Joining the Cake Pop Craze

So my dear buddy T got me a cake pop pan from Nordic Ware. I've made brownie pops before but have refrained from the cake pops because in general the recipes call from crushing up a regular pan of cake and mixing it with enough frosting to hold all the crumbs together and shape. This has never appealed to me because I've never really been a fan of frosting. Eating a giant ball of it really made me balk even though I have long admired the many adorable cake pops being created and shown off around the web. This is my first try to make little cutie ones so please be kind to me. This recipe does require the special cake pop pan:

Cake pop bouquet anybody?

Adorable little face?

Cake Pop

Cake (recipe from the pan wrapper with minor modifications):
3/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cups butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Pop:
12 lollipop sticks
12 oz colored candy coating
assorted sprinkles
candied rose petals
food safe pens

Dump chocolate chips and butter into mixing bowl (mine is plastic but if yours is metals you might want to do this in a separate bowl first) and melt in 30 second bursts in the microwave stirring between each burst until smooth. Once melted, add sugar and cocoa. Mix until blended. Add eggs one at a time mixing between each. Add flour and salt and stir until smoothly blended.

Heat over to 325F. Spray pan with oil. Powder lightly with flour or cocoa powder. Spoon in batter until you get a slightly rounded top over the edge of each well. You will end up with some extra batter. I just baked this along side in a little pan as my personal treat :) Place top of pan on and secure with keys. Bake for 15-18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan. Take top off pan and poke lollipop stick into the middle of each round so it goes about 3/4 of the way to the bottom but not all the way through. Stick the whole pan into the freezer. While its chilling melt the candy coating in 30 second bursts in the microwave and stir between each burst until its nice and smooth. Take pan out of freezer. Gently release each pop from the pan and dip into coating so it goes up the stick beyond the cake ball about half inch, shake excess off gently, and place on silpat or parchment paper to cool. By the time you get to the end, the first one should be set. Decorate as you like with petals and sprinkles using the melted candy coating to adhere as needed. A toothpick is your best applicator tool. Re-melt coating as needed. Use pens to draw on faces.