Castroville Dark Chocolate Cake Pops

These dark chocolate cake pops are the perfect bite-sized indulgence.

fork and knife iconServes: 30
timer iconPrep Time: 20 MinutesCook Time: 40 Minutes
chef hat iconSource: Chef Adrienne Meier

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Ocean Mist Farms artichoke hearts, crowns or stems – cooked, cooled, mashed
  • 1 box (15.25 oz.) yellow cake mix
  • ½ cup flaked coconut, toasted
  • 3 large eggs
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • ¾ cup water
  • 1 box (3.4 oz.) pistachio instant pudding mix
  • 2 tsp. prepared white cake frosting
  • 30 cake pop sticks
  • 12 oz. Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
  • 1 cup shelled pistachios, finely chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch oven proof cake pan.
  2. In large bowl or electric mixer, add cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, water, mashed artichokes and toasted coconut. Mix at low speed for 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high for 4 minutes until well-combined. Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched in the center of the cake. Cool cake in the pan for 1 hour.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, crumble cooled cake into small crumbs with finger tips. Add 2 teaspoons of frosting to the cake crumbs, gently incorporating frosting until cake crumbles are moist.
    Using a 1oz. ice cream scoop, form cake balls and place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.
  4. Melt dark chocolate according to package instructions. Dip the end of the pop sticks into the melted chocolate and insert into the cake balls. Place cake balls on a tray lined with parchment paper with balls touching the parchment paper and sticks up. Freeze cake pops for 20 minutes (this allows the cake balls to become secure to the pop sticks).
  5. Remove cake pops from freezer. Holding the pops by the stick, dip the cake balls into the melted chocolate until completely covered. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into the melted chocolate container.
    Sprinkle chopped pistachios onto the top of wet chocolate cake pop and place on parchment paper lined tray (the top of the cake pop will be touching the paper and the stick will be up). Gently press down on the cake pop to flatten the top of the cake pop so it might sit nicely for presentation.
  6. Allow chocolate to harden for 1 hour or place in freezer to quicken the hardening process. Place cake pops in cello bags and tie with festive ribbon. Cake pops can also be displayed by placing cake pop sticks in a styrofoam block.