Creating Fun Cakesicles: Killer Recipe

Cakesicles are a fun twist on a traditional cake pop. Crafted in popsicle molds, cakesicles are an easy-to-make version of the ever-popular treat with a chocolate shell surrounding a blend of cake and frosting.

In this article, you will learn a step-by-step guide on how to make fun cake popsicles with a video tutorial, pictures, and a killer recipe.

I hope you are ready! Grab an apron and let’s make some cake popsicles or cakesicles.

Cakesicles or Cake Popsicles – What Are They Really About?

If you have ever struggled to dip a cake pop or had them crack or fall off the stick, you are going to be so happy to discover the cakesicle.

Unlike a cake pop, which is made by rolling a cake and frosting combo into a ball (or another shape) and then dipping it in chocolate or candy melts, a cakesicle is created by painting the chocolate into a popsicle mold, then filling the hardened candy shell with the cake/frosting mixture.

The candy shell is thick enough that it won't crack but thin enough to bite into. It's also smooth and shiny and perfectly shaped.¹https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/cakesicles

Recipe for Cakesicles

• Prep Time: 1hr
• Cooling Time: 1H
• Cook Time: 0min
• Servings: 24 Servings

Equipment & Kitchen Utensils Used: mixing bowl, popsicle stick, popsicle cavity and mold, teaspoons, tablespoons, electric mixer, a 4-cup liquid measuring cup or another container, timer, oven, refrigerator, cake plate, or serving board.

Ingredients

• Cakesicle Filling
• 1 baked 9-inch by 13-inch sheet cake (or two 8-inch round or square cakes): You need to make a cake. You may use any cake mix or a handmade cake recipe if you like. You may make vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and so on.
• ⅓ cup frosting, plus more if desired: You may use something similar to homemade buttercream icing or store-bought frosting. The icing will serve as glue, holding the cake crumbs intact.²https://chelsweets.com/cakesicles/
• White Chocolate Shell
• 32 ounces melted and tempered white chocolate or melted white confectionery coating: You have various chocolate alternatives to choose from. Candiquik is fantastic for dipping, but you may also use candy melts, chocolate chips, candy bars, and so on.

In this article, I will show you how to make cakesicles using white chocolate or white candy melts. You can use the technique to create dark or milk chocolate cakesicles too.

If you plan to make cakesicles for a holiday or special occasion, you can even use colored candy melts. Cakesicles look great plain, in one solid color or shade of chocolate, but they look even better when decorated.

You can simply add a drizzle of chocolate or colored candy melts to add a festive touch. Christmas cakesicles drizzled with red and green candy melts or birthday cakesicles topped with rainbow sprinkles make fun desserts, party favors, or gifts.

How to Make Cakesicles 

Make Cake Ball Filling

• Bake a cake either in a 9x13 pan or two 8-inch round pans.
• Use a chocolate cake mix and add milk, eggs, sour cream, and instant chocolate pudding mix.
• You'll notice in the recipe that oil isn’t added to the cake mix. So this recipe is a successful experiment without the oil, as so many people complain about having oily cake pops.
• The cake baked without oil baked up beautifully and was only slightly dryer than a cake baked with oil. Once the frosting was mixed in you couldn't even tell the difference in flavor, but the filling was not greasy at all.
• If you are using a cake mix, just skip the oil, use the number of eggs and water (or use milk) listed on the box then add 3 tablespoons of instant pudding mix and 3 tablespoons of sour cream. This makes a really delicious cake!
• Crumble the cake into a bowl or preferably into the bowl of a stand mixer (my favorite method for getting super smooth cake ball filling.)
• Add some frosting and mix using a stand mixer or your hands.
• The amount of frosting may vary depending on your cake.
• Start by adding ⅓ cup of frosting, then add more if desired.
• If you like your filling to be really gooey you can add up to 16 ounces of frosting.
• You don't have to dip these so it won't matter if the cake ball filling is soft. That's one of the benefits of this method of making cake balls.
• If using a stand mixer to combine the frosting and cake, beat on medium speed until well blended and smooth.
• Your cake ball filling will be really smooth and creamy! I love using my stand mixer to create cake balls.
• If mixing by hand, literally use your hands to blend the cake and frosting together. This will help you achieve a better texture.

 Create a white chocolate shell.

• You can use melted and tempered pure white chocolate or melted white compound chocolate (confectionery coating). What type of white chocolate should you use? The answer is pure white chocolate because pure white chocolate made with cocoa butter has a wonderful flavor and creamy texture and tastes amazing as a coating for cakesicles or cake balls.
• You can buy bars, blocks, chips, or wafers (also called callets).
• Pure white chocolate will need to be melted and then tempered for the white chocolate to set hard and be free of any fat or sugar bloom (white streaks or spots). Callebaut and Lindt make really nice white chocolate.

