Two It Yourself: Halloween cake pop ideas: How to make pumpkins and candy corn cake pops

Why bring some ordinary slice and bake Halloween cookies to the party when you can bring these adorable little guys! I mean come on...you know you want some Halloween Cake Pops (or at least your kids do!)

Inspired by cake pop master Bakerella and my friend Linsey who made an entire barnyard of super cute farm animal cake pops for her son's birthday a few years ago, I decided to make my second batch of cake pops.

My first attempt was bride cake pops for my sister's bridal shower- they were A LOT of work because of all the detailing. Each had a 5- pearl necklaces and 3-flower bouquet all of which I had to 'glue' on individually.

This time I figured I'd make pumpkins (not jack o' lanterns) with nothing but some sprinkles and a tic tac stem. The candy corn cake pops were a bit more labor intensive because I had to triple-dip them to get the three colors.

Cake pops really started getting popular a year or two ago thanks to Bakerella and her awesome cake pop blog and cookbook. She's got tons of ideas and has inspired me for sure - of course mine never look nearly as good as hers.

Anyway, here's how you make the Halloween cake pops:

Bake a box cake according to the package directions
Let it cool completely
Crumble the cake (I put it in the food processor)
Mix it with 3/4 container of icing
Put the mixture in the fridge to harden up slightly
Form into 1" balls (one cake mix makes about 40 cake balls)
If you want to shape the balls into something else such as the candy corns or pumpkins do this now, but always make balls first. I made the ridges on the pumpkins by gently pressing a lollipop stick on the cake ball.

Line the cake balls on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for at least 2 hours
In a deep microwavable dish, melt chocolate melting wafers according to the package directions (if it's not thin enough add a little crisco)
Remove and work with just a few of the cake balls at a time so they're not out of the freezer too long - they soften up quickly
Dip the lollipop stick about 1" into the melted coating
Insert the dipped part of the stick into the bottom of the cake ball (or top - ie brides)
Dip the entire cake ball into the coating, tapping the sides to remove the excess coating
Stand the cake pops up in a pre-punched/drilled piece of styrofoam to dry
NOTE: If you want to add sprinkles (like I did on the pumpkins) do this quickly before the coating dries. For other decorations add them later using a little of the coating as 'glue'