When my niece Ellie told me her birthday party theme this year would be ice cream, I secretly shrieked with joy on the inside. Ok so maybe I shrieked with joy out loud! I’m a big kid at heart! I love that I get to relive all the best moments of childhood through her. After I was done with my happy dance, my first thought was ice cream cake pops!!! I’ve been wanting to make these Melted Ice Cream Cake Pops for like….FOREVER!!!! But when she told me that her birthday cake would be topped with “melted” ice cream cones, it was truly meant to be, the stars and sprinkles had alined, it was a match made in ice cream Heaven!! I was so happy that I was able to save these cake pops for this exact moment! You can view Ellie’s Amazing Ice Cream Party in all its entirety by clicking the link.
Here’s all you’ll need: Cake mix, frosting, sugar cones, candy melts, sixlets, and sprinkles.
Bake cake according to package directions. Crumble into a bowl once it has cooled. Add 2 spoonfuls of frosting and mix it all together with your hands. Add more frosting if needed but typically with cake pops, less is more! You want to be able to squish the cake mixture together so it holds its shape but you don’t want it to be wet and mushy. Check out our Foolproof Cake Pops tutorial for more cake pop tips!
Roll cake mixture into 2 inch balls.
Melt candy melts in a microwave safe container in 30 second intervals. Be sure to stir in between each interval for an even melt. We used pink for “strawberry” and a mixture of half brown, half white for the “chocolate.”
Carefully cut the top off of the sugar cones. I found it helpful to use a sawing motion with not too much pressure. But the best part about these cake pops is that they’re supposed to look like a hot mess! So if your cone is chipped or uneven that’s perfectly fine. Just cover it with some extra candy melts and pretend it was intentional. Or stick the chipped side on the bottom or the backside. Trust me! No one will notice. These cake pops are 100% forgiving!!
One of my few perfect cones! Let’s just pretend they all looked this perfect!! I won’t tell if you don’t.
Dip the rim of the cone in the candy melts. (Can you see my little chip in this one?)
“Paste” the cone to the top of a cake ball. Just press it into the cake ball diagonally. You can really squish it on there. We don’t need these guys to be perfectly round. If you’re having trouble getting them to stick, you can hold the cone in place for a few seconds to allow the candy melts to firm up a bit. Or try a slightly different angle! It’s totally ok if they fall over too or sit on their sides. We just need to get the cones to stick to the cake balls at this point.
Repeat with all the cake balls and cones. Bet you can’t tell which are chipped and which are perfect! I sure can’t! Pop these babies in the fridge or freezer for about 20 minutes. We want them to be firm but not frozen.
Reheat the candy melts in 15 second intervals until remelted. Allow them to cool for a minute or two. We want them to be melted but not hot. Take the cake pops out of the fridge or freezer while you’re remelting. Dip the cake pop into the candy melts and gently swirl.
Lightly tap away any excess on the side of your container. If you’re working with multiple colors, be sure to use the same color candy melts to cover the outside that you used to stick the cones so they’ll match.
Roll out a sheet of parchment, wax, or freezer paper. It helps to tape it right to the countertop. Dab a little spot of candy melts onto the paper for your cake pop to sit on. Plop your little cake pop down on the spot. Now we just drop a few spoonfuls of candy melt around the cake pop so that it looks like a mess of melted ice cream.
This part is optional but I think sprinkles make everything cuter! Throw a few shakes of sprinkles on there before the candy melts have a chance to harden.
You can just leave them on the countertop until the candy melts harden or if you’re like me (impatient) you can toss them back in the refrigerator for a few minutes to speed up the process. (It really doesn’t take that long for the chocolate to harden though!)
Normally I would be sad if I dropped an ice cream cone but these cake pops make me so happy!!!
The best part is you get to EAT up the mess! No cleaning required!!
Melted Ice Cream Cake Pops
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix (any flavor)
- 2 Tablespoons canned frosting (any flavor)
- Wilton candy melts
- 24 Sugar cones
- sprinkles for decorating (optional)
Directions
- Step 1 Bake cake according to package directions. Cool. Crumble cake into fine crumbs with hands. Add two heaping spoonfuls of frosting and mix well by hand. Shape cake mixture into round 2 inch balls.
- Step 2 Place Wilton candy melts into a microwave safe mug. Melt in 15-30 second intervals. Stir well between each interval.
- Step 3 Carefully cut the bottom off the cone. Dip the rim of the cone into candy melts. Press candy coated side of cone into cake ball. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.
- Step 4 Remove cake pops from freezer. Re melt the candy melts in 15 second intervals. Allow candy melts to cool slightly.
- Step 5 Dip cake pop into the candy melts. Tap cone against the side of the mug to allow excess candy coating to drip off.
- Step 6 With a spoon, dab a spot of candy melts onto wax paper. Place cake pop onto candy spot. Drop a few spoonfuls of candy melt to resemble a puddle of melted ice cream.
- Step 7 Add sprinkles and allow candy coating to harden. Enjoy!
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