Monday 18 March 2013

Easy Cake Pops

Are people still making cake pops?  I am.  Especially as I am a big cheat and they are easy peasy
when you cheat.  Here's how:
What I Used:
Cheat Cake:
I used Red Velvet Mix [but I have been known to make this even more of a cheat by buying a pre-made pack of 12 plain fairy/cupcakes]

Decoration:
Red Candy Melts Chocolate
Icing
Decorations / Sprinkles
Lollipop Sticks

Buttercream Icing:
50g Butter
80g Icing Sugar
1tbsp water

I made these cake pops for our work Red Nose Bake Sale, so red velvet cake with a red chocolate coating was the obvious choice for me.  However; as this was an after work late bake, I oped for a packet mix: less washing up, less mess, less time etc.
Once baked, I set the cake on a cooling rack and cut it in half to speed the cooling process up.
As the cake cooled, I made up my buttercream.  The taste / quantities of this are to my liking - so I find the quantities of 50g butter/50g icing sugar and a teaspoon or two of water a good place to start, adding more icing sugar to taste if you wish.  However; the taste of the buttercream will really not be as important to this cake as it would if it was frosting.  The consistency needs to be light and fluffy [not runny].  Take about 1 full teaspoon of the buttercream and set to the side, leaving the rest in a large mixing bowl:
Once the cake is cool, crumble it up [if any areas of the cake are burnt/hard, remove them first]
and add to the buttercream in the mixing bowl.  With a spoon/spatular, mix the cake until fully combined with the buttercream:
Where it will resemble something a little unappetising - but dough-like.
Now, get your hands stuck in.  Take small quantities of the cake and roll between your hands into balls.  I made ping-pong sized balls as these were going to be on sale, however; I have made bite-sized versions previously, the diameter around the size of a £2 coin.  Set them aside on a tray to set at room temperature whilst you complete the remainder.
Next, add a little buttercream to the tip of a lollipop stick and push it around half way through each ball:
Leave to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes-1hour:

Once hardened in the fridge, the fun part can start - decorating!  I wanted red chocolate, so invested in some Candy Melts.  I am now converted - they are great.  Once melted, they stay melted and if you need to have a break, they can be re-melted without losing the shiny finish.  I found it really easy to work with and used less than 1/4 of the pack to cover over 20 cake pops.
I found the easiest way to cover them was similar to my chocolate apples, holding the cake pop upside down over the chocolate bowl, using a spoon to cover the bottom, turning the cake pop and then covering the remainder and leaving to set in a tumbler.
just before setting, I covered half of the pops with a few sprinkles:
...and the other half with some white icing:
Left overnight, these set completely solid and survived the journey to work pretty well and
tasted great.  I think they look pretty impressive, considering the easy method and
quick turnaround - perfect if you are caught short for time!
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1 comment

  1. These look so yummily delicious! I would love a cake pop right about now. xx. McKenna Lou
    www.lynnandlou.com

    ReplyDelete

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