Love Cake Pops

You will also need a bag of lollipop sticks, roughly 20.

To prepare the cake, preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line an 8-inch square cake pan.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Crack in the egg, spoon in the sour cream, and pour in the oil and the vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.

Pour in the boiling water, and slowly mix until smooth. Pour batter in the prepared pan, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Then invert it onto a greased rack. Let it cool completely.

To prepare buttercream, beat butter for a few minutes in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add powdered sugar and turn the mixer on low. Beat until the sugar incorporates with the butter. Add vanilla, heavy cream and cocoa powder. Beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes, or until buttercream becomes light and fluffy.

To assemble cake pops, prepare two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Break the cooled cake into a few big chunks by hand, place them into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until the big pieces turn into crumbs. Add frosting gradually into the cake crumbs and blend until the mixture becomes a dough, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of frosting.

Use a small cookie scoop and scoop and roll dough into evenly sized balls. Place them on the prepared cookie sheets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Gradually melt a few red candy melts in the microwave for 10 second intervals and stirring in-between. Dip one end of a lollipop stick in the candy melts and insert into the cake ball. Repeat with half of the cake balls. Use white candy melts for the remaining half. Refrigerate again for an hour before coating the balls.

Remove cake pops from the refrigerator. Melt some more red candy melts in the microwave. Dip each cake pop in the candy melts and gently tap off excess. Place onto a piece of wax paper and let it dry completely. Repeat with half of the cake balls. Use white candy melts for the remaining cake balls.

Transfer the remaining candy melts into a small piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Microwave the candy melts before transferring if they become hard. Carefully pipe red “Love” on white cake pops, and white “Love” on red cake pops.