Chocolate, Chocolate Cake Pops

To make the lollipop sticks stay in the cake pop; dunk it into the chocolate coating

 An easy holder to make for the cake pops! 

Ingredients: 


Chocolate Cake:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• a tiny bit less than a cup of flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting:

• 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Coating:

• 1 lb semi sweet chocolate chips or confectionery chocolate coating

Other:

• 25 to 30 lollipop sticks
• sprinkles of your choice!

Directions:

Chocolate Cake:
Preheat oven to 325º. Grease a circle pan or a glass pan. In a large bowl mix together the baking powder, salt, flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. Slowly stir in the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean.

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting:

While the cake is baking start making the butter cream. In another bowl, with an electric mixer, mix together the butter, cocoa, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix until nice and fluffy.

Assembly:
When the cake is finished, let cool for about 20 minutes. In another bowl start crumbling the cake into very small pieces. Make sure there are no big clumps left over before adding the butter cream. Add one spoonful of butter cream at a time. Mix the butter cream into the chocolate cake crumbles, until the consistency is like a dough. Make sure you don't add too much butter cream, or else the balls won't hold their shape, and if the dough is too dry the balls wont shape at all. 

If the dough is too moist, let it sit in the fridge for 20 minutes before making into balls. Shape the chocolate dough into about 25 balls. 

Chocolate Coating: 
Melt the chocolate coating in a double broiler.

Attaching the Lollipop Sticks:
Dip the lollipop stick into the coating, just enough to act as glue when put into the cake ball. Immediately after dipping the stick in coating, stick it into the cake ball. Once all the lollipop sticks are in the cake balls, place the cake pops in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden them. 

Chocolate Coating the Cake Pops:

Re-melt the coating if needed. Dunk the cake pop into the chocolate coating, making sure all the excess coating comes off. If you have enough chocolate coating, dunk the cake pop into the coating twice for a thicker chocolate outside layer! When the last layer of coating goes on the cake pop, apply the sprinkles and press them into the coating a bit so that the sprinkles stick. 

Store the cake pops in a card board box with holes hand made holes like i did in the picture above, or in a styrofoam block. Store the cake pops up to 3 days in the fridge while not being eaten. This recipe make about 25 Chocolate, Chocolate Cake Pops!

Cookie Dough Truffles

After the toothpick holes are dipped in the chocolate and filled

Ingredients:


Cookie Dough: 

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 14 oz can sweetened, condensed milk
• 1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Coating:

• 1 pound semi sweet chocolate chips, disks, or confectionery chocolate coating

Directions:

In a large bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour and then the milk. Add the mini chocolate chips by stiring until well distributed throughout all the cookie dough. 

Use a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough and shape into 1 inch balls. Place the cookie dough balls onto waxed paper and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. 

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. 

Place tooth picks in the cookie dough balls more than half way through (as shown in the picture above). Holding the tooth pick, place the cookie dough ball into the chocolate coating and pull out once fully covered. Let the excess chocolate coating drip off and place back on the wax paper. 

HINT: If the cookie dough ball starts slipping off the tooth pick add another tooth pick in the other end. 

If there is extra chocolate coating dunk the cookie dough ball in twice, giving it 2 layers. Take out the toothpick gently and grasp the cookie dough ball with your fingers. Dunk the part of the cookie dough ball where the toothpick hole was so that the toothpick hole will be covered with chocolate. 

Place the finished cookie dough truffles back on the wax paper and let harden completely in the fridge for at least another hour. 

To get the dripped zig-zag look I did above; take the extra Chocolate Coating and put small amounts into a plastic bag. Cut a very tiny hole at one of the corners and squeeze chocolate to make a fun design. 

HINT: Don't put all the remaining chocolate in at once or it will harden. 

Take out of fridge and serve. Makes about 30 Cookie Dough Truffles. Store in the fridge for best results.