Pumpkin Cake Pops

5 from 3 votes

Delicious cake pops in the shape of a pumpkin - perfect for Fall and Halloween! Can be made either vanilla or pumpkin spice flavor!

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Chill Time1 45

Total Time2 45

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Fusion

Diet: Low Salt, Vegetarian

Servings: Cake pops

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Kachina

Equipment

8-inch (20cm) round cake tin*
Lollipop sticks
Cake pop stand, Styrofoam block or short cardboard box

Ingredients

Cake for filling:

115 g unsalted butter room temp.
115 g caster sugar granulated sugar
2 eggs
115 g plain flour ** all-purpose
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream for filling: ***

60 g unsalted butter room temp.
130 g icing sugar powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Coating and topping:

175 g orange candy melts
2-3 tablespoon oil e.g. vegetable, sunflower or canola
1 - 2 tablespoon pretzels broken into 16 1-inch pieces

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Cake for Filling:

Pre-heat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and smooth, then beat in the eggs until fully combined.
Sieve in the flour and baking powder, folding in gently. Then stir in the vanilla extract and milk until only just combined.
Pour the cake batter into a greased and lined 8-inch round cake tin and bake for 20-25mins until springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 20mins before removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling while you make the buttercream.

Buttercream for Filling:

Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy.
Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of the icing sugar.
Add in the milk and vanilla extract mixing until only just smooth.

Cake Pop Filling:

Crumble up your cooled sponge into a large bowl, either using your hands or a fork.
Using a fork or spatula, thoroughly mix in the buttercream (or pumpkin spice syrup) to the crumbled cake. Your cake pop filling should be able to hold together like a soft dough.
Scoop a walnut-sized amount of the filling mix (using a tablespoon or cookie scoop) and roll it in your hands to make a ball, then flatten very slightly and place on a flat plate or tray lined with greaseproof paper. Repeat until you’ve used up all of your mix then refrigerate for 45mins.
Take the cake balls out from the fridge. Using a cake pop stick, firmly press a deep furrow into a cake ball, from along the top to the bottom in one line. Leave roughly a ½-inch gap and then repeat, continuing all the way round until your cake ball has roughly 5-7 deep furrows like a pumpkin.
Place back on the lined tray and repeat until all cake balls have furrows, then refrigerate for a further 30mins.

Cake Pop Assembly:

In a narrow heatproof jug, mug or other container, slowly melt the candy melts in the microwave for 20secs at a time, stirring between bouts until smooth then stir in the oil (½ tablespoon at a time) until you have a thin melted chocolate consistency.
Take 4 furrowed cake balls from the fridge and 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.
Holding the stick, 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.
Place the pumpkin cake pop into a holder (e.g. cake pop stand or styrofoam block) to set at room temperature (takes roughly 5-10mins). Repeat the process until all 4 cake balls have been dipped and pretzeled.
Repeat steps 2 – 4 until you've turned all the cake balls into pumpkin cake pops, then enjoy!

Notes

* If you don't have an 8-inch round cake tin, you can instead use a 6-inch round cake tin and bake your sponge for 25-30mins instead.

** You can swap the plain flour in this recipe for self-raising flour of the same quantity and exclude the baking powder.

*** You can make these cake pops as pumpkin spice flavoured by swapping the buttercream for 3 ½ tablespoons of pumpkin spice syrup instead. The rest of the recipe stays the same.

If your candy melts start to solidify before you've finished dipping your cake balls, reheat them in the microwaveable jug for a short burst (10-15secs).

For help on how to make furrows in your cake ball, you can check out the video in the post.

Nutrition