Simple Chocolate Tempering Method:

• Chop ¾ of your white chocolate into really fine pieces if using bars or blocks.
• Heat the chopped white chocolate in the microwave at 50% power for 15-second increments, stirring after each, and allowing the chocolate to rest for a minute, then stirring again.
• Heat until about 75% of the white chocolate is melted.
• Remove and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted.
• Check the temperature of the chocolate.
• If it hasn't gone above 88-89 degrees Fahrenheit then your chocolate will still be in temper and it's ready to use, and you can skip the rest of these steps.
• If it has gone over 88-89 degrees, then you'll need to continue to heat the chocolate until the temperature reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Then stir in the remaining chunk of white chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate cools to 88 degrees F.
• Remove the chocolate chunk and test the temper of the chocolate by dipping the tip of a knife into the melted chocolate and setting it on your counter. If the chocolate hardens within a few minutes and is shiny the chocolate is tempered and ready to work with.
• If needed you can return the chocolate to the microwave and heat it at 50% power for 5 seconds to keep it warm.

 Melt Confectionery Coating

• You need to heat your confectionery coating so that it registers between 100° and 120° Fahrenheit. If you get it too hot, it will thicken and may burn.

• Pour your compound chocolates (confectionery coating/candy melts) wafers into a microwave-safe bowl.
• Heat on high power for 30-second increments, stirring after each, until about 75% melted.
• Then let the candy rest for 3 minutes before stirring until melted.
• It's best to allow the residual heat of the melted candy to melt the remaining wafers so that the candy does not get too hot.

Paint White Chocolate into Popsicle Molds

• You will need some silicone popsicle molds to make your cakesicles. You can find molds that have popsicle cavities that are 1 ½ - 2 inches wide, 2 ½ - 3 ½ inches long, and ½ - 1 inch deep.
• Use a 4-cavity silicone popsicle mold to create my cakesicles.
• The size of this mold is very ok. The pops are 1 ½ x 2 ½ x ½ inches which is a great size. It's about twice as big as a typical cake pop. People have always thought cake pops were a bit too small. These treats are perfect!

The quantities listed below are for this particular popsicle mold. If you use a different-sized mold then your quantities will change.

• Spoon 1 tablespoonful of white chocolate or white confectionery coating into one cavity in the popsicle mold.
• Brush the chocolate up the sides of the mold.
• Immediately, while the chocolate is still wet, insert a popsicle stick, then remove it. This will keep the hole for the popsicle stick free of white chocolate. You might want to do this twice just to ensure none of the wet chocolate covers the hole.
• Repeat, creating all the candy shells in the 4-cavity mold.
• Pop the mold into the refrigerator if using pure white chocolate or into the freezer if using confectionery coating.
• Let the candy shell chill for 3-5 minutes, just until hardened.
• Remove and allow the mold to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• Then paint a second layer of white chocolate just around the edges of each popsicle cavity.
• Chill for about 2 minutes just until the chocolate hardens.

*If using confectionery coating and painting into a larger, 10-cavity silicone popsicle mold just paint 5 of the cavities, then chill, then repeat with the remaining cavities. If your candy dries at room temperature it may streak.

 Fill Homemade Cakesicles

• Pinch off a tablespoonful (½ ounce) of cake ball filling and press it into the candy shell, leaving about 1/16 of an inch space on top to add more white chocolate.
• Insert the popsicle stick.
• Make sure the cake ball filling is still touching the candy shell in all places. You don't want any big gaps to fill up with chocolate.
• Spoon about 1 teaspoon of white chocolate over the filling then spread it into a thin layer.
• For a nice flat surface, scrape off any excess chocolate using an offset metal spatula.
• Pop the cakesicles into the refrigerator (pure white chocolate) or the freezer (for white confectionery coating) for 3-5 minutes until the chocolate hardens.

Note: You may see some of the darker chocolate cake through the white chocolate on top, but as long as the candy is at least 1/16 of an inch thick over the top of the filling, the cake filling won't come through. If you scrape, and you actually see cake ball filling sticking through, then cover it again, and just leave it a bit thicker on top.³https://hungryhappenings.com/how-to-make-cakesicles-cake-pop-popsicles/

For Un-mold Cakesicles:

• Press the pops out of the silicone mold.
• Use a sharp thin knife to remove any excess chocolate around the outer edges of the cakesicles after they have come to room temperature. If you try to shave off bits of cold chocolate, the pieces will stick to the outer shell of the cakesicles.

