What is cake dough, you ask?
Well simply put, cake dough is what you will find in the center of a cake pop!
That being said, there are 2 kinds of “cake pops” you will run across! Can you tell the difference?
The kind I make is the kind you will find in coffee houses such as Starbucks and in books by Bakerella, Cake Poppery and k’Creative (just to name a few), we all make the same kind. The kind where you will need to make cake dough, (more on that later) then roll it into a ball and dip it into chocolate. The other kind came out a bit afterwards, its the kind were you bake the cake into a ball and then dip your cake ball (not dough) into chocolate candy melts. These look very much the same on the outside, but the taste is completely different! The first one is like a chocolate covered piece of fudge! The second is like a chocolate covered doughnut hole! Both delicious, I mean it’s cake, and who doesn’t love cake!! But if you are expecting one kind and get the other then it could be a little depressing;)! I have kindly renamed these second kind of cake pops “bake pops” just because it gets a little confusing saying cake pop #1 and cake #2…. Here is a fun little infographic we had made, so it may be just a tiny bit biased;)
So as you can see “bake pops” came after the cake pop, and in my opinion the makers of the bake pop pans and such tools made those things because, rolling cake dough can get a little tiresome without a tool like the Easy Roller! I can roll 21 of the delicious cake pop centers at once!! That means I can roll over 500 in just an hour! You simply can’t bake that many that fast, and the taste is much different!
If you don’t need to make THAT many, we also have a New Mini Easy Roller for much less! The New “Mini” rolls 9 at time!
Now that you know what the difference is, lets get back to “What is Cake Dough?” As I said it is the center of a cake pop! @ma_qatar has a great picture from Instagram where you can see the center!
I get asked all the time how I make my cake dough, and to be honest there are a zillion different ways but they all starts with kneading the CAKE! Now you can mix your cakes by hand and add in just about anything to help knead your baked cake into dough. The most common is of course some frosting, but you can use just about anything as a binding agent! Anything from as simple as water up to preserves, milk, liquor, just about anything you can think of, you can add it to your cake to turn to dough! How much of “X-ingredient” you ask? I say just enough to where you can get started kneading your baked cake! Too much and they will get mushy and not enough and it may take you forever to knead it down!
Let’s say you don’t want to mess with other ingredients & you want a fast easy solution! Here is how I do it!
#1 food processor with sabatier blade (metal swirly one)/Stand Mixer with paddle attachment
#2 add cake
#3 Turn on… THAT’S IT!!
In my food processor it takes less then a minute if the cake was baked that day, and a little longer if it’s a little older! There is the very rare occasion where the cake is too dry to bind in the processor, but that is the exception, not the rule;)! If this happens to you, simply put a heaping TBS of your favorite frosting or other binding ingredient in and turn it back on for a minute or so! You don’t have to under bake the cake or worry about golden brown edges, just stick the whole thing in there! By the Way… If you make cakes and cut the crowns or tops off, DON’T THROW THOSE AWAY!! Those are perfect for Cake Pops!! Or, say you have some day old cupcakes?? Just throw the whole thing in the food processor and turn them into dough for cake pops!! We like to call this “baking waste management!”
Now, if you like to use a binder or “X-ingredient” that doesn’t mean you can’t use the food processor! You just not necessary, like it may be if you were mixing by hand! By all means if you think the flavor will enhance your cake dough, put it in there! Just my advice is, if you know you are going to add it in, add it in the beginning! It will turn to cake dough pretty fast and you want to give it as much time as possible to incorporate that delicious ingredient you added!
What about pretty colored cake dough? You can color your white or vanilla cakes with a food coloring of your choice! Perfect for Gender Reveal Cake Pops!
OH!! The cake I use, you ask?? …Whatever is on sale;)! Just bake the cake just as directed on the box!
Now you are ready to go make some cake dough and get rollin’! Don’t forget to check out our Easy Roller, or our New Mini Easy Roller you can either one HERE, & we ship WORLDWIDE!