatten each between your palms and place strawberry gummies in the center, if you’re using them. If not, skip this step and just shape the cake pop into a ball.
Wrap the dough around the gummy and roll it until round.
Melt 3 tbsp of white chocolate in a microwave. Dip each lollipop skewer in melted white chocolate and insert it into a cake pop ball.
Freeze the cake pops for another 10 minutes.
To coat the cake pops, melt the white chocolate in a microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring every time.
Coat each cake pop with the white chocolate and place it in a glass or insert top-up in a glass or piece of styrofoam.
Refrigerate cake pops for 1 hour and serve.
Strawberry Cake Pops
Easy and delicious strawberry cake pops that are the perfect dessert to-go!
Ingredients
For the sponge:
- ¼ cup strawberry puree
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 5 tbsp butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ tsp vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp milk
- 24 candy strawberry gummies (optional)
For the frosting:
- ¼ cup freeze-dried strawberries
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 ½ tsp milk
For the coating:
- 2 ½ cups chopped white chocolate
Instructions
To make the sponge cake, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the strawberry puree in a sauce pot and simmer, stirring for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool down.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar.
Add egg whites and beat until fluffy.
Stir in vanilla powder, yogurt, and milk.
Add flour and baking powder and stir until combined.
Finally, fold in the strawberry puree. Pour the batter into an 8-inch spring form and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool the sponge cake completely.
Make the cake pops; crumble the sponge process in a food processor until you have small crumbs.
To make the frosting, beat butter with sugar and powdered milk until smooth. Process the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor until you have a powder. You can leave some chunks in if you want to.
Stir the freeze-dried strawberries into the frosting. Add frosting to the cake crumbs and stir to combine thoroughly.
Transfer the cake pops mix to a freezer for 10-15 minutes.
To assemble, divide the dough into 18 portions.
Flatten each between your palms and place strawberry gummies in the center, if you're using them. If not, skip this step and just shape the cake pop into a ball.
Wrap the dough around the gummy and roll it until round.
Melt 3 tbsp of white chocolate in a microwave. Dip each lollipop skewer in melted white chocolate and insert it into a cake pop ball.
Freeze the cake pops for another 10 minutes.
To coat the cake pops, melt the white chocolate in a microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring every time.
Coat each cake pop with the white chocolate and place it in a glass or insert in a Styrofoam.
Refrigerate cake pops for 1 hour and serve.
