It all started at Starbucks. I was studying there the other day, and as my eyes glazed over they drifted to the pastries behind the glass. There were croissants and brownies and cookies, but the ornaments topping the lollipop sticks caught my attention. Intrigued by the cake pops, I went to go take a look. However, when I saw that they were each $1.95 (and I definitely wanted more than one) I decided to make them myself.
The first thing to note about cake pops is that they’re literally made from crushed cake. After baking a large vanilla cake and cooling it, I had to tear the entire thing apart and crumble it, all while refraining from putting it in my mouth. This was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life.
Second, rolling perfect spheres out of crushed cake mixed in frosting is extremely difficult. They don’t cooperate, no matter how hard you try, and after thirty attempts, I still ended up with thirty lopsided ovoids.
Cake-crushing and ovoid-rolling, though, were nothing compared to the next part. Dipping the cake balls seemed fun before I realized that I had nowhere to put my creation, but upon examining the recipe more closely, I learned that I could use a regular old shoebox with holes punched into it. Note to anyone who wants to try this: do not make your cake pops too large. Many of them tilted and fell off their sticks, melted chocolate and all, while the others remained upright but perilously balanced.
Despite the recipe’s assurance that I would have forty beautifully frosted cake pops by the end of this process, I had about twenty-five, each with their own unique bowl-cut appearance. I will admit, they were still delicious, but the pain of the emotional trauma I went through outweighed the joy I felt while eating them.
If you want cake pops, I suggest you just take a trip to Starbucks.