The great thing about cake pops is that the baked cake doesn’t need to look perfect! Our easy recipe will deliver delicious cake pops for very little trouble and can be adapted to create several yummy flavors. Yes that’s a cake pop you’re looking at, not a real strawberry!
Cake
- 13 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup superfine sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 cup self-rising flour, sifted
You will need:
20 cake balls, (see recipe below)
20 lollipop sticks
toothpick
Styrofoam block
plastic rolling pin
1-inch round cookie cutter
knife
waxed paper
To make the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350?F. Line an 8-inch baking pan with waxed paper.
Place the butter and sugar in a food processor and mix on a medium speed until the mixture is white and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix in.
Add half the beaten eggs and flour to the mixture and combine well. Repeat with the remaining eggs and flour.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes. To see if your cake is cooked, insert a knife into the center--it should come out clean.
Flavor variations: Rich Chocolate: Replace 1/4 cup (25 g) flour with 1/4 cup (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder. For the frosting add 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder to the mixture, or for extra chocolate flavor add melted chocolate to taste.
Zingy Lemon: Add the juice and zest of one lemon to the butter and sugar mixture and stir well. For the frosting add the juice of half a lemon to the mixture. Cool the cake on a cooling rack.
Frosting
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 13/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Making the Cake Balls: Break or slice the cooled cake into manageable pieces. Crumble the pieces by hand or, for a finer result, use the grater attachment in a food processor. Using your hands, mix the frosting into the cake crumbs. Add a tablespoon at a time--you may not need it all. Too much frosting will make the pops too wet to stay on the sticks when being dipped. The mixture is ready once it holds together when rolled in your hands.
Weigh out 1-ounce pieces of the mixture and roll into balls between your hands, or form into the required shape for your pop design.
Once shaped, put the cake balls on a plate and cover. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to allow the mixture to firm. They can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Make the cake balls into strawberry shapes by angling your hands when rolling and slightly flattening the tops. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Decoration
- 1 bag of red candy melt
- 31/2 oz green rolled fondant
- cornstarch
- 1/2 bag of light cocoa candy melts
- 20 lollipop sticks
Melt the red candy melts, dip a stick into the melted candy, and push into the top of a strawberry shape. Repeat with all the sticks and cake shapes. Allow to set. Dip each cake pop into the melted candy and tap off the excess. Working quickly, dab the wet candy with a toothpick in a random pattern to create the texture of a strawberry. Allow the cake pops to dry in a Styrofoam block.
To create the green stalk, roll out the fondant on a surface dusted with cornstarch to approximately 1/16 inch thick. Cut out 20 circles, using a 1 inch cutter, and make a hole in the middle of each with a lollipop stick. Use a knife to make the jagged star-like shape by working out from the center of the circle, leaving 1/2 inch around the hole. Dab melted candy onto the top of a strawberry using a toothpick, slide a stalk shape down the stick, and attach. Attach each stalk to a strawberry in the same way.
To Finish: Melt the candy melts and half dip each strawberry. Tap off a little excess and hold at an angle on the waxed paper. Hold steady until set.
Tip: Lean the sticks of the chocolate-dipped strawberries against an object to make sure they all set at the same angle.
Recipe courtesy of Cake Pops by Helen Attridge and Abby Foy. Published by Spruce/Octopus, 2012.
