Reindeer Cake Pops

I made these chocolate fudge cake pops last year for our staff Secret Santa party. This was before the days of my cake pop mould, so they took quite a bit of planning. Each part only took a short amount of time but I had to leave enough time in between for everything to cool and set. I made the cake, frosting and cake balls the first day, then let them cool over night. I added the sticks the second day and let them cool for a few hours before decorating them and letting them set overnight before bringing them in to work. So basically, I started making them two days before they were needed (Wednesday for Friday). It's very rare that I'm this organised. Must've been a boring week...

Chocolate Fudge Cake

150g butter, softened

150g golden caster sugar

3 medium eggs, beaten

125g self-raising flour

25g cocoa powder

1 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line any cake tin that you have (I used a brownie pan). Place the butter, sugar and eggs in a large bowl and sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Whisk together with the milk until smooth. Pour into your cake tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean. Baking time will depend on how thin your mixture is. Mine only took about 8-10 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Icing

125g dark chocolate

50g unsalted butter

1 medium egg, beaten 

175g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl and microwave until three quarters of the chocolate is melted. Take it out of the microwave and stir it continuously until all the chocolate is melted. Whisk in the egg, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth and glossy. 

You will also need:

Cake pop sticks

Mini marshmallows

Chocolate

Red smarties

Pretzels

When the cake has cooled completely, use a fork to break it up into crumbs.  Stir in the icing until well combined. Using your hands, roll the mixture (about 2-3 tablespoons each) into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Leave to set in the fridge overnight. The next day, melt a small amount of chocolate (as above) and dip each stick into the chocolate before pushing about 3/4 of the way into each cake ball. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (I usually try to wait 2 hours). When the sticks have set, melt some more chocolate in a large bowl. Make sure it is cooking chocolate as this is made from oil, not milk, so will melt and set properly. Carefully roll each cake pop in the melted chocolate until completely covered and quickly stick on two mini marshmallow eyes and a smartie nose. When all cake pops have been decorated, add the pretzel antlers and chocolate dots on the eyes. Return to the fridge to set overnight (or for a few hours) before serving.