Pottering around Harrods' sugar-stuffed confectionery department in a fit of Christmas shopping last month I came across Cake Pops. I was smitten. They're cakes on sticks - utterly silly, pointless and edible, and so I loved them.
"More sugar?" you bellow, mysteriously taken over by the voice of a stereotypical woman. "We can't possibly have more sugar. Well, go on then, if it's sparkly!" Luckily it is, and they're fun and silly to make. Like craft in food form, really - or at least that was what appealed to me about giving home-made cake pops a go.
Whilst everyone seems to use a red velvet cake recipe for this, you can really use any. I stuck with the red velvet cake because it's cute and I hadn't made one before. The major problem I ran into was using American recipes with cups - I haphazardly constituted with a mug and did smaller measurements, but there's a lot of adorable cup-measures about so this seems like a sneaky reason to invest in one.
After a hunt, recommendations pointed me at