 Decorating Cakesicles

There are so many ways to create festive-looking cakesicles and you can watch the video in this article to see how you can drizzle chocolate or colored candy melts over top. You can even add sprinkles.

Recipe Notes

• If you simply melt pure white chocolate and use it to create the outer shell of your cakesicles the white chocolate will not set up hard, may be difficult to remove from the mold, and may bloom a day or so afterward, leaving streaks and spots on the exterior of the cakesicle.
• Compound chocolates are similar to white chocolate but are made using a form of vegetable oil, typically palm kernel oil, instead of cocoa butter.
• If you like the flavor of the candy straight out of the package, then you will also enjoy it as a coating on your cakesicles.
• Some bakers use the flavor of some white confectionery coating to pure white chocolate and it's so much easier to work with being it doesn't require tempering.
• Some bakers use Peter's IceCaps for candy making and used it to make these cakesicles but you can use Merckens, Girardelli, or Wilton's Candy Melts. You can even purchase Nestle Premier White Morsels or white almond bark from the grocery store and use those. They are also compound chocolates (confectionery coating) and can simply be melted to make the candy shell around your cakesicles.
• If using confectionery coating and painting into a larger, 10-cavity silicone popsicle mold just paint 5 of the cavities, then chill, then repeat with the remaining cavities. If your candy dries at room temperature it may streak.
• You may see some of the darker chocolate cake through the white chocolate on top, but as long as the candy is at least 1/16 of an inch thick over the top of the filling, the cake filling won't come through. If you scrape, and you actually see cake ball filling sticking through, then cover it again, and just leave it a bit thicker on top.
• Mold will develop on the filling if you keep them longer than that and the problem is that you won't notice the mold until you bite into your cakesicle.
• If you are using a cake mix, just skip adding the oil and use the number of eggs and water (or use milk) listed on the box then add 3 tablespoons of instant pudding mix and 3 tablespoons of sour cream. This makes a really delicious cake!
• If using Duncan Hines cake mixes, add 3 whole eggs, 1 cup of milk, 3 tablespoons of the dry pudding mix, and 3 tablespoons of sour cream.
• You can add the oil if you prefer. When making cakesicles the addition of the oil isn't too bad. For cake pops it can make the filling a bit greasy making balls difficult to dip.
• You can also make simple popsicle shapes or you can make shaped pops like unicorn cakesicles, skull cakesicles, and snowman cakesicles.

Additional resources and citations

• 1
  https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/cakesicles
• 2
  https://chelsweets.com/cakesicles/
• 3
  https://hungryhappenings.com/how-to-make-cakesicles-cake-pop-popsicles/

Fun Cakesicles Recipe with Video & Pics

Cakesicles are a fun twist on a traditional cake pop. Crafted in popsicle molds, cakesicles are an easy-to-make version of the ever-popular treat with a chocolate shell surrounding a blend of cake and frosting.

Type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keywords: Cakesicles

Recipe Yield: 24 Servings

Calories: 190kcal

Preparation Time: 1H Cooling Time: 1H

Cooking Time: 0H

Total Time: 2H

Recipe Ingredients:

• Cakesicle Filling:
• 1 baked 9-inch by 13-inch sheet cake (or two 8-inch round or square cakes): You need to make a cake. You may use any cake mix or a handmade cake recipe if you like. You may make vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and so on.
• ⅓ cup frosting, plus more if desired: You may use something similar to homemade buttercream icing or store-bought frosting. The icing will serve as glue, holding the cake crumbs intact.
  
  
  White Chocolate Shell:
• 32 ounces melted and tempered white chocolate or melted white confectionery coating: You have various chocolate alternatives to choose from. Candiquik is fantastic for dipping, but you may also use candy melts, chocolate chips, candy bars, and so on.

Recipe Instructions:

Make Cake Ball Filling:

Step 1:

Bake a cake either in a 9x13 pan or two 8-inch round pans.

Step 2:

Use a chocolate cake mix and add milk, eggs, sour cream, and instant chocolate pudding mix.

Step 3:

You'll notice in the recipe that oil isn’t added to the cake mix. So this recipe is a successful experiment without the oil, as so many people complain about having oily cake pops.

Step 4:

The cake baked without oil baked up beautifully and was only slightly dryer than a cake baked with oil. Once the frosting was mixed in you couldn't even tell the difference in flavor, but the filling was not greasy at all.

