Chocolate Cake Pops From Scratch
Introducing your newest chocolate fix: chocolate cake pops! These simple cake pops are rich, fudgy, and dangerously chocolatey. They are also 100% from-scratch, with not even a sprinkle of cake mix or teaspoon of canned frosting in sight. Don’t worry though, they’re just as easy as the shortcut version, but 10x more flavorful and irresistible. They taste like a bite-sized, more decadent version of my chocolate cake! When I shared my classic cake pops a few months ago, many of you expressed interest in a chocolate version (because everything is better with chocolate, of course!). While I could have suggested simply halving my chocolate cake and tossing in some chocolate frosting, I really wanted to have a tested version, and that’s exactly what I’m sharing today.
Why try my recipe:
Tastes just like a rich chocolate cake, but bite-sized, so you don’t feel as guilty 😉 Bakes up in one cake pan, but can easily be doubled for more! Perfect for making in advance. Uses pantry staples instead of boxed mixes or pre-made icings.
What You Need
Here are the key ingredients that make these chocolate cake pops oh so fudgy and irresistible:
Flour. While I use cake flour in my vanilla cake pops, I’m using regular all-purpose flour here. Natural cocoa powder. Because we are using baking soda as our leavening agent, it is very important that you do NOT substitute Dutch process cocoa! I talk about the differences between the two in my natural vs. dutch process cocoa post, if you’d like to learn why this is important. Very hot water. Make sure your water is steaming before you add it! Very hot liquid helps to “bloom” the cocoa powder and bring out its flavor, similar to steeping tea. Buttermilk. This adds moisture and flavor to our chocolate cake pops. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make my easy buttermilk substitute instead (it’s just 2 ingredients!). Egg + egg yolk. Adding an extra yolk increases the tenderness and richness of the cake.
SAM’S TIP: If you’d like, you can use very hot coffee instead of hot water; this will make your cake pops even more chocolatey and rich. I do this with my chocolate cake recipe and LOVE the results (and no, it won’t make the cake pops taste like coffee!). Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Chocolate Cake Pops
SAM’S TIP: Don’t freeze your cake balls for longer than 30 minutes! This can cause the coating to crack when you add it. If you’d like to make the cake balls in advance, just cover them well and let them sit in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight) before dipping. After refrigerating, it does still often help to freeze for a short period of time before dipping. You’ll notice today’s video is a little different! My lovely friend Jessica from Savory Experiments hosted me and my friend Amy from House of Nash Eats at her house and we did a group video together, so this was a special one-time production. Which cake pop flavor would you like to see next? Let me know in the comments! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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