Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Crumble the cake into crumbs into a large bowl.
In a second large mixing bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste until smooth and creamy.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the frosting into the crumbled cake, using your hands to really press it together. Try to form a ball with the cake mixture. If the crumbs are too dry, the ball won’t hold its form. If that happens, add more frosting 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the desired moldable consistency.
Use a small cookie scoop to place two scoops into your hand. Squeeze them together to form a ball, then elongate it until it becomes an egg. Place the cake egg on the prepared baking sheet.
You should have enough cake mixture to make 12-14 eggs. After the last one is formed, wrap the whole baking sheet with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for an hour.
While the cake pops are in the freezer, empty 12 ounces of candy melts into a 2-cup glass measuring cup (or something similar that is tall and narrow).
Heat candy melts in the microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat, stirring thoroughly until they’re all melted and the mixture is smooth.If you feel the chocolate mixture is to thick to coat the cake pops, add vegetable shortening 1 teaspoon at a time, stirring to incorporate completely. Remove the chilled cake pops from the freezer. Dip one end of a cake pop stick 1 inch into the chocolate coating, then immediately insert in the bigger end of the first egg. Do this carefully and only insert the stick about half way into the egg. Return the egg back to the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining cake pops.
Take the first cake pop that you inserted the stick into and dip into the melted chocolate coating, straight down and back up again. Don’t move around in there – if you have to, you can help the coating with a spoon.
Allow the excess coating to drip off, then turn the cake pop right side up and insert the stick into a cake pop stand or a foam block to set completely. You can add the sprinkles now, while the coating is wet, and they will stick best without the additional step of "gluing" them on with extra coating.
Repeat with the remaining cake pops.
After all the cake pops have hardened, use the remaining coating to apply the sprinkles in your favorite patterns. See my photos for examples.