Step 5:

If you are using a cake mix, just skip the oil, use the number of eggs and water (or use milk) listed on the box then add 3 tablespoons of instant pudding mix and 3 tablespoons of sour cream. This makes a really delicious cake!

Step 6:

Crumble the cake into a bowl or preferably into the bowl of a stand mixer (my favorite method for getting super smooth cake ball filling.)

Step 7:

Add some frosting and mix using a stand mixer or your hands.

Step 8:

The amount of frosting may vary depending on your cake.

Step 9:

Start by adding ⅓ cup of frosting, then add more if desired.

Step 10:

If you like your filling to be really gooey you can add up to 16 ounces of frosting.

Step 11:

You don't have to dip these so it won't matter if the cake ball filling is soft. That's one of the benefits of this method of making cake balls.

Step 12:

If using a stand mixer to combine the frosting and cake, beat on medium speed until well blended and smooth.

Step 13:

Your cake ball filling will be really smooth and creamy! I love using my stand mixer to create cake balls.

Step 14:

If mixing by hand, literally use your hands to blend the cake and frosting together. This will help you achieve a better texture.

Create a white chocolate shell:

Step 1:

Chop ¾ of your white chocolate into really fine pieces if using bars or blocks.

Step 2:

Heat the chopped white chocolate in the microwave at 50% power for 15-second increments, stirring after each, and allowing the chocolate to rest for a minute, then stirring again.

Step 3:

Heat until about 75% of the white chocolate is melted.

Step 4:

Remove and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted.

Step 5:

Check the temperature of the chocolate.

Step 6:

If it hasn't gone above 88-89 degrees Fahrenheit then your chocolate will still be in temper and it's ready to use, and you can skip the rest of these steps.

Step 7:

If it has gone over 88-89 degrees, then you'll need to continue to heat the chocolate until the temperature reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 8:

Then stir in the remaining chunk of white chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate cools to 88 degrees F.

Step 9:

Remove the chocolate chunk and test the temper of the chocolate by dipping the tip of a knife into the melted chocolate and setting it on your counter. If the chocolate hardens within a few minutes and is shiny the chocolate is tempered and ready to work with.

Step 10:

If needed you can return the chocolate to the microwave and heat it at 50% power for 5 seconds to keep it warm.

Melt Confectionery Coating:

Step 1:

You need to heat your confectionery coating so that it registers between 100° and 120° Fahrenheit. If you get it too hot, it will thicken and may burn.

Step 2:

Pour your compound chocolates (confectionery coating/candy melts) wafers into a microwave-safe bowl.

Step 3:

Heat on high power for 30-second increments, stirring after each, until about 75% melted.

Step 4:

Then let the candy rest for 3 minutes before stirring until melted.

Step 5:

It's best to allow the residual heat of the melted candy to melt the remaining wafers so that the candy does not get too hot.

Paint White Chocolate into Popsicle Molds:

Step 1:

Spoon 1 tablespoonful of white chocolate or white confectionery coating into one cavity in the popsicle mold.

Step 2:

Brush the chocolate up the sides of the mold.

Step 3:

Immediately, while the chocolate is still wet, insert a popsicle stick, then remove it. This will keep the hole for the popsicle stick free of white chocolate. You might want to do this twice just to ensure none of the wet chocolate covers the hole.

Step 4:

Repeat, creating all the candy shells in the 4-cavity mold.

Step 5:

Pop the mold into the refrigerator if using pure white chocolate or into the freezer if using confectionery coating.

Step 6:

Let the candy shell chill for 3-5 minutes, just until hardened.

Step 7:

Remove and allow the mold to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Step 8:

Then paint a second layer of white chocolate just around the edges of each popsicle cavity.

Step 9:

Chill for about 2 minutes just until the chocolate hardens.

Fill Homemade Cakesicles:

Step 1:

Pinch off a tablespoonful (½ ounce) of cake ball filling and press it into the candy shell, leaving about 1/16 of an inch space on top to add more white chocolate.

Step 2:

Insert the popsicle stick.

Step 3:

Make sure the cake ball filling is still touching the candy shell in all places. You don't want any big gaps to fill up with chocolate.

Step 4:

Spoon about 1 teaspoon of white chocolate over the filling then spread it into a thin layer.

Step 5:

For a nice flat surface, scrape off any excess chocolate using an offset metal spatula.

Step 6:

Pop the cakesicles into the refrigerator (pure white chocolate) or the freezer (for white confectionery coating) for 3-5 minutes until the chocolate hardens.

Editor's Rating:
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