These Gender Reveal Cake Pops are a fun and cute way to surprise your baby shower guests! Once they bite into it, the pink or blue cake inside will reveal if it's a boy or girl!

Before you ask, no I am not pregnant. But there is about to be a new addition to our family! My uncle and his girlfriend are having a baby, and I couldn't be more excited! They asked me to make a cute little gender reveal dessert for their baby shower, so I decided to make these cake pops.

To my frustration, they refused to tell me the gender of the baby, so I had to make these cake pops pink and blue to trick the guests. Their goal was to have one person bite into a cake pop and think "YAY, IT'S A GIRL!" Meanwhile, someone else bites into their cake pop and thinks it's a boy. Just to mess with their minds. It was pretty hilarious actually.

I've always had trouble making cake pops. They were either too soft and mushy, too dry, too big, cracks, thick and lumpy coating. Pretty much everything that can go wrong with a cake pop. But these? These are the most perfect cake pops I've ever made! Don't get me wrong, some of the above mistakes did occur when I made these, but that was mostly because I got tired and started rushing.

Don't be like me.

Before we get to the recipe, I'd like to share some of my techniques on how to make the perfect (gender reveal) cake pops. First off:

The Cake

Typically, for cake pops you can use any flavour cake mix you like. For this cake, however, you MUST use vanilla (or white) cake mix, since we'll be colouring it.

Prepare and bake the cake in a 9x13 inch baking pan according to the packages directions. You can totally do this the night before to save time.

Once the cake is cool, use a knife to cut it into 4 sections. Place 1 section into a large bowl and crumble using 2 forks. You can also use your hands, but it'll be very sticky and messy.

Once cake is crumbled, add the vanilla frosting 1 tablespoon at a time. This is so you won't end up adding too much, ⅓ cup seems to be the perfect amount. Mix with a rubber spatula and your hands, squeezing and pressing the cake together until it forms a ball.

Colouring

Divide the cake between two bowls, each half weighed about 1 pound. I should note, if you are planning on making these all pink or all blue, don't bother dividing it.

Add a little bit of food colouring to each bowl. Now here's where it gets a little tricky. I found the best way to mix in the food colouring is by mixing it in with a spoon or rubber spatula, just until the colour is smeared all over. Then, use your hands to work the colour all throughout the cake. You may need to rip the cake apart and put it back together etc. To make sure the colour is evenly distributed throughout. This is also why it's important that you add just the right amount of frosting, it makes the cake incredibly easy to handle.

Rolling Smooth Cake Balls

Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out one of the colours. When you scoop the cake out, use your thumb to press the cake into the scoop and get rid of the excess.

Release the cake pop into your hand and squeeze the dough together to further work the colour in. Roll into a smooth ball. Once your finished scooping and rolling one colour, wash the scoop and repeat with the other.

Inserting the Sticks and/or Straws

I used a mixture of lollipop sticks and paper straws for the cake pops. This is because the paper straws cannot support the cake pops on their own.

First, I dipped the tip of the lollipop sticks in the melted candy melts and inserted them halfway into the cake balls. I then dipped the tip of the paper straws in the candy and slid it over the lollipop stick. For the straws, I did not stick it into the actual cake because it messed up the shape of the cake pops. Instead, I made sure the melted candy on the tip of the straw blended with the melted candy from the lollipop sticks so they can harden together, allowing the straw to stay in place.

Melting & Thinning the Candy Melts for Smooth Dipping

To ensure your candy coating is nice and smooth, you will need to thin out the candy melts. To do this, start by melting 1 tablespoon of solid vegetable shortening in a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the shortening has melted, add a bag of candy melts and stir constantly until it's melted. The result is a smooth and silky coating that's the perfect consistency for dipping cake pops!

Pour the candy melts into a tall glass and dip your cake pops, lightly tapping the excess off on the side of the glass. Also, make sure you dip the cake pops far enough to cover the end of the straw. This will help secure the straw to the cake pop.

Question Mark Decoration

This part is completely optional, but it's super adorable and adds a lot to the cake pops. Everyone at the baby shower was telling me how much they LOVED those cute little question marks.

To make them, I divided the remaining candy melts into two bowls and dyed them pink and blue. I then dipped the tip of a toothpick into the candy melts and drew question marks all over the cake pops. I found this to be the easiest way to do this, especially since I suck at piping designs.

