I got the idea for cakepops from the incredibly talented Bakerella. She has a the most wonderful website
www.bakerella.com where any home bakers can find all kinds of inspiration. Also, Bakerella is one of us. She's just had a kidney transplant from her mother and both of them are doing well. You can also follow her on twitter where she is @Bakerella.
Anyway, to the cakepops!
I make mine using a standard sponge recipe. 4 medium eggs, 225g Caster sugar (or superfine if you're in the USA), 225g butter, 225g self raising flour and 1tsp of vanilla extract. You can also add food colouring if you want.
After the sponge is cooked and cooled you need to turn it into crumbs. You can either do this by hand or you can use a food mixer. When it's a fine crumb stage you need to add frosting to make the crumbs into a dough. I find that 50g butter to 100g icing sugar (or confectioners sugar in the USA) makes enough frosting.
Once you have your dough you can either roll it into balls which is the traditional cakepop shape or you can get experimental and use cookie cutters which is what I have done in the photos.
Now, this is probably the most important step when making cakepops. If you don't do this part you'll get into a whole heap of trouble later on! Melt a tiny amount of chocolate and dip the end of your lolly stick into it before inserting into your cake. Leave to rest on a tray while you do the others. Once all your dough is used up, place the whole lot in the fridge for around an hour.
Melt some chocolate or Candy Melts (available from Wilton in the USA and Hobbycraft in the UK) in a bowl in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water, whatever you find easier. Dip the cakepops in the chocolate and tap off any excess. Sprinkle with your choice of decoration and place in a stand to set. I use a big block of Oasis (the stuff that florists use to stand flowers in) but you can use polystyrene if you have any lying around. It's a good way of recycling any excess packaging.
If you don't want to go to all the trouble of baking a whole cake only to break it apart and turn it into crumbs, you can also use store-bought cakes and they work just as well. The same goes for frosting too. I've made cakepops in the past using McVities chocolate sponge and Betty Crocker vanilla frosting. There was no difference to the end result.
I know these have got chocolate on them but they are only small and it's a only a very thin coating. We had the dietician in yesterday when I was giving them out and she didn't say anything against them.
So in summary you'll need:
Lollysticks (I got mine from Hobbycraft in the UK. They are manufactured by Wilton and cost £2.79 for 50 sticks)
Chocolate (I've used Silverspoon white and milk chocolate cake covering which both cost 80p each in Sainsbury's but I only used half of each pack)
or
Candy Melts (These cost £2.99 in Hobbycraft and are also manufactured by Wilton. They come in a huge range of colours)
Cake crumbs (recipe below)
Frosting (recipe below)
Oasis or polystyrene (Oasis costs as little as 99p for a big block from Hobbycraft or your local florist)
Cake recipe
Cream together 225g of room temperature unsalted butter with 225g caster sugar.
When it is pale and fluffy slowly add 4 medium beaten eggs a little at a time together with 1tsp vanilla extract and any food colouring you wish to add.
When all the eggs are combined, fold in 225g self raising flour.
Transfer to a greased and lined baking tin and bake at 180degrees for 40 minutes or until a skewer can be put in the middle and come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.
Frosting recipe
Cream together 50g of room temperature unsalted butter with 100g icing sugar and half a tsp of vanilla extract. If you have used food colouring in the cake then you should also add it to the frosting.
I'm terrible at explaining things properly so if I've missed something or if the above isn't entirely clear then please just yell! These cakepops are absolutely delicious and always get a good reaction from people. They are bite sized so even people on a diet can indulge without feeling too guilty. The only limit is your imagination. You can make all variety of flavours, colours and shapes. Red velvet ones with cream cheese frosting are a big favourite where my mum works
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