Description
Delightfully festive Christmas Cake Pops made from a moist white cake base, blended with creamy vanilla frosting, and dipped in colorful candy melts for a fun and decorative holiday treat. These cake pops are easy to make and customizable with various holiday-themed decorations like sprinkles, pretzels, and mini Reese’s, perfect for celebrations and gifting.
Ingredients
Scale
Cake Base
- 1 box White Cake Mix
- 1 cup Water
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- 3 Egg whites
Frosting
- 16 oz Vanilla frosting (store bought or homemade)
Decorations
- 12 oz Candy melts (red, white, green, or brown for reindeer)
- Sprinkles or other candy melts for decorating
- Pretzels (if making reindeer)
- Mini Reese’s (for ornaments)
Instructions
- Preheat and Prepare: Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease a 9×13 inch baking dish thoroughly to prevent sticking.
- Mix Cake Batter: In a large bowl, combine the white cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and egg whites. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl sides occasionally to ensure a smooth, well-mixed batter.
- Bake the Cake: Pour the batter evenly into the greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool and Crumble: Allow the cake to cool completely. Once cooled, crumble the cake into fine crumbs in a large bowl.
- Incorporate Frosting: Add the vanilla frosting to the crumbled cake and mix thoroughly until the mixture is moist and holds together well.
- Shape and Chill: Drop spoonfuls of the cake-frosting mixture (about 24) on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes to firm up, making it easier to shape without stickiness.
- Form Cake Pops: Roll each chilled spoonful into smooth balls or shape into holiday trees as desired. Insert cake pop sticks into each shape and place them back into the freezer briefly to set.
- Melt Candy Coating: Melt candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and completely melted.
- Dip Cake Pops: Dip each cake pop into the melted candy melts to coat fully. Immediately add sprinkles if desired so they stick before the coating hardens. Place dips into styrofoam or a stand to dry.
- Decorate: Once coated shells harden, add a second color or design details by melting additional candy melts, placing them in a piping bag or Ziploc bag with a small corner cut, and drawing stripes or facial features as preferred.
Notes
- Christmas Cake Pops offer versatility with decoration – try stripes, sprinkles, snowmen, trees, or reindeer themes.
- Use brown candy melts and pretzels to create reindeer features.
- Mini Reese’s candies make great ornament decorations.
- Work quickly when adding sprinkles after dipping the cake pops so they adhere before the candy coating sets.
- Freezing the formed cake balls before dipping helps prevent them from falling apart and makes handling easier.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cake pop
- Calories: 232 kcal
- Sugar: 25 g
- Sodium: 197 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 34 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 10 mg
