Looking for a patriotic dessert that doesn’t include berries? Andrea Potischman has you covered. The Menlo Park mother of two and Simmer + Sauce blogger came up with these festive cake pops out of necessity. She wanted an easy, make-ahead Fourth of July dessert that her kids could help make and that celebrated her deep love of chocolate.
Use her epic brownie recipe, which features more than a cup of Dutch-processed cocoa, or your favorite box mix. She’s not judging. Best part? Because you are using sprinkles to decorate the cake pops, they do not need to look perfect.
Chocolate Covered Brownie Cake Pops
Makes 12 cake pops
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1¼ cups good quality Dutch-processed cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs
½ cup water
1½ cups all-purpose flour
Cake pop mold
Cake pop sticks
16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
Sprinkles of your choice
DIRECTIONS
For the brownies, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl add the melted butter and sugar and whisk till smooth. Sift in the cocoa, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Mix well.
Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl down as you go.
Sift in the flour and mix well to incorporate.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely before continuing.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
To mold the cake pops: Once the brownies have cooled, use your hands to crumble them (this can also be done in a Cuisinart using the pulse setting). Using your hands, take a good amount of brownie crumble and gently form it into a ball slightly larger than the cake pop mold cavity. Close the cake mold and press firmly down to compress. Add additional brownie if needed to make nice uniform shapes.
Remove the brownie cake pops from the mold and set on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining brownie mixture. Refrigerate the brownie cake pops for about 1 hour to set.
Coating the cake pops: Melt the chocolate in the microwave until smooth. Dip the tip of a cake pop stick into the melted chocolate and gently insert it into a molded brownie cake pop top, being careful not to poke the stick through the top. Repeat, setting the cakes pops back on the baking sheet as you go.
Set a couple of lowball glasses near your work station to use for this step. Working one at a time, dip each brownie cake pop into the melted chocolate and use a small offset spatula to help fully coat each pop. (Because you are using sprinkles to decorate them they do not need to look perfect.) Once coated in chocolate, cover with sprinkles, as much as desired. Place the sprinkle-coated cake pops carefully in a low ball glass to dry. Repeat with the remaining brownie cake pops.
Allow the pops to dry completely before serving.
— Andrea Potischman, Simmer + Sauce
