Preparation time: 25 | Cooking time: 20min | Servings: 12
We’ve made these funny cake pops for our New Year’s Eve party, but actually they can be a hit for any party. If you have seen our best wishes for Happy New Year 2014, then they should look familiar:) Here comes the full, homemade cake pops recipe done without the cake mix. We had a couple of kids at our party, so I wanted to make something fun, but not too sugary for them. So I have decided to adapt my favorite muffin recipe and use it for these party pops. It worked great! I have added some fun decoration and our pops were ready! I am not sure who loved them more, the kids or the adults :) 
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of of butter
- 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt
- 1 banana
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- holidays sprinkles
- 1/4 cup of whipping cream (36-40% milk-fat)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 12 raspberries
- chocolate chips (or chocolate candy)
- oil (optional)
- candy eyeballs
Supplies I used
Preparation
Step1 First, preheat your oven to 360F/180°C. Melt butter in a small saucepan or heat-proof bowl in the microwave. Mash the banana in a bowl. Beat eggs with sugar using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Then add butter, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Stir gently. In a separated bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the mixture in the first bowl and stir gently with a spoon. 
Step2 Spoon a little bit of butter into the bottom half of pops pan (the one with no holes) or use non-stick cooking spray. Fill each of the holes with the cake mix from Step1. It needs to be filled really well, can even mound a bit over the top. (I should have filled in mine a bit more). Then, place the top half of the pan (the part with the holes) on top and secure with the key (was included in the mold set).
Step3 Bake for around 20min, until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool around 5 min before removing the top of the pan. You may have some exceeded cake coming through the holes, but it comes off very easily (my daughter was delighted to do that and to eat them directly, she said they were like little volcanos!)
Step4 Melt the chocolate (I have used chocolate chips) while the cake pops are cooling. When everything is ready, dip each stick (included in the mold set) in the chocolate and then insert it in the cake pop. Mount all of the cake pops like that and place them on a plate upside down for a while, until everything holds well. I left mine the whole night and finished the dipping in the morning. 
Step5 Dip each cake pop in the melted chocolate. Depending on the chocolate type you used, you may add a bit of oil, so the chocolate is more shiny. The best is to use not too big, but rather deep bowl, so the chocolate can cover the whole cake pop. Just put it in and out, help yourself with a spoon if needed to cover the pop with more chocolate. Remove the exceeding chocolate by rotating gently the pop over the bowl. Then, place it somewhere so the chocolate can harden. The best is to use a piece of styrofoam, but I did not have it, so I have used cups. In each of them, I have put a paper towel that prevented the stick from moving. It worked out great. 
Step6 Place the candy eyeballs
on each of the pops. The best is to do that, when the chocolate is not 100% set. If it is, then humidify the candy eyes just a little bit, so they are easier to fix. Prepare some whipped cream – you can see the instructions here – place it in the sandwich plastics bag and make a tiny hole in one of the corners. Then, make the “hair”. Place some holiday sprinkles over them and use a raspberry to make a hat. If you want to go even further, you can use small pretzels to make a horn. Enjoy!
on each of the pops. The best is to do that, when the chocolate is not 100% set. If it is, then humidify the candy eyes just a little bit, so they are easier to fix. Prepare some whipped cream – you can see the instructions here – place it in the sandwich plastics bag and make a tiny hole in one of the corners. Then, make the “hair”. Place some holiday sprinkles over them and use a raspberry to make a hat. If you want to go even further, you can use small pretzels to make a horn. Enjoy! Party pops – homemade cake pops recipe without cake mix
