Pumpkin Cake Pops

✏️ Why you'll love this recipe

To me, pumpkins just scream Fall and the spooky season, so I thought they'd make a great Halloween cake pop.

I wanted to create an easy recipe for pumpkin cake pops from scratch. With these, there's no need for a cake pop maker, mould or anything fancy to shape them. The only extra bits this cake pop recipe needs are lollipop sticks and something to stand them in.

I'm a big fan of themed cake pops. Cake pops, cakesicles and cake balls are all super easy to customise and make into fun designs. You can easily change the colours and toppings to suit your needs. They're also delicious bite-sized treats!

You can also choose to add pumpkin spice syrup to make pumpkin spice cake pops shaped like pumpkins - so much pumpkin joy! Or you can keep things deliciously vanilla using the buttercream in the recipe.

🥘 Ingredients

This pumpkin cake pops recipe calls for the following ingredients:

(1) Cake:

• Unsalted butter: allows you to control the salt content.
• White sugar: finely granulated e.g. caster sugar.
• Eggs: large size
• Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth batter.
• Baking powder: always check the expiry date before use, or the cake won't rise.
• Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed for a creamier consistency.
• Vanilla extract: use extract or paste over essence for best flavour.

(2) Buttercream:

• Unsalted butter: room temperature for a softened butter that's easier to beat.
• Powdered icing sugar: sieve your confectioners' sugar for a smooth frosting.
• Vanilla extract: use extract or paste for best taste.
• Milk: use full fat or semi-skimmed milk.
• Salt (optional)

or

• Pumpkin spice syrup (optional)

(3) Coating:

• Orange candy melts
• Pretzels: broken into pieces.
• Vegetable oil: or other neutral flavoured oil e.g. canola or sunflower.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Top tip: For accuracy, it's best to weigh your ingredients rather than using cups.

♻️ Substitutions / Variations

Ingredient substitutions

This recipe is for pumpkin cake pops from scratch, but you can also swap the cake for a boxed cake mix of your choice.

Alternatively, you can use leftover cake and offcuts to make your cake pops. You want roughly a 3:1 ratio of cake sponge to buttercream, but this varies depending on how moist your cake is and how runny your frosting is. I usually mix frosting into crumbled cake 1 tablespoon at a time and stop when it holds together as a soft dough.

Another cheat is using a store-bought tub of frosting in place of the buttercream recipe here. No judgement, you do you! It also means you can pick some fun flavours to mix it up if you fancy.

You can swap the plain flour in the cake recipe for self-raising flour of the same quantity. If doing this, exclude the baking powder too.

Flavour options

To make your pumpkin cake pops a pumpkin spice flavour, you have a few options. The easiest is to use 3 ½ tablespoons of pumpkin spice syrup (the kind you'd use for a pumpkin spice latte coffee) or pumpkin pie syrup instead of your buttercream.

Another option is to use pumpkin spice cake instead of vanilla sponge cake. You can check out this pumpkin spice cake recipe by Liv for Cake. I'd recommend using half this cake recipe for a standard batch of cake pops. I also like to swap in cream cheese frosting when I'm using pumpkin cake, as it tastes delicious!

Another flavour option is to make them into chocolate cake pops. Use my best ever chocolate cake pops recipe, but shape them using the steps in this pumpkin cake pop recipe.

Cake pop coating

If you can't find orange candy melts, you can instead use white candy melts or white chocolate with orange food coloring added. Add your food colouring a drop at a time until you get the right colour. It's best to use oil-based colouring. I'm a big fan of Colour Mill food colouring, it's perfect for chocolate!

If I'm honest, a white chocolate coating usually tastes better than a candy coating and doesn't need thinning. However, chocolate is harder to work with so I like using orange candy melts for the easiest Halloween cake pops.

Equipment alternatives

I usually use an 8-inch round cake tin for the cake. Instead, you can swap this for a 6-inch tin and bake for an extra 5-10mins.

I usually melt my candy melts in the microwave (at 20 second intervals), but you can use a double boiler or bain-marie if you prefer.

You can get different sizes and materials for your cake pop sticks. I like to use either the 4inch or 6inch length sticks. I also prefer using recyclable paper sticks so they're more environmentally friendly.

If I'm feeling lazy, I usually just eyeball the amount of cake pop mix I grab to roll into walnut-sized balls. For more consistency, use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop / ice cream scoop instead.

Standing up your cake pops can be difficult because they're top-heavy. If you don't have a cake pop stand, you can use a block of Styrofoam or a short cardboard box. Simply stab the bottom of your cake pop sticks into the Styrofoam or cardboard to hold them.

If you don't have access to a stand, Styrofoam block or cardboard box, place cake pops stick-side-up on a sheet of greaseproof paper on a plate or tray to set. They'll have a flat side and you'll need to put the pretzel stalk in next to the cake pop stick, but they'll still look cute and taste amazing.

📖 Method

Cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F.

Step 1 - In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

Step 2 - Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Step 3 - Sieve in the flour and baking powder.

Step 4 - Fold in gently.

Step 5 - Stir in the vanilla extract and milk until only just combined.

Step 6 - Pour your batter into a greased and lined 8-inch round cake tin and bake for 25-30mins until risen, springy and a skewer comes out clean. Allow cooling for 20mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Buttercream

Step 1 - While the cake cools, beat the butter, by hand or hand mixer in a medium bowl (or using a stand mixer), for several minutes until pale and fluffy.

