Firstly, let me say hey! I have recently become interested in making cake pops, and am trying to perfect some tipsy ones, however have not had much luck.

So im actually hoping you guys could give me some advice. I have now tried and failed on 5 different times to get it right, the pops are either too wet and mushy (when i use mostly alcohol to bind) or the texture is ok but you cannot taste the alcohol at all, I dont want them overpowering, but I want people to easily be able to idenift which spirit/liqueur is in them. I initially tried mixing my alcohol with the frosting, then adding to the crumbs, which gave a good textured pop but you couldnt taste the booze. Then i went kinda crazy and tried ONLY adding alcohol to bind the pops, which obviously resulted in a sticky moist icky pop. i also tried injecting alcohol into them, which didnt work either. boo!

So, I then thought what about rolling. I could make the pop with frosting, but then roll it in my booze to infuse it, but i just dont know if it would help much, or if it seeps in too much, will it just come out overly sticky again.

I know you cannot flavour the candy melts because alcohol makes them lumpy, so i have tried using a ganache to dip them in, and flavour that, which worked better but didnt set as hard. Maybe I could do a flavoured ganache, then dip in melts? That just seems excessive.

So there is my issues. Has anyone successfully made any boozy pops that had that good kick? So far my best one has been the baileys, and maybe thats because its a thicker liqueur and doesnt get the pop as wet? I dunno.

Any input, greatly appreciated !!!

thanks! ^_^

Hi,

I have done this successfully and the key is time. You want to treat your cake like a fruit cake. Bake your cake and let it cool then soak your cake a little at a time you want it to be wet not drowning. After about 3-5 days you can crumbling your cake bind it with some buttercream and booze. Then proceeded how you would normally do.

Hi myobsession.   Maybe I can help you solve this problem. I think if you want to make cake pops that taste like rum or any other type of alcohol then what you need to do is just add the alcohol to the cake batter. Here is a recipe for a rum cake. You can use any kind of alcohol. This is the recipe I use to make my rum cakes. And rum cake pops my family is big on rum cake. Is very simple and it taste delicious. (1) Box of Duncan Hines classic yellow cake, you could use french vanilla (1) Box of vanilla Jell-O instant pudding that's one box 4 1/2 cup serving, (4) eggs, 1/2 cup of water,1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup of dark rum. you can use Bacardi rum. Just mix all the ingredients together in the mixer or by hand and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick come out clean. while the cake is baking take 1/2 cup of butter you could substitute with margarine, if preferred, (1) cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of dark rum Bacardi and you are going to make a glaze. Take a pan and place it on the stove on medium heat. Put in and melt the butter. Put in the water and sugar. allow to boil till sugar melts. Turn off the heat and stir in the rum. The rum can release real hot vapor. please be careful. once the cake is ready, pierce the entire cake using a fork. please do this gently. We do not want to shred the cake to pieces. Do this while the cake is warm. Remove the cake from the pan and slowly pour the warm glaze over the cake allowing it to seep into the cake. Since your going to be making cake pops I suggest not to add all the glaze to the cake we don't want to make the cake too wet. Let the cake sit for at lease a couple hour if over night even better. No need to refrigerate. But it will taste better cold. that's it your set.. Happy baking.

I'm sorry myobsession, The rum cake recipe was meant for britishchick.

Okay, so just soak it slowly, over time? Im trialing it now, have 3 scratch cakes made (all with a bit of booze baked in also), and am now making my simple syrup ready to brush over.

Which flavours/boozes did you find were most pungent/strong 'myobsession'.... I think so far baileys, rum and patron have been the biggest flavour hits. Im trying to create a rocky road pop, using chocolate cake, marshmellow pieces and marshmellow vodka, but the vodka just doesnt come through as id hope it would.

'goodysgoodies' i like the sound of your glaze, so far ive only used simple syrups for brushing over, i will have to try your glaze also. Im guessing with the glaze, i wont need any BC to bind, right? Sounds like a sticky glaze which can probably bind as is.

I have successfully made boozy cupcakes which taste great, but trying to pack the booze flavour into tiny cake pops is proving to be a challenge... but I dont give up easily :D

Remember you are going to bake the cake let it cool. Make the syrup pierce some holes in the cake with a fork and pouring slowly some of the syrup into the cake. Let it sit overnight that way all the alcohol will soak in. Crumble the cake like you normally would to make the cake pops and add a little butter cream remember don't use all the syrup we don't want to make the cake too sticky. Hope that would work. When I make any cake with alcohol in the batter the flavor of the alcohol comes right out. Let  me know how it turns out.

I think the more you leave the cake sitting the better the flavor of alcohol is. I was thinking maybe you should freeze the cake for a few days that way the cake won't be as sticky when you crumble it and the alcohol flavor would be stronger. Just though.

Its definitely getting better. My cakes are so moist, that even with 2 brushings of syrup they are becoming sticky and gooey. Perhaps the freezing will help :D

Thanks so much for the tips!

AI've never tried a simple syrup to soak a cake. It may be good to add flavor as I was worried that the repeating process would make the cake really sweet and sticky. I never put alcohol in a cake mix though as it would bake out. The flavors of brandy and red wines have been very pronounced also. However I've learned that with enough love and a correct brand you can get any flavor you like. Can I ask what brand of marshmallow vodka are you using and is that the only one?

AWhat if you crumble the cake, spread the crumbs on a baking sheet, and put it in a very low oven for a bit to dry out the crumbs a little. Let cool, then add the alcohol.

I did this! And it came out wonderfully. I used Shellback white rum. I made the cake pops like normal and then I used a food injector to put the rum in the cake pop once the candy melts had hardened. It was a bit of a challenge because the needle was so tiny, but the cake and/or candy melts could still get stuck in it. But a simple fix would be to just poke a small hole with a different needle or toothpick and then inject the cake pop. Once I injected it, I just covered the hole with a bit of the candy melts on the back of a spoon. With this method, you don't have to tamper with your cake recipe. I thought to bake with the alcohol but then the heat would cause me to lose the effect of the alcohol. This is now my little secret that I am sharing with the world!

Side bar: this was my second time making cake pops, so I was a bit rough with the candy melts. Make sure that your pop is completely covered otherwise you lose liquor because it will seep out of any gaps. Also, as I learned the hard way, the smaller the balls, the better.