Ingredients:
Prepared cake or cupcakes (I used Golden Cake mix by Dunkin Hines)
10 oz of white chocolate
½ cup heavy cream
Bag of chocolate chips
1 tsp of vegetable oil
Lollipop sticks (I got mine from bulk barn)
Styrofoam block (I got mine at bulk barn, Michaels carries them too)
Directions:
Bake the cake according to the box and let it cool.
In the meantime using two spoons drop rounded balls of Nutella onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. This allows you to work easier with the Nutella without having it ooze out of your cake mixture.
Like my other recipe, I use a ganache filling instead of a buttercream filling. To make the ganache, add the 10oz of white chocolate and ½ cup of cream. Microwave for 30 seconds, take outof the microwave and stir. Continue to microwave at intervals of 30 second intervals and stir after each time until your ganache is smooth. Do not over heat it otherwise your ganache will seize (probably only need 1 minute total).
In a large bowl break apart your cake until you get a coarse crumb consistency. Add the ganache to your cake (first add 2/3rds, if more is required add more), mix well with your hands.
Line a baking sheet with parchmentpaper and begin rolling spoonfuls of cake mixture into balls (about half the size of a ping pong ball) with the palm of your hands. Flatten the balls to create discs. Remove your Nutella from the freezer and place one piece on your cake disk. Cover the cake disk with another cake disk and gently push the ends together and begin rolling the disks between your palms to form a rounded ball.
In the meantime, using a double boiler, add your chocolate chips and oil (see chocolate covered strawberries for detailed
directions) and melt until very smooth. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave using 30 second intervals and mixing as you go.
Take your lollipop stick and dip it into your chocolate mixture about 1 centimeter down, tap off excess chocolate and stick into your cake ball about half way in. This step is very important because it creates a seal and helps to keep the cake ball from slipping off the stick. Continue until all your cake balls have sticks.
***Note: unlike my other cake pop recipe do not place your cake pops in the fridge between rolling the cake balls and
inserting the sticks because if your Nutella center is too hard it will be pushed out when you insert your lollipop stick.
Place in the freezer for approximately 20 minutes to harden and make dipping easier.
Re-heat your chocolate if it has cooled down. Transfer your chocolate to a mug or small narrow container, this makes dipping easier. Remove cake pops from the freezer and carefully dip your cake pop straight into the chocolate, ensuring the cake is completely covered. Slowly pull your cake pop straight up and on a 30-degree angle turning slowly to allow excess chocolate to drip off.
Place your cake pop in a Styrofoam block or cake pop holder to set (I used a Styrofoam block I purchased from bulk barn and it worked flawlessly).
If you are storing these in the fridge overnight make sure you place parchment paper in between the layers and cover tightly to avoid any condensation.
Have fun decorating them. I wanted mine to look like a flower bed so I melted some white chocolate in a ziplock bag, cut a small piece from the corner of the bag and used it to pipe a swirl on the top of the cake pop and finished it off with a gold ribbon. I then placed them in a flower holder and sprinkled chocolate cookie crumbs at the bottom to resemble dirt, to give it that real authentic feel. You can decorate it any way you like, get creative.
