Strawberry Cake Pops

These adorable little strawberry cake balls are so delicious. Each cake pop is packed full of flavor thanks to freeze dried strawberries and jam.

4 cake pops with strawberry filling.

Why will you love this recipe for strawberry cake balls?

  • They are so deliciously sweet, and bursting with strawberry flavor thanks to a generous amount of strawberry jam and freeze dried strawberries in the filling.
  • It is perfect for parties. In my experience both kids and grown ups alike LOVE cake pops. They look so charming all lined up on a dessert platter, they really make a statement
  • It is a great way to use left over cake. Is there such a thing? Actually – yes! As a baker, I often have left over cake from making layered cakes or cut out cakes for parties. Turning the offcuts into cake pops means that you get to serve your guests an extra treat for minimal additional cost. I highly recommend getting the kids involved in making these cake pops to keep them busy while you make the cake!

Ingredients for strawberry cake pops

To make these strawberry cake truffles, you’ll need the following ingredients

  • Freeze Dried Strawberries: I often buy this Frisp Strawberry Crisps from woolworths or amazon and crush them into a powder.
  • Vanilla Cake: This recipe is a great way to use left over vanilla cake. You can use home-made or store bought cake. My favorite vanilla cake recipe is this one from Liv for Cake.
  • Strawberry Jam
  • Sour Cream
  • White chocolate: For best results, look for compound chocolate. Compound chocolate is made with vegetable fat rather than cocoa butter, which means it will set hard after melting, and doesn’t need to be tempered
  • Cake pop sticks: These are also called lollipop sticks
  • Mini Waffle Cones (optional): But necessary if you want to make cute little cake pop ice-creams. If you can’t find mini waffle cones, you can make one by cutting a regular waffle cone in half carefully using a bread knife.
  • Food color (optional): Make sure to use an oil based food color, as gel or water food color will cause your chocolate to curdle.
strawberry cake pop decorated like an ice-cream cone

How to make these strawberry cake pops

Making cake pops from leftover cake is comes together in 5 simple steps:

  1. Crumble the cake mixture: You can either use your hands to break the cake into a fine crumb, or pop it in a food processor, or an electric mixer that has been fitted with a paddle attachment.
  2. Make your ganache: This recipe uses ganache made in the microwave from white chocolate and sour cream (to balance the sweetness)
  3. Mix the ganache, jam and freeze dried strawberries through your cake crumbs:
  4. Roll into balls & assemble: This is the most time intensive part of this recipe but also the most fun. Check out Pinterest for dozens of cake pop decorating ideas.

Storage

Once your strawberry cake popsicles are completely set, transfer them to an airtight container and store in the fridge. They’ll last in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Tips for Success

Common issues people often run into when making cake pops in general include

Inconsistent cake pop batter

If you find that your cake pop batter is too soft or sticky to mold into balls, place it into the fridge for about 5 mins. This should be enough time to chill the batter slightly so it firms up enough for you to roll the balls easily. If you find the batter is too dry and crumbly add some more ganache or strawberry jam for a little more moisture.

Dipping chocolate consistency

Silky evenly melted chocolate is essential for a smooth finish to your cake pops. The trick to achieving this is ensuring you heat your chocolate to the correct temperature. If your microwaving your chocolate, as per these instructions, make sure to do so in short bursts and use a plastic bowl. The risk of using a ceramic bowl or similar is that these will hold heat, and you run the risk overheating your chocolate. Likewise if using a double boiler, make sure to take your chocolate off the heat once it has melted.

Once you have overheated your chocolate it will turn thick and harden up, and it will not melt again. If this happens toss out the hardened chocolate and melt a fresh batch (being extra careful not to overheat).

Some brands of melted chocolate may still be quite thick even after melting. In this case, you can thin the chocolate down by stirring through a touch of shortening or coconut oil.

Cracked Cake Pops

If you find the chocolate covering on your cake pops crack after they’ve set, this is likely due to the cake balls being too cold while they were being dipped in chocolate. You can avoid this by allowing them to come to room temperature before you dip them.

I’ve never been able to successfully mend a cake pop once the outside of a cake pop is cracked. But you can hide the crack or turn it into a nifty design feature.

Cake pops falling off the stick

There are two main reasons this occurs. Either the chocolate glue holding the lollipop stick in hasn’t set, or your cake pop batter has too much moisture.

