Strawberry cupcakes: (makes 2 dozen)
1 15.25oz box French Vanilla cake mix
1 3oz box strawberry gelatin dessert mix
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream
4 egg whites, room temp.
2/3 cup fresh strawberry puree* (see tips for instructions)
¾ cup vegetable oil
Cakesicle Filling:
Strawberry cupcakes
10oz white chocolate melting wafers
2-3 tablespoons crushed freeze-dried strawberries* (optional, to add more flavor)
Butterfly Decorations:
Party Queen luxe sprinkle mix
10oz white chocolate melting wafers
Oil-based lavender and pink food coloring or pink and lavender melting wafers
1 small, round piping tip (I used #1)
Black decorating icing (fitted with a coupler)
Helpful Tips
Take all refrigerated ingredients (including the eggs) out 30-45 minutes before baking so that they can come to room temp and blend together better.
To make strawberry puree, process washed, hulled strawberries in a food processor or high-speed blender until smooth.
I like to use cupcakes to make my cake pops because they bake and cool faster. They also make it easier to create smaller batches of cake pops (typically I half the recipe above), and then I can freeze the extra cupcakes to decorate later or use in cake pops at another time. If you prefer to bake a sheet cake you definitely can! You’ll just have to bake for a little longer.
The directions below are for the dipped method of cakesicles, feel free to form them in the mold instead.
The trick to preventing dipped cakesicles from cracking is to make sure your cakesicle filling and your dipping chocolate are close to the same temperature. To do this, I transfer the frozen pops to the fridge first and allow the melting chocolate to cool for a minute before dipping (if the cakesicles are very cold I’ll even let them sit at room temp for 5-10 minutes first). Cracks can always be repaired with more melted chocolate.
