Tootsie Roll Cake Pops!

During the summer my kids have been collecting a large stash of candy from all the local parades. I was eyeballing their loot one day in search for something to satisfy my sweet tooth. I stumbled across, a much desirable, Tootsie Roll Pop. Who doesn't love that classic candy? While I was enjoying my tasty treat the CAKE POP CHALLENGE, "popped" into my head. Could I recreate the same flavors & textures in a cake pop?So, I put on my Instructables apron & began to experiment.....

I began my adventure by preparing a basic white cake mix according to the package directions.

I selected a few colors that I thought would be fitting for tootsie pop flavors. Then I divided the cake batter & dyed them accordingly.

I then filled some prepared pans with the batter & popped them in the oven to bake for the directed amount of time.

Once baked, I crumbled each color into separate bowls. 

Next I measured out about 1/4 cup of "Ready to Flavor" frosting & added small amounts of flavoring according to taste. (You will need about a 1/4 cup per color of cake)

I slowly mixed in the frosting until the crumbs began to stick together and could be shaped into a ball. (It is easiest to mix with your hands) Repeat this with each color.

NOW WE ARE ON A "ROLL!"

Prepare your tootsies by either unwrapping them or by cutting the tootsie logs into sections. 

Then return to your cake bowls. With a melon baller scoop out a rounded spoonful of cake & roll it into a ball. (you want them to be about the size of the actual suckers)

Next, push a piece of tootsie into the center of the ball.

Then push a sucker stick into the tootsie center of the ball. You may have to reshape them a bit after inserting the stick. (The tootsie will help keep the stick in place instead of using chocolate) Then lay them out on a baking sheet & place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Now it's time for the fun part!

Melt down some vanilla bark, or some colored chocolate melts. 

Dip each cake pop in the bark & let the excess drip off. Let it cool for about 1-2 minutes so that the bark will be soft but not dripping off.

Then coat it generously with colored sugar crystals. I used these because I wanted the pops to have a hard tack candy look to them.
(You will want to use a bowl underneath the pop to catch extra crystals or you'll have a big mess)

Now let your Tootsie Roll Cake Pops cool completely on some wax paper or in an up right stand if you have one.

You can either leave the pops as is or if you want to add a little more WOW factor you can make some custom wrappers.

I used some colored cupcake liners with plastic wrap to hold them tightly in place. (If you made your pops rather large you could use muffin liners instead)

If you really want to go ALL OUT and have some extra time to spare you can use a wite-out pen to label the wrappers. Just don't forget to let the lettering dry first! 

I hope you've enjoyed this experiment & remember to just have FUN!!!