Creepy, ghoulish and fang-tastic! Eyeball Cake Pops are a perfect addition to any Halloween celebration.
Halloween is the one time of year when food is supposed to look gross, but of course still be very much edible. That’s why I decided to take everybody’s favorite cake pops and turn it into something ghoulish and boo-tiful. Perfect for serving up alongside bloody brains (shrimp) or some monster mucus (oysters), you’re on your way to a screaming good time.
I’m a dork, but how fun are these eyeball cake pops?
Forks definitely make the best accessory!
I LOVE Halloween with a crazy kind of passion. Most people know me for my love of Wegmans, and Halloween. I’m weird, and I’m perfectly okay with it. I usually start plotting in the summer for costume ideas and a theme for my decorations. Although I’m a bit behind this year on some of my planning (such as a costume), the idea of eyeball cake pops impaled with a fork just sounded fang-tastic.
Cake pops really became popular with Bakerella, and now they’re found just about everywhere including the freezer section of grocery stores. The basic idea of cake pops is mixing a baked cake with frosting, and then rolling it into balls. After that, you dip it in melted candy or chocolate and decorate as you see fit. I’ll be honest, Bakerella’s beautiful creations are in a category all by themselves. They are painstakingly thought out and created. I don’t have the patience for such perfection when it comes to decorating, but I think these turned out just fine!
To make the cake pops, you can use your own recipe for red velvet, or just go to the store and pick up a box and make as directed. I just loved the red centers as being extra creepy, but of course you can use whatever flavor you like. You’ll then add the same amount of frosting you’d need to cover the cake, or just one can of frosting and mix until everything comes together. Next, you’ll roll heaping tablespoon of the mixture into a ball and place into a container. I definitely recommend chilling them for a few hours in the refrigerator before dipping.
Chilled red velvet cake balls ready for dipping in melted white chocolate.
You’ll then melt your candy melts (1 lb of white chocolate or vanilla candies) as per the package instructions. Now Bakerella always seems to get hers smooth and beautiful, and maybe it’s the type of candy melts she uses. Mine never seem to get as smooth, so these didn’t get that nice polished finish. However, I’m not sure these ghoulish versions needed the polish. Less cartoon, more creepy. After you have sufficiently melted your candy melts, you’ll then use two forks and coat your cake balls. Place each one onto a sheet of wax paper or silicone mat.
Fondant irises and painted on pupils (black gel food coloring).
Before the candy melt sets, apply your iris and pupil. Now for these, I just used what I had in the house. I cut out the iris using fondant. You could use candy wafers or I’ve seen some people warm Starburst, roll them out, and then cut their desired shapes out. Just be creative with what you have in the house. As for the pupils, I used gel food coloring which did take a couple of hours to set. What would have worked better with the fondant is an edible ink pen, again it was using what I had in the house. You could take a dab of candy melt and affix something like a dark brown M&M to your iris. There’s no right or wrong way, just do it the way that makes sense to you based on what you have available and what you would imagine looks good.
Finished eyeballs waiting to setup.
After that, I allowed each “eyeball” to set. For the blood vessels, again an edible ink pen would have come in handy. Instead I just mixed up some red food coloring and very small amounts of water and painted it onto the eyeballs. While they turned into droplets, it looked eerily cool on the plate. You could also use a red food gel which would look extra realistic as blood.
Plated eyeballs with a few forks for good measure.
Then just serve with forks and have a ghoul time at your party.
To full plates and eating your tarte out.
Have a spook-tacular Halloween!
