Christmas Cake Pops are a fun and tasty way to celebrate the holidays! From easy stripes and sprinkles to snowmen, tree, and reindeer, you can decorate these in so many ways!
Cake pops are so easy to make and leave so much room for creativity! They are great for parties or as edible Christmas gifts!
What you need for Christmas Cake Pops?
- Boxed Cake Mix: Any flavor you want! I used white cake mix for these.
- Additional Boxed Cake Mix ingredients: Typically, Water, Eggs, and Oil.
- Frosting: store bought, or homemade- any flavor you want!
- Candy Melts: use a variety of Christmas colors!
- Sprinkles or Other Candy Melts for decorating, Pretzels (if making reindeer), mini reeses (for ornament topper).
- Christmas Cake Pops
If you love decorating treats to look festive for Christmas, make sure to check out my Christmas Hot Cocoa Bombs, Christmas Rice Krispies, wreath cornflake cookies, Grinch cookies, and this festive Christmas cracker toffee!
How to make Christmas Cake Pops?
- Mix cake batter according to the box instructions.
- Bake and allow to cool.
- Once cool, crumble the cake, then add frosting and stir.
- Drop spoonfulls onto a lined baking sheet and roll into balls.
- Freeze rolled cake, add a cake pop stick, then dip in candy melts.
- Decorate right away with sprinkles, or allow candy melts to harden and decorate with stripes or with extra items to make snowmen, reindeers, or Santa belts.
Cake Pop Tips:
- Bake batter in a sheet pan or baking dish for fast baking times- just make sure to adjust cooking times accordingly.
- Use Styrofoam (like I did here) or a carboard cake pop stand (amazon affiliate link) like I did for these, to help them dry without touching anything and messing up the designs.
- Candy melts: If they aren't melting properly/are too thick, add 1 tbs of shortening and stir until melted!
How to make Christmas Tree Cake Pops?
After freezing, shape the cake pop dough into a triangle or a cone (2D vs 3D). Then dip in green candy melts and sprinkle with round sprinkles and add a star on top.
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How to make Reindeer Cake Pops?
After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape, then stick half of a pretzel on each side as the antlers. Dip the ball in brown candy melts, stick on candy eyes and a red candy for the nose.
How to make Santa Belt Cake Pops?
After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape. Dip the ball in red candy melts and allow to harden.
Then pipe on a band of black or dark brown around the center to be the belt, and pipe on a yellow/golden rectangle to be the buckle.
How to make Snowman cake pops?
After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape. Dip the ball in white candy melts, then as the white coating is starting to set add sprinkles to the top of the “head” with a large sprinkle added in the center, this will be his hat and the puff on the hat.
Then draw on two black dots for eyes and add an orange candy or pipe on an orange triangle for the nose.
How to make Ornament cake pops?
After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape. Dip the ball in any color candy melt and immediately cover in sanding sugar or sprinkles.
Use a mini reeses as the hood topper.
Make sure to check out all my Christmas recipes including this festive Christmas Cheesecake, gingerbread tree, Christmas sugar cookies, Christmas Chex Mix, and this tasty gingerbread bundt cake!
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Christmas Cake Pops
Equipment
- Cake Pop sticks*
- Styrofoam Block or a cake pop holder
Ingredients
- 1 box White Cake Mix*
- 1 Cup Water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 egg whites
- 16 oz vanilla frosting* store bought, or homemade
- 12 oz candy melts* at minimum, use red, white, green, or brown (for reindeer)
- Sprinkles or Other Candy Melts for decorating Pretzels (if making reindeer)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 9x13 baking dish.
- Combine the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large bowl.1 box White Cake Mix*, 1 Cup Water, ½ cup vegetable oil, 3 egg whites
- Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides when needed.
- Pour batter in in greased baking dish.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool, then crumble*.
- Add frosting to crumbled cake and stir.16 oz vanilla frosting*
- Drop spoonfuls, about 24, of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then freeze for 10 minutes. This will allow the batter to set up enough to roll into balls or shape into trees without being super sticky.
- Once set, roll each spoonful into a nice ball or shape into a tree. (see instructions below on how to do that), stick a cake pop stick in each one, then return to freezer.
- Melt candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Melt on 50% power stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.12 oz candy melts*
- Dip your cake pops in the melted candy melts and then press the cake pop stick into the styrofoam. * If you are wanting to add sprinkles, I recommend adding them pretty soon after dipping, otherwise the candy melts will set up and the sprinkles won’t stick.Sprinkles or Other Candy Melts for decorating
- Once all are dipped and the shells are hardened you can add a second color as stripes, or drawing face features by melting more candy melts of a different color, placing in a Ziploc bag/piping bag, cutting the tip off, then drizzling on.
Tree Cake Pops
- After freezing, shape the cake pop dough into a triangle or a cone (2D vs 3D). Then dip in green candy melts and sprinkle with round sprinkles and add a star on top.
Reindeer Cake Pops
- After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape, then stick half of a pretzel on each side as the antlers. Dip the ball in brown candy melts, stick on candy eyes and a red candy for the nose.
Snowman Cake Pops
- After freezing, roll the cake pop onto a round shape. Dip the ball in white candy melts, then as the white coating is starting to set add sprinkles to the top of the “head” with a large sprinkle added in the center, this will be his hat and the puff on the hat. Then draw on two black dots for eyes and add an orange candy or pipe on an orange triangle for the nose.
Notes
- *You can use any flavor cake and frosting combo that you want and enjoy!
- *I like to just crumble with my hands.
- If your candy melts are too thick or just not melting properly, add 1 tbs shortening, stir until melted and fully incorporated. This will help thin and smooth the candy melts.
Lisa says
These are so cute!