Cake Pop Advice

Unless you've pretty much been living under a rock, you've most certainly seen cake pops.  If you've ever tried to make them, though, you may have realized that although the recipe is amazingly simple, getting the balls to maintain their ball form can sometimes be difficult once you get to the decorating/pop-crafting part.
Well, I've made cake pops a few times and over the sessions, I've managed to come up with some solutions that help out the process. I don't know how novel these are, but they've helped me out, so I figured I'd share them.  If you've made cake pops before or if you're a cake pop virgin, hopefully these tips will help you out as well.

To start, you'll need your basic cake pop ingredients/supplies:

• box cake mix (and necessary extra ingredients...egg, oil, water)
• 1 can frosting of your choice
• lollipop sticks (available at any craft store)

Making the actual balls if really simple.  Bake your cake according to the directions on the box.  Once it has cooled a bit, mess it up and crumble it in a bowl.  Mix the can of frosting into the bowl with the cake crumbles.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Shape the cake mixture into balls and place them on the cookie sheet.  Put them in the freezer for at least an hour.  

When you're ready to make the balls into pops, place the chocolate (or whatever you plan to coat them with) in a microwaveable measuring cup.  Melt it by microwaving in 45-second intervals, stirring after each time.  When the chocolate is melted, take the balls out of the freezer.  Dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and then into a cake ball.  Allow that chocolate to harden (even place them back in the freezer if you want).  This will keep the stick from falling out once you go to coat the entire ball.

Now to coat the balls.  I suggest using a spoon and a frosting spreader.  Use the spoon to scoop a bit of melted chocolate on to the ball.  Use the frosting spreader to smooth the chocolate over the cake ball.

And once the ball is coated, place it in a floral foam brick to harden.  

Leave them there for a few minutes to set.  Make sure if you're going to add sprinkles or any other coating you do it here before it's too late!  Once they're dry, you can transfer them, wrap them, or whatever else you want to do.  

PS: For pretty displays, you can wrap the same floral bricks in wrapping paper and use them as cake pop stands.