Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops

As you know, cake pops are currently a very popular - and often expensive - fad.  I buy mine at Starbucks, and I recently had the pleasure of eating a seasonal cake pop - a brownie cake pop covered in white chocolate and candy cane bits.  It was my first cake pop ever - and it tasted great.
I became determined to make these.  I scavenged and found a recipe from 52 Kitchen Adventures.  As usual, you can find the original recipe on the actual blog, but my modified one is here:

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Pops
REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER
REQUIRES CHILLING TIME (15 min)
Makes 40-50 cake pops

Chocolate Cake
  2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  1/2 cup unsalted butter, very soft
  1/3 cup vegetable oil
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 cup milk
  1/2 cup water
  4 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar.
3. Cream butter, add dry ingredients, and mix at low speed for a minute. Keep the mixer running while you add the oil and mix until the mixture looks like sand.
4. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine vanilla with milk and water. Add to sand-like mixture and mix for a couple of minutes at low speed.
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating at medium speed between each one until thoroughly combined.
6. If needed, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for a minute more. At this point, the batter will be thin.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for around 35 minutes. When the cake is done, the sides will just begin to pull away from the edge of the pan and the top will spring back when lightly touched. You can also test it by inserting a toothpick, which should come out clean.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
  3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  1-2 tablespoons of milk
  4 candy canes (around 6.5 tablespoons), crushed to powder in a food
      processor or blender

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and vanilla until combined.
2. Adding 1 cup of sugar at a time, mix into butter until thoroughly combined.
3. Mix in milk until you reach the desired consistency.
4. Add crushed candy canes and stir until combined.

Assembling the cake pops
  18 oz. white chocolate
  1/8 cup canola oil (you can use less for a thicker coating/more for a thinner
    coating)
  40-50 four-inch lollipop sticks
  6 candy canes (around 3/4 cup), crushed
  Styrofoam block

1. Once cake is completely cooled, cut into 6 pieces. Using your hands, crumble each piece into a large bowl.
2. Add frosting to bowl and mix with the back of a spoon until thoroughly combined.
3. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls (I used a cookie scoop to measure the cake and rolled it with my hands).
4. Place cake balls on a baking sheet covered in wax paper and chill for 15 minutes in the freezer.  (While dipping cake balls, keep the other cake ball refrigerated.)
5. In a double boiler or in a microwave, melt the chocolate and oil together, stirring until all lumps are gone.
6. Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat and pour into a small cup. Let cool for a few minutes.
7. Place crushed candy canes in a bowl and set aside.
8. Remove cake balls from freezer. One at a time, dip the tip of a lollipop stick in the melted chocolate, then insert the stick straight into a cake ball, pushing almost all the way through.
9. Hold the lollipop stick and dip the entire cake ball into the melted chocolate until it is completely covered and quickly remove.
10. Hold pop over cup while excess chocolate drips off.
11. Once excess and dripped off, let chocolate set for a few moments and then roll in crushed candy cane.
12. Push stick into styrofoam and let chocolate harden.
13. Once all cake pops are completed and cooled, cover and store in refrigerator.

 Now, to break it down:

For the cake:
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar...

Cream butter, add dry ingredients, and mix.  Add oil and mix until it looks like sand...

Combine vanilla, milk, and water...

And add to "sand" mixture.

Add eggs and mix thoroughly...

Pour into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

For the frosting:
Cream butter and vanilla...

Mix sugar into butter, 1 cup at a time.  Mix in milk until you get a frosting-like consistency, like this:

Add crushed candy canes and stir.

To assemble:
Crumble cake into a bowl...

Add frosting...

Stir until combined...

Form into balls and chill.

Melt white chocolate and oil...

Dip pops and roll in candy cane pieces...

Let cool, and there you have it!

Of course, these cake pops aren't exactly like the Starbucks pops, but they taste just as good! :)

And they're rather photogenic, too! XD