1. Mix the flour, salt, and cocoa powder in a bowl and set it aside.
2. Beat the butter until creamy.
3. Add sugar and keep mixing until fluffy.
4. Then add the egg and vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, stir the red food coloring into the buttermilk.
6. Now mix the flour mix and buttermilk mix into the butter mix, going back and forth. Start and finish with the flour.
7. Mix vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl.
8. It will fizz, that’s good! Gently fold this into your batter.
9. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into each cake pop mold.
10. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
11. Let them cool, then dip them in your glaze or coating.
12. You’ll get around 3½ dozen cake pops.

Pro Tip:

1. No buttermilk? No problem!
2. Mix 1½ teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar with milk to make ½ cup.
3. Let it sit for 5–10 minutes, and you’ve got a perfect substitute.

Baker’s Hack:

1. To fill the molds easily, put your batter into a disposable piping bag and snip a tiny hole.
2. Squeeze the batter in without a mess.
3. Keep the bag sealed between batches so it doesn’t drip.

For the Coating:

1. Melt chocolate or candy melts over a double boiler.
2. If it’s too thick, add a little olive oil (just a bit at a time) to thin it out.
3. Freeze the pops until very cold or slightly frozen.
4. Dip the stick in melted chocolate and push it into the cake pop; this helps the stick stay put.
5. Freeze again. Then, dip the whole pop in the chocolate to coat it.
6. The cold pop helps the chocolate set quickly.
7. To dry them, poke the sticks into a cardboard box with holes so they stand up. Once dry, you can bag them if you manage to save some!
8. We made 3 batches and ended up with about 120 pops, perfect for a birthday party.