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.

Cake Pops

Exactly one year ago today, my friend had a little baby girl. About two months later I went to visit her and get some new baby cuddles. I bought the gift and, of course, made some cupcakes. But this time I did something different: I used fondant for the first time! I made some little baby faces and put them on half of the cupcakes. 

Looking back, it's crazy how much has changed in a year. But one thing that hasn't changed is my love/ obsession with baking. To celebrate her 1st birthday, I decided to try something else new: my new cake pop mould. I've made cake pops a few times before but they were pretty time consuming so I invested in a mould.

As it was my first time using the mould, I decided to play it safe and follow the recipe on the packet. The recipe said flour. I assumed this meant plain flour and even though I thought this was a little strange, I went with it. They didn't rise at all so I tried again with self-raising flour, and even threw in a little baking powder. They still didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I went with it.

I let them cool for just over an hour, before sticking in the sticks with a bit of melted white chocolate and chilling in the fridge for 2 hours. I always had trouble with how to store cake pops while they're setting, so a little while ago I bought a polystyrene ball which works great.

When they were completely chilled, and the sticks were solid, I melted some more white chocolate and dipped each pop into the chocolate. I left a few plain and covered the rest with sprinkles. This can be tricky as you have to let the chocolate set a little bit before rolling in the sprinkles, but not so much that they won't stick. It's a timing thing and can take a bit of practice

I added fondant letters to five of the cake pops. These were all done free hand. My next investment will definitely be letter cutters. I used an upside down cupcake box and poked some holes in it to present the cake pops in. I'm really happy with how these turned out and can't wait to try out some new recipes in my cake pop mould.

Vanilla Cake Pops

4oz self-raising flour

4oz butter, softened

4oz caster sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and flour cake pop mould. Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Fill one half of the mould with the batter and pop the other half on top, making sure it's secure. Put it on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Take off the top of the mould and leave to cool.

You will also need:

300g white chocolate

Cake pop sticks

Sprinkles

Leave cake pops to cool for at least 30 minutes. Dip cake pop stick into 50g melted white chocolate and place approximately 1.5 cm into cake pop. Repeat with all cake pops. Cool cake pops for at least two hours. Melt the remaining chocolate and, one by one, dip each cake pop into the chocolate. Turn the cake pop as the chocolate sets. When it is just set, roll it in the sprinkles. Repeat until all cake pops are finished.