Cake Pops

This week I will be mostly making Cake Pops for the Southern leaving party. I've made them before and they turned out amazingly. I received lots of compliments about them.

I thought it would be nice if I shared the recipe:

1 large plain sponge cake - I did the easy version and bought a packet mix

1 tub ready-made buttercream frosting. They sell really good Betty Crocker tubs in the Supermarket

Lolly sticks - available from craft store or cake craft store

1 x large bar of chocolate or 1 x bag of dipping chocolate from a cake craft store - I used Cadburys which was probably a little thick in the end. Nice though.

• Using a fork or a food processor, break the cooled cake up into crumbs.
• Spoon in some of the buttercream frosting and mix. Continue adding the frosting until your cake mixture becomes sticky and holds together.
• Roll the mixture into balls, put onto a greased baking tray and put into the fridge for at least 15 minutes to set the mixture. If you don't do this they will likely fall off the sticks.
• Melt your chocolate in the microwave (it's ok to do this as long as you are careful not to burn it). Transfer your melted chocolate into a tall thin-ish cup/beaker/tub. It is easier to submerge the entire cake ball into the chocolate this way rather than trying to roll it around a bowl. I used pint-sized plastic cups.
• Dip the end of your lolly stick into the melted chocolate and push halfway into the cake ball. Once you have done them all your first one should have set so you can go back to your first one and dip the whole ball into the melted chocolate. Did it straight down and then take it back out. The longer it is in the chocolate the more likely it is to come off the stick or break apart.
• Tap the stick very very lightly to get rid of the excess chocolate.
• If you have a polystyrene block you can push the sticks into that to dry or you can put them pop-side down onto a piece of greaseproof paper. If you want to decorate with sprinkles, buttons or smarties then do this before you put them down.

Extra tips:

If you let your pops dry upside down on greaseproof paper, you might find that there is a patch of uncovered cake when you peel them off later. Melt a little more chocolate in a cup and just dip the very end into the chocolate. You should be able to stand it in a up in a cup now without the chocolate running down the stick.

Don't overheat your chocolate - it will become too thick and will also crack once it dries due to the difference in temperature with your chilled cake balls. 

If you want to see just how far you can go with these, have a look at www.bakerella.com. She is the Queen of all things sweet.

Here's her YouTube video on how she does the basic kind:

Happy baking!