My friend’s daughter turned one last week. She asked me to make owl cake pops for a pull-apart cake she was having. The whole idea is really adorable…. Thank you Pinterest! I made the cake pops, so they are obviously gluten free. The smash cake and the pull-apart tree are not (but could easily be).
If you’ve never made cake pops, they are fairly easy. I always use a gluten free boxed cake and store bought frosting. They work better. My cake recipes are too moist and don’t crumble as well. I always use one of the plain vanilla jars of frosting (the ones that are gluten free).
How to make owl cake pops:
1. Bake and Crumble the Cake:
I used the Hodgson Mill vanilla cake and followed the recipe on the back. Let the cake cool completely and crumble it in a giant bowl w ith your fingers. There shouldn’t be any huge chunks left.
2. Add frosting
Start by only adding half of the can of frosting. You can always add more if you need to, but if you add too much… you’re kinda in trouble. I always use my hands to mix everything together. You can use a spatula if you want. The cake/frosting mix needs to be able to be rolled into balls without falling apart. However, they should not be mushy! I think I ended up using a little less than 3/4 of the can. Wash your hands and dry them off for some ball rollin’!
3. Roll into balls
Using a 1 TBSPN scooper, scoop up some of the cake/frosting mixture. Using your palms, roll the mixture into a ball. Put the balls onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. Continue until all of the balls are made.
4. Freeze
Make room in your freezer! Pop the cake balls into your freezer for 5-10 minutes. While they’re in there, start step 5.
5. Stick Dipping
In a deep, microwavable mug put some of your white chocolate candy wafers. Microwave the chocolates according to the package instructions. I used pink because my owls were going to be pink. Use the same color that your owls will be dipped in. After your balls have hardened a tiny bit pull them out. Dip one end of your cake pop stick into the melted coating chocolate and push the stick about 2/3 of the way down into the center of the cake ball. Repeat until they’re all done. Put them back into the freezer for about 20 minutes.
6. Add White Chocolate Ears
Make sure your chocolate is melted (pop it back into the microwave). Either invest in a cake pop stand or you’ll have to make one out of either a Styrofoam block or shoe box. You will need a place for your cake pops to stand so they dry. Put your hardened cake pops into the stand. Then put a little bit of the melted chocolate onto the top (where an owl’s ears would be). Put two chocolate chips at the top of the cake pop, on the melted chocolate… Your chocolate is acting like glue. Once you’ve done all of them, put them back into the freezer for 15 minutes.
7. Get organized
You will need all of your candy pieces ready because you have to work quickly. I used pink flowers for the wings, orange stars for the feet, an orange heart for the beak, and candy eyes. Put each type of candy on shallow plate. Get your tweezers ready.
8. Dip ’em!
Melt more chocolate candy wafers. Then, take the cake pops back out of the freezer. Carefully dip one of the cake pops into the melted chocolate. Keeping it at a 45 degree angle, tap it on the edge of the cup. You will need to twirl the cake pop as you do this to make sure everything gets covered. You’ll get the hang of it after a while. Once you have most of the excess off you need to work quickly….
9. Decorate!
Using the tweezers, put on the eyeballs. Then you can put on the beak, the feet, and the wings. Put the cake pop into the cake pop stand so it can dry. Try not to crowd it with extra cake pops, otherwise it will smudge. After about 15 minutes or so, I pop everything back into the freezer. If the cake balls get warm before you 
dip them, they may fall off the stick.
10. Bag ’em!Once all of your cake pops have been decorated and you have put them into the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. You can put a small candy bag over them. Tie them with a twist-tie.
11. ENJOY!
You can put the cake pops into a jar filled with pebbles, tissue paper, or sprinkles. My friend cut the sticks down on a few cake pops and then put one in her smash cake and put a few others onto the pull-apart tree cake.
Good-bye Gluten 
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