Cake Pops - fun cake lollies on sticks!

Chocolate sponge

165g (6oz) soft butter
300g (10½oz) caster sugar
2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
200g (7oz) plain flour
65g (2½oz) self-raising flour
70g (2½oz) cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
250ml (9fl oz) buttermilk

1.Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ Gas 4 or 160°C for an electric fan- assisted oven.
2.Grease and line a 20cm (8in) round cake tin
3.Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs
gradually, incorporating them well after each addition.
4.Combine all the dry ingredients and then fold them into the mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.
5.Spoon the cake mix evenly into your tin and bake in the oven for an hour, checking that a skewer comes
out clean when inserted into the deepest part of the cake. Leave to cool for five minutes before turning
out of the tin.

Bindings are mixed with the cake crumb so that cake pops can be formed into balls and other shapes.

This chocolate buttercream is a perennial favourite. It’s best to buy the chocolate in callet form, as the small pieces melt more evenly. Strawberry and caramel-flavoured chocolates are also available.
You will need…
125g (4½oz) caramel chocolate callets
250g (9oz) soft butter
250g (9oz) sifted icing sugar

1. Put the chocolate callets in a plastic jug and place in a microwave on medium for two
minutes and then in short bursts until it is melted
2. Cream the soft butter and icing sugar in an electric mixer on slow.
3. Add the liquid chocolate, mixing and beating on high until soft and light.

Crumble the cake into a fine crumb by hand or in a food processor. Prepare the chocolate binding and combine the cake crumb and binding to create a firm mix. Take the same amount of mix for each ball, either in measuring spoons or on scales, and roll the mix into a smooth ball.

Use cake stick to make an indentation and then withdraw the stick. Place the balls on greaseproof paper and put into the fridge for an hour. After an hour, prepare chocolate coating (see below) and pipe into the hole and immediately insert cake stick. Place on a plate to allow to set.

Caramel chocolate coating

It's best to use Belgian chocolate callets, which is a couverture chocolate prepared as little buttons. You can get callets in reasonably sized quantities and in a range of types, such as white, milk and dark chocolate, and different flavours, such as strawberry, orange, lemon, caramel and cappuccino.

1.Add your the chocolate callets to a microwave- safe bowl and heat in a burst of medium heat for a maximum of thirty seconds to start with and then remove and stir. It’s easy to think you can leave it for double the time, but it melts so quickly that this will cause the batch to be ruined, so be very careful to do it in short bursts.

2.As you see signs that the chocolate is beginning to melt, reduce the time in the microwave to five to ten
seconds at a time. When you can see only a few remaining blobs of chocolate, remove from the
microwave totally and keep stirring until the residual heat within the bowl has melted the last remaining pieces.

Dipping cake pops
Dipping cake pops is easy – just ensure that your dip is melted properly. Check that the bowl you are using is deep enough to dip the cake pop shape fully into the coating.

1.Take your cake pop and dip it completely in the coating. Tilt the bowl if necessary to achieve the
depth needed to coat properly.
2.Raise the pop from the coating and gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl, while keeping the cake pop above the coating so the excess falls back into the bowl.
3.Remove from the bowl and tap once or twice with the base of the stick on the work surface just to ensure the coating has worked down and meets the stick beneath the pop. Then hold it back above the bowl and twist your wrist to remove any further excess. Once the flow from the pop reduces, tap once more and turn upright. Set the dipped cake pop aside in a polystyrene block to firm.
If you have left-over chocolate, pour it on to baking parchment or cellophane
and allow it to cool. Snap it into little pieces and store in a bag until needed.

Decorating

For ears, roll five small balls of caramel flower paste. Flatten slightly and insert a ball tool in the centre to create a dip. Cut each in half.
2. For a muzzle, roll ten small balls of cream flower paste. Flatten slightly and impress with a smile tool on the lower half. Roll ten small dark brown balls for noses.
3. Create five small bows in baby pink and five in baby blue.
4. After you've dipped your pops into the melted caramel chocolate, attach the ears while still wet. When
touch dry, draw a ‘stitching’ line from the back of the head over the top between the ears and down to the
centre front. Attach the muzzle and nose with glue. When dry, pipe eyes with black icing using a no. 1 nozzle.
5. Use edible glue to attach pink bows to the top of the girl bears’ heads, slightly to one side. Glue
blue bows under the chin of all the boy bears.