How to Make: Heart Shaped Cake Pops

Cake pops are easy to put together and they can impress anyone. The ones I’m going to show you today are a little bit more work than the usual cake pop but trust me they will impress everyone! Initially, I wanted to share these before Valentine’s Day…but sometimes life gets so hectic that I forget to post. It’s fine though, I will be trying to post more regularly now. I’ll make another post explaining how to make simple spherical cake pops too, but for now let’s focus on these heart shaped cake pops. For this you will need a heart shaped cookie cutter, cake, frosting, and an 8×8 inch pan. Technically you don’t need parchment paper but learn from my mistakes…it is a bit easier with it.

Bake a Cake and Let it Cool Down Before Working With It

            You are starting with a baked cake…so the first step will be to crumble it. You don’t want it to have any big clumps because it’ll be harder to shape. I sometimes use a hand mixer to break it up, other times I simply do it by hand. Depending on how dry or moist it is, it might crumble easier or harder. I make the decision to cut out the crispy edges. Of course, that is personal preference, but it makes it easier to shape later.

            After everything has been crumbled, we will be adding the frosting. Start with a tablespoon, then slowly add another tablespoon, continue until the cake holds a shape when pushed together. I tend to mix it by hand because it’s easier to see when the cake starts holding a shape. You can use spoons too, either way works fine. Once the mixture is the right consistency you are ready to move on to the next step. This is the part where the recipe splits from a usual cake pop scenario.

Let it Set in a Pan to Harden

            We need to press the cake/frosting mixture into the 8×8 inch pan. When I did this recipe, I didn’t use parchment paper at the bottom. Obviously, it all worked out, but in hindsight I recommend using parchment paper at the bottom. It makes it easier to take out later. Spread the cake/frosting mixture evenly onto the pan. It should be about an inch thick; you might have excess mixture leftover. You can always use the rest of the mixture in another pan if there is a lot left over. You don’t want it to be too thick because the cake pop won’t hold onto the stick.

            Put the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes. While it is solidifying, go ahead and melt the chocolate and prepare the cake pop sticks. Once the cake/frosting mixture has solidified take it out of the freezer. When we start cutting out the heart shape it should hold its shape perfectly. I thought about different ways to do the heart shape, and this was the idea that felt the most stable. One of the problems that come up with cake pops is that they fall off the sticks. Don’t worry, I’ve had my fair share of falling cake pops! Usually, this could be a couple of things…either the cake pop itself is too heavy, there is not enough frosting to hold it together, or the cake wasn’t compressed enough. There might be a couple other reasons too.

You’ll Need a Cookie Cutter for Easy Cutting

            I used a cookie cutter that was about an inch, maybe an inch and a half wide. I bought them at Target, I just went down the cookie aisle and bought those. For reference, this is what the pack I got looked like this. You don’t want it to be too big because it needs to be supported by the cake pop stick. Cut out the shapes by pressing the cookie cutter into the cake/frosting mixture. Usually, it comes up with the cutter and I push it out.

I got about 9 or 10 heart shapes on the first round. You can mash it up and make more, but my intention was to only get that amount. Also, you would need to use a smaller pan so that the shapes would have the same thickness and I didn’t want to go through the trouble (hahaha). Another option would be letting it thaw out some and then making them the normal cake pop shapes.

            Once you have all your hearts cut out, you will need to melt a bit of chocolate. Dip the edge of the cake pop in the chocolate and stick it in the center of the heart. So, you want to aim for the lowest part of the V in the heart shape. I put it a little off center on some of them, but that was because it didn’t seem too stable. If you need to shift it over some, go ahead. Remember though that we are aiming to have a full (right side up) heart shape on the cake pop stick.

After Dipping the Pops Let the Excess Chocolate Drip Off

            Let them set for about 10 minutes or so. This will help stop the stick from sliding off later when we start to dip them completely in chocolate. Once the sticks are set, we can start melting the rest of the chocolate. It’s pretty easy to dip them for the most part… I recommend using a tall cup that way you can easily dip it in the chocolate and get it completely covered. If you don’t have a tall glass, go ahead and use a bowl with a spoon to cover any parts of the cake pop you miss.

            The cake pops should be all covered in chocolate. I put them in a cake pop holder that I bought off Amazon, but anything will work. You can even use plain old Styrofoam. The purpose of the holder is simply to keep it upright so any excess chocolate drips off and it leaves you with a smooth chocolate coating. If it isn’t fully smooth don’t worry, just try your best. Let them set on the stand holder for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has hardened. You need it to be hard for this next step.

Decorate the Cake Pops for an Extra Dazzle

            For the final step, you need to drizzle some chocolate over the cake pops. This gives it that extra flair that you’ve been missing! If you didn’t coat the pops smoothly…this will make it look better too. I just held them in my hand and drizzled over parchment paper then turned it over and repeated. Let everything dry and the cake pops are all done.

For this recipe, I used vanilla cake; you can always use any cake flavor of your choice though it works out either way. Try this recipe out and let me know what you think!