Cake pops
These are easy and fun to make and they are such a cute valentines gift. You can get heart shaped cake decorations or use freeze dried strawberry to go all in on the Valentine’s day theme.
You will need a plain sponge cake (or chocolate sponge cake) Around 300g.
Shop bought is fine, as is homemade. If you want a recipe, here is a simple one below.
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g butter or dairy free alternative
1. Beat the ingredients together and pour into cupcake cases, place into a cupcake/muffin baking tray.
2. Bake at 180 c for around 20 mins, until the top is starting to turn golden and they are springy to the touch.
3. Leave to cool.
So now you have your cake whether shop bought, or homemade.
INGREDIENTS
300g sponge cake
50g unsalted butter
75g icing sugar
80g dark or milk chocolate
80g white chocolate (I used caramel chocolate)
Decorations of your choice. I used sprinkles, coconut, freeze dried strawberry, walnuts and smarties.
1. Crumble the sponge cake into “breadcrumbs” and place in a large bowl.
2. Make up the vanilla buttercream by mixing the unsalted butter and icing sugar together to a smooth buttercream texture. You might need to add a little milk to get the right consistency. (It freezes well if you make more than you need)
3. Add one tablespoonful of the buttercream into the cake crumbs and mix in. You want a consistency that will be sticky enough to hold together and easily roll into balls. Keep adding buttercream until you get the desired consistency. Then roll into 8 balls and place on a plate and into the fridge to set.
4. Place the dark chocolate into a heat proof bowl and heat over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate has melted, then remove from the heat.
5. Place the toppings into separate bowls (or you can just stick to one decoration)
6. Place a sheet of baking paper (or foil) onto a plate or baking sheet. Something with a flat surface (that will fit in the fridge).
7. Take the first cake ball and roll in the melted dark chocolate (use a spoon or fork to make sure it’s fully covered). Sprinkle your topping over the top and place on the baking paper. Repeat with 3 more of the cake balls.
8. For the white chocolate (or caramel chocolate in this case) simply repeat the above process using the caramel chocolate for the remaining 4 balls.
9. Once they’re all ready place into the fridge for the chocolate to set.
I like to box them up and gift them like a box of chocolates, but you can put some sticks into them to make them into proper cake pops if you like.
**To put them on lollipop sticks
Firstly, make the balls smaller, so you want 12 - 14 smaller cake pops about 1 inch in diameter. Place them to set in the fridge (as in step 3).
-Dip the stick into some melted chocolate and put the stick about halfway into the cake pop. -Return to the fridge for another half an hour.
-Then follow steps 4- 9.
- fill half a coffee cup with couscous or with uncooked rice. Place the cake pops (on their sticks) into the rice/couscous and you’ll find the sticks stand upright. Put back into the fridge until they are set.
Gift them or eat them yourself! Happy valentines <3