Halloween – cake pops made easy
The latest trend in cakes to arrive from the USA is cake pops: decorated balls of cake on a stick. The best thing about them is that you can let your imagination run wild when you’re decorating them, which makes them particularly good for handing out on Halloween to trick or treaters.
You don’t need special baking tins to make cake pops. In fact, you only need
very basic kitchen skills to get it right.
What you will need:
Your favourite cake recipe (this can be a packet mix).
Frosting (again, you can use a packet).
Colourful candy melts (buy these from a craft shop; they look like M&Ms) or chocolate to decorate.
Lollipop sticks.
Block of Styrofoam.
Step 1 - Bake your cake in a tin according to usual instructions. Leave it to cool.
Step 2 - Once your cake is cool, crumble it with your hands.
Step 3 - Mix the frosting in with the cake crumbs until it resembles a firm dough that keeps its shape.
Step 4 - Roll the cake into balls. As a guide, each ball should fit easily into the
palm of your hand. Once this is done, put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to
firm up.
Step 5 - Melt the candy melts and/or chocolate colour that you want to use
as a base coat. Red, green and orange coloured icing will also work well for
Halloween. Remember when you’re melting chocolate; don’t put it on direct
heat as it may curdle. Instead fill a pan with hot water, and put the chocolate
in another bowl on top.
Step 6 - Dip your lollipop stick into the chocolate or candy, and insert it into
one of the balls of cake. The chocolate or candy will help it to stick. Place into
a block of Styrofoam to hold it while it dries. Repeat with all the cake balls.
Step 7 - Wait 30 minutes for the cake pops to harden.
Step 8 - Take your first cake pop. Holding it by the stick, dip your cake ball
into the base coat mixture. Quickly twist it so that the ball is covered, but there
are no lumps. Once coated, put it back in the Styrofoam.
Step 9 - Mix weird and wonderful colours and experiment with your design.Let your imagination run wild, or look for more inspiration online.