Cake Pops

Move over cupcakes, whoopies and macaroons, cake pops are the new bake on the block!! Cake pops are always a big hit with kids. They're perfectly bite sized and oh so pretty! The good thing about them too is that you can use off cuts of cake, and even shop bought if you want.

In some ways the concept is really simple, just break up your cake into crumbs and then smoosh it back together again with some buttercream, some people also use cream cheese (chocolate philadelphia anyone?) and then cover it in chocolate. However, in reality cake pops can sometimes be a little trickier than they first appear.

I have tried cake pops once before but unfortunately it ended in tears as my pops fell off the stick and this is not an uncommon problem. My second attempt as you can see, stayed firmly atop their perch! The reason...I attended a cake pop course to learn the mystical art.

Way back in October I entered a cake competition, the theme was autumnal cakes and I was very excited to be pronounced the winner with this three tier homage to autumn, incidentally it was also one of my first blog posts. The prize was a course of my choice at Cakes 4 Fun and last weekend I finally attended their cake pop course.

So after my first failed attempt where had I been going wrong? The mistake...I didn't freeze the cakes, I only refrigerated them so they weren't firm enough to withstand a dipping!! So hopefully next time I try them at home they'll be a success.

To coat the cake balls you can obviously use melted chocolate but an alternative is Wilton's Candy Melts. The advantage of Candy Melts is the array of different colours...perfect for all your cake pop designs...orange for halloween pumpkins, yellow for Easter chicks and green for Christmas trees to name but a few. They come in button form and can then be melted down with a little oil to cover the pops. Once covered the cake pops can be decorated in any design that takes your fancy. The pig ears and snout were made from flowerpaste, as were the flowers and bows.

The cake pops I made here were really well received and I can't wait to have another go and try out some different designs! If you want to try making your own cake pops, you can check out a step by step guide here and there are plenty of recipes on the net. Or maybe try out a local cake pop class.