If you run into this problem, first make sure you are giving your undipped cake pops plenty of time for the lollipop sticks to set. Trial for example leaving them in the fridge for an extra 10-20 minutes.

Chilling your cake balls in the fridge is also the best countermeasure to use if your batter is a bit soft. If you find that the cake pops are still falling off their sticks after an hour of chilling in the fridge, then the mixture has too much moisture. In this case I would recommend pivoting to a cake truffle design. Meaning roll your cake balls in the melted chocolate (without a cake pop stick) and allow them to set on a sheet of baking paper.

Note, I have never had this issue of soft cake pop batter with this recipe or any recipe that uses ganache in the cake pop mixture. This problem is more common for cake pops made with frosting, cream cheese or buttercream.

two strawberry cake pops siting on a small chopping board.

I hope you love this recipe for no bake strawberry cake pops. If you love this recipe, please let me know in the comments below. And check out my recipe for matcha cake pops on my blog

Happy baking x

    4 strawberry cake pops lined in a row.

    Strawberry Cake Pops

    Delicious strawberry cake pop recipe, made with vanilla cake, and freeze dried strawberries.
    5 from 1 vote
    Cook Time 1 hour
    Chilling time in fridge 2 hours
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 15 cake pops

    Equipment

    • 1 Foam block or cake pop stand (optional – depending on design)

    Ingredients
      

    Cake Pops

    • 300 grams Vanilla Cake (you can substitute for vanilla cake)
    • 50 grams sour cream
    • 300 grams white chocolate (for dipping)
    • 50 grams freeze dried strawberry powder
    • 1/2 tablespoon strawberry jam
    • Mini Waffle Cones (optional)
    • Food Color & Sprinkles (optional)

    Instructions
     

    • Line the base of an air tight container with baking paper and set aside.
    • Place the vanilla cake in a bowl and use your fingers to break and crumble it into fine crumbs (you can also use a food processor, or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for this step).
    • In a clean microwave safe bowl, measure out 75 grams of white chocolate (broken/chopped into small pieces) and spoon 40 grams of sour cream over the top.
    • Place the bowl of chocolate & sour cream in the microwave and heat for 20 seconds. Remove and give the mixture a really good stir.
    • If the chocolate has not completely melted, return the bowl to the microwave and heat again for a further 10 seconds. Give the mixture another good stir. All the chocolate should now be melted, if not repeat the process of heating for 10 seconds and stirring.
    • Once all the chocolate is melted, pour the mixture over the cake crumbs, and spoon in the jam and freeze dried strawberries.
    • Mix together well using your hands, until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated
    • Roll cake mixture into balls. I aim for about 20g in size (if you're eyeballing it, they should be a little smaller than a golf ball). See my tips above to troubleshoot this step if you find the mixture is too soft or dry.
    • Place cake balls into the container you prepared earlier, and seal with the lid and put in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
    • When you're ready to start decorating, bring the cake pops out of the fridge and place on the bench so they can come to room temperature as you prepare the decorations.
    • Place 250g of white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave at 20 second intervals, until completely melted (make sure you stir well after each zap to avoid burning the chocolate). If you are going to at food color, stir it through the melted chocolate.
    • Give the cake ball a quick roll between your hands to make sure it's still round, then dip a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the cake ball.
    • Place cake pops back into the container (make sure the lollipop sticks are sticking in the air, otherwise one side of the cake pop will have a flat base).
    • Transfer the container of cake pops to the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow the chocolate to set. This will help the sticks are glued in place.
    • While the chocolate is setting, take the time to set up your decorations. If your using mini waffle cones, cut the tip off each cone with a bread knife and organise your sprinkles.
    • After about 15 minutes, remove cake pops from the fridge. Before you start decorating, check the consistency of your dipping chocolate, if it has firmed up again reheat in the microwave for 5-10 seconds and stir well.
    • Decorate your cake pops by dipping them into the melted chocolate. Tap off excess chocolate.
    • Optional step, while the chocolate is still wet insert the bottom of your cake pop stick through the waffle cone and pull the cone up to the cake ball (the chocolate will help glue the waffle cone in place), then decorate with sprinkles.
    • Place the cake pops in a stand or container to set. You can either place them cake ball down on a sheet of baking paper, or stick the base of the cake pops into a a foam block.
    • Transfer decorated cake pops to the fridge and allow to completely set (minimum 1 hour).
    Tried this recipe?Mention @Kylies_cakes_ or tag #theniftybaker!

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