St. Patrick’s Good Luck Pots of Gold Cake Pops

It’s easy being green when you’re a yummy St. Patrick’s Day treat! Here’s a holiday recipe that will make everybody smile! And, please feel free to join me in wearing a ridiculous hat!

​Recipe

First, the dough: 
1 box of your favorite two-layer white cake mix
Eggs and water according to instructions
Applesauce, the same amount as the recipe calls for in oil + 2 tablespoons

Combine cake mix ingredients, starting with eggs. Yes, I’m telling you to use a mix again. It just works better for cake pops. They’ll stay together better and they won’t be as likely to sweat after you coat them with chocolate.

Break the eggs into a bowl and combine them with a whisk. Remember, the yolks and whites are literally like mixing oil and water, so if you do it before adding them, the whole thing will blend together better. 

After the eggs are whipped, add the applesauce, water, and the mix itself and whisk together. You don’t need an electric mixer for this. Just make sure all the flour bits are mixed in well. Now bake it in whatever size pans you want. Just be sure not to overbake. Drying out too much makes it harder. In fact, when it’s done, it helps to cover the layers with foil so that they don’t dry out while they’re cooling. You want them moist so all the little crumbs you’re going to make will stick together.

So now your cake is completely cooled, and you get to destroy it! The easiest way is to cut it into chunks while it’s still in the pan, then lift them out and crumble them into a bowl. The crumbs should be small because you’re going to have to press them together. In fact, that’s the next step. After you’ve turned the whole cake into crumbs, start pressing them all together. If it’s still crumbly, add a little water or melted chocolate. They make great glue. By the time you’re done, it should look like dough.

​Now, knead in some green food coloring. Start slow, because a little goes a long way and this is still going to have to look good enough to eat! What you should do next is pack the dough into a tablespoon measure twice, so you have two good tablespoons of dough, then press those together into a ball. 

Now, the coating:
12 oz. good quality white chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)
Green food coloring
A few drops of vegetable oil
Golden sprinkles
Cake pop sticks

​Melt your chocolate chips. Be careful with this because they can be temperamental. I use a double boiler or a good heatproof bowl that will fit over a pot of simmering water and put the entire 12 ounces in. Stir gently until it melts completely. Treat it gently and it will behave. 

Now it’s time for the final steps. First, dip the cake pop stick into the melted chocolate and insert it into one of the balls, then do the same with all the others. Next, let them dry and firm up in the refrigerator.

​Add the food coloring to the rest of the melted chocolate until you get the color you want, remembering that if you don’t have the gel coloring and use liquid, you’ll have to mix it with a little oil first so the chocolate doesn’t seize up from the added moisture.  Holding the dough balls with the sticks that are now firmly attached, dip them into the green melted chocolate, let them drip a little, then lay your pops gently onto parchment paper so that they leave a little chocolate rim underneath and refrigerate again to dry. ​​

​Now it’s time to top them with gold! Just turn over the pop so the flat side is up, pipe a little melted chocolate on the end, and dip it into the gold sprinkles! It helps to have a cake pop stand like the one my mom made in the video, but even if you don’t and have to lay them on their sides, they’re still cute.  And then, as my mom says, “TaDa!” 

​And, guess what? They’re done! Share them with your favorite leprechaun!