You can decorate the cake pops with pink and blue sanding sugar instead, but you'll need to do that immediately after dipping so the sprinkles can stick.

These were a HIT at the baby shower! I was getting compliments left and right and there were none left by the end of the night!

Oh, and in case you were wondering...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

>>PIN ME FOR LATER<<

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Gender Reveal Cake Pops

Yield: 48 cake pops

These Gender Reveal Cake Pops are a fun and cute way to surprise your baby shower guests! Once they bite into it, the pink or blue cake inside will reveal if it's a boy or girl!

Ingredients

1 box Vanilla Cake Mix + ingredients needed for preparation
⅓ cup store bought vanilla icing
Pink Gel Food Colouring
Blue Gel Food Colouring
2 (12 oz) bags bright white candy melts
2 Tbsp vegetable shortening, divided

Tools:

48 Lollipop Sticks
24 Pink paper straws (optional)
24 Blue paper straws (optional)
Toothpicks
Large Baking sheet
Silpat mat or wax paper
Treat bags
Pink and blue ribbon

Instructions

Prepare and bake cake mix in a 9x13 pan according to package directions. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

Use a knife to cut the cake into 4 sections. Lift out 1 section and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Using two forks or clean hands, crumble the cake into fine crumbs. Repeat with remaining sections until the entire cake is crumbled.

Add about ⅓ cup of white frosting, 1 Tablespoon at a time, to the cake and use a rubber spatula and clean hands to blend the frosting into the crumbs until mixture holds together and forms a ball.

Place half of the mixture into a separate bowl (both sections weighed about 1 Ib. each) and tint with a few drops of pink gel food colouring. Tint the other half of the cake mixture with blue gel food colouring. To do this, add the food colouring and smear it into the cake using a spoon or rubber spatula. Then, using clean hands, pick up the dough and work the colouring throughout the entire cake.

Using a small 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out blue OR pink cake out first. When you scoop the cake mixture, press it into your cookie scoop. Place the ball into your hand and squeeze slightly so the cake can hold together (and also mix the colour in more thoroughly). Roll into a smooth ball and place onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat.

After you finish scooping out one colour, wash and dry your cookie scoop then scoop out the second colour and roll into balls.

Place a small handful of candy melts (about ¼ cup) into a small bowl, and microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each until melted and smooth.

Dip the ends of each lollipop stick in the melted candy melts and press it into the cake balls about halfway through. Dip the tip of the paper straws into the candy melts and slide it over the lollipop stick. You can match the pink straws with the pink cake and blue with blue. Or you can mix and match the pink cake with blue straws and the other way around to throw off your guests!

Once you're done, place the baking tray in the refrigerator until cake pops are firm and chilled, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

For the Coating:

Remove cake pops from the refrigerator and set aside. In a medium heat proof mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt 1 tablespoon of shortening.
Once shortening is melted, add 1 bag of the candy melts and stir until fully melted and smooth. Pour into a tall glass and allow to cool for 5 minutes before dipping, to avoid cracking.
Dip the cake pops into the melted coating until the cake pop is completely covered. Make sure you also cover the end of the straw that's covering the lollipop stick. This will help assure the straw is more stable and won't slip off when set.
Allow the excess to drip off, then gently tap it off on the edge of the bowl while rolling the cake pop so it's evenly coated. Place back onto the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cake pops until they're all coated. You may need to melt half of the second bag of candy melts to dip the rest. Transfer to the refrigerator to set completely, about 1-2 hours.

For the Question Mark Decoration:

Remove cake pops from refrigerator and set aside.
In a medium heat proof mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt 1 tablespoon of shortening.
Once shortening is melted, add remaining half of the second bag of the candy melts and stir until fully melted and smooth.
Pour half of the candy melts into a separate bowl and tint with a few drops of pink gel food colouring. Tint the other half of the candy melts with blue gel food colouring.
Dip the tip of a toothpick into one colour and carefully draw question marks onto each cake pop, alternating between pink and blue.
Transfer to the refrigerator to set completely. Once set, place each cake pops in a treat bag and tie a pink or blue ribbon bow on each. Serve at your gender reveal party!

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Bon Appétit!

Love, Dedra ❤

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