Step 2 - Sieve in half of your powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Repeat with the other half of your powdered sugar.

Step 3 - Add the vanilla and milk.

Step 4 - Beat together until smooth.

Cake pop filling

Steps 1 - 2 - Once the cake has cooled, break it up into large chunks and blend it using short bursts in a food processor. Or crumble your cake by hand into a large bowl.

Steps 3 - 4 - Mix in your buttercream (or pumpkin spice syrup) using a wooden spoon or fork until it comes together like a soft dough.

Step 5 - Scoop a walnut-sized amount of the filling (using your hands, a tablespoon or cookie scoop).

Step 6 - Roll it into a ball in your hands.

Step 7 - Flatten the cake ball very slightly and place it on a plate or tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Step 8 - Repeat until you've used all the filling and then refrigerate the balls for 45mins.

Step 9 - Using a cake pop stick, press a furrow from the top to the bottom of one cake ball. Leave roughly a ½-inch gap and then repeat, continuing all the way around until your cake ball has roughly 5-7 deep furrows all the way around it like a pumpkin. See the video below for a helpful demonstration!

Step 10 - Place back on the lined tray and repeat until all cake balls have furrows, then refrigerate for a further 15-30mins.

Cake pop assembly

Step 1 - In a narrow heatproof jug, melt the candy melts in the microwave, 20secs at a time, stirring in-between until smooth.

Step 2 - Stir in the oil until you have a thin melted chocolate consistency.

Step 3 - Take 4 cake balls from the fridge. Dip one end of a lollipop stick into the melted candy before pushing it halfway into the middle of one of the flatter sides of a cake ball. Repeat for all 4 cake balls.

Step 4 - Dip a cake ball into the melted candy, covering it completely. Gently tap off any excess back into the container before pushing a broken piece of pretzel into the top.

Step 5 - Place the pumpkin cake pop into a stand or styrofoam block to set (roughly 5-10mins). Repeat until all 4 cake balls have been dipped and pretzeled.

Step 6 - Repeat this process until you've turned all the cake balls into pumpkin cake pops and enjoy!

🎥 Recipe video

Check out the snippet recipe video below for how to make the best pumpkin-shaped cake pops!

💭 Top tips

• It's easier to dip cold cake balls into your melted candy melts. They'll hold their shape better and are more likely to stay on your lollipop stick.
• For a better pumpkin shape, push quite hard with your lollipop stick into the cake ball, as otherwise you might not be able to see it once it's been coated.
• It's best to work with only a few cake balls at a time when coating and decorating them. Otherwise, the other cake balls might warm up while they're waiting their turn. Take out only 4 pumpkin-shaped cake balls at a time and leave the rest chilling in the fridge.
• Dip your lollipop stick in the melted candy first before pushing it into your cake ball. This helps stick your cake ball to your stick.
• Your candy melts set quite fast, so work quickly to tap off any excess candy so can push in your pretzel stalk before the candy sets.
• Your candy melts might start to solidify before you get a chance to dip all of your cake balls. If so, pop the jug back into the microwave for another 10-15secs burst to melt the candy back to dunking consistency.
• Depending on the brand, you'll probably need to add oil to your melted candy melts. This will make them easier to work with and cover your pumpkin cake balls better. I usually use PME or Wilton candy melts, and stir in roughly 1-3 tablespoon of oil (e.g. vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil or soybean oil).
• To make the pumpkin stalks, I like to use plain salted pretzels (hard, not soft). Break them into small pieces, roughly 1-inch (2-3cm) long. Don't worry if there's curves or branches in your pretzel stalks, it adds character!
• Your pretzel pieces will soften over time, so if you want them crunchy it's best to serve them the same day you make them.
• Melting your candy melts into a tall and narrow heat-proof jug or cup is best for dipping cake pops. That way you don't need to use as much candy or use a spoon to help fully coat your cake pop.

❔ FAQs

🍭 Decorating ideas

I usually keep these pumpkins simple with just the pumpkin shape and a pretzel piece as the stalk. However, you can also add more fun details for your cute cake pops if you'd like.

For example, you can crush Oreos or crumble chocolate cake to make a soil for your pumpkins to sit on instead of using a cake pop stick. If you make a chocolate sheet cake, you can top it with these pumpkin cake balls for a full spooky pumpkin patch effect!

Another idea is using a piece of green fondant icing (modelling icing) to roll into thin green vines. Wrap these around your pumpkin stalks and connect the pumpkin cake pops together. This is what I used in my poorly pumpkin patch cake!

To up the creep factor of your fun Halloween cake pops, you can draw spooky faces on them. You can make them look like carved pumpkins using black candy melts. Melt the candy and add it to a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle then draw away onto your set pumpkin pops.

Alternatively, you can buy pre-made candy eyes to stick onto your spooky cake pops using melted chocolate or candy melts.

🧁 Other goodies

Looking for some other goodies to make?

If you're after more delicious Halloween cake pops, you might like my scary unicorn cakesicles or spiderweb orange cakesicles. You can also check out this collection of the best Halloween cake pop ideas.

Or for other spooky treats, why not take a look at my tequila rose white chocolate skull cake (it's gluten-free!) or vanilla orange spiderweb mini cake.

If you're looking for an easy cake pop recipe, why not check out my simple vanilla cake pops, which are a Starbucks copycat.

Other Related Recipes:

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