Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops

I been seeing cake pops show up all over blogs recently, so it was just a matter of time until I tried making them myself.

I decided on these Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops. I followed this recipe, but mine didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as theirs.

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I started by making this chocolate vegan cake, which I also used for these Halloween cupcakes. This is an excellent chocolate cake recipe; I highly recommend it.

After the cake cooled, I crumbled it up and mixed it with a container of chocolate frosting.

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I took the easy route and bought frosting.

I think this was my first mistake: using the entire container of frosting. I think I would have been better off with 3/4 of the container.

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Craig even helped me make the cake pops!


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After mixing the chocolate cake and frosting together, we rolled them into small balls and placed them on parchment paper.

We stuck the sticks in the pops but actually should have waited to do this step. For the sticks, I had Craig cut wooden skewers (kabob sticks) into thirds for the cake pop sticks.

From here, I stuck them in the fridge for an hour.

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I then melted a bag of white chocolate chips over a homemade double boiler. I did add a small amount of oil to the melted chocolate.


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Per the instructions I was following, you are supposed to dip the sticks into the frosting first and then stick them into the pops so the sticks stay in the pops better. So we took the sticks out of the pops and dipped them into the frosting and then stuck them in the pops.

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You can see some of the pops on the right are done correctly.

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Frosting the pops were a bit of a challenge. I have not mastered frosting things. I’m not sure if the pops were too moist because the pops just ended up being too soft and falling apart when we tried to dip them in the frosting.

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It was Craig’s idea just to spread frosting on the top, which was fine with me. I then sprinkled crushed candy canes on top.

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I’ve never had a cake pop before, but these were like eating a mouthful of frosting. It was like taking a huge bite of super sticky peanut butter. It was quite the experience to say the least. I want to try making them again—probably because I feel like I failed and now want to prove to myself that I can make them the right way, but I need hints from anyone who has made these before.

Hi, I'm Michelle

I love running around the lakes of Minnesota, running after my two boys, and racing anything from the 5K to the marathon. I have been blogging here since 2010 when I ran my first marathon. I finally secured my sub-3 hour marathon after trying for 8 years.

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8 Comments

  1. 12.26.11
    Sarah said:

    i’ve never tried making cake pops, but i agree with you that they are soooo sweet. the ones i’ve had are like a mouthful of frosting, which can be good, but also can be overwhelming.

    • 12.26.11
      Michelle said:

      That’s good to know because I thought maybe I had just done something wrong.

  2. 12.26.11

    They sure do sound delicious! The first time I made cake balls the icing was a disaster too. I put mine in the freezer for about 39 minutes to harden. This made them stay together a lot better when dipped in chocolate!

    • 12.26.11
      Michelle said:

      That’s good to know. We put ours outside (a freezer in and of itself) for a while but that was after we attempted to frost them. Thanks for the tip!

  3. 12.27.11
    Courtney said:

    I make mine smaller than what any recipe calls for, and I use an egg separator to dip them in the chocolate with that way they won’t fall apart on you and I don’t put them on sticks either. And I also put them in the freezer before I roll them into balls, after I roll them into balls and after I dip them in the chocolate. Hope this helps

    • 12.27.11
      Michelle said:

      Thanks so much for the hints. I’ll have to try them next time.

  4. 12.27.11
    mm said:

    I’ve made cake balls quite a few times and they’ve always been a hit… I usually make Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting though, and only use 3/4 of the icing container. Then instead of frosting them with anything, I melt chocolate almond bark and dip them in the almond bark, using a spoon to kind of pour some over the top and sides at the same time. Then into the fridge/freezer again to cool. But I think it’s cute to just have the top part frosted too!