Kids love cake pops. Like crazy! My son doesn’t like to eat cakes in general. You convert them into a form of cake pops, he will easily finish a dozen in a heart beat. I’ve made cake pops for his school events all the time. His friends are always amazed, and that makes him happy. And I would say there is nothing to make myself prouder than this.

Last year I did these cake pops for Halloween. And I realized I’m not a big fan of edible decorating pen. The major reason is that the “ink” seems to be fading very soon after you use it for a while. I would suspect that maybe the candy on the cake pop starts to coat the tip of the pen, and it kind of blocks the “ink” from coming out. Also the tip is not thin/sharp enough to create finer graphics on the cake pop. I’ve started to go with piping melted candy with a very tiny round tip.

These monster cake pops are relatively easy to make. Pick one or two bright colours. Put on the dramatic eyeballs. Add a little hair. You are done. I know it might be easy said than done. But if you’ve been making cake pops like myself, you know what I mean when I said EASY!

Ingredients (about 45 pops):
Chocolate Cake
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water
Chocolate Buttercream
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
Others
1 bag Candy Melts of your preferred colour (for body)
1/2 bag Candy Melts of your preferred colour (for hair)
candy eyeballs

Directions:
To prepare the cake, preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8-inch square cake pan.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Crack in the egg, spoon in the sour cream, and pour in the oil and the vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Pour in the boiling water, and slowly mix until smooth and liquidy.
Pour batter in the prepared pan, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Then invert it onto a greased rack. Let cool completely.
To prepare buttercream, beat butter for a few minutes in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add powdered sugar and turn the mixer on low, beat until the sugar incorporates with the butter. Add vanilla, heavy cream and cocoa powder, beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes, or until buttercream becomes light and fluffy.
To assemble cake pops, prepare two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
Break the cooled cake into a few big trunks by hand, place them into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until the big pieces turn into crumbs.
Add frosting gradually into the cake crumbs and blend until the mixture becomes a dough, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of frosting.
Use a small cookie scoop, roll dough into evenly sized balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Melt small amount of Candy Melts (body colour) in the microwave gradually, 10 second intervals and stirring in-between. Dip one end of a lollipop stick in the melted candy and insert into the cake ball. Repeat until you are done. Refrigerate again for 15 minutes.
Remove the cake pops from the refrigerator. Melt all the Candy Melts (body colour) in the microwave. Dip each cake pop in the Candy Melts and gently tap off excess. Carefully place one or two candy eyeballs on the cake pop. Place cake pop onto a piece of wax paper. Let it dry completely. Repeat with the remaining cake pops.
Place the other batch of Candy Melts (hair colour) in a microwavable Ziploc bag. Microwave on high for 20 to 30 seconds to completely melt the Candy Melts. Push the melted candy toward one corner of the bag. With a pair of scissors, snip off a very small opening, and start piping the candy on the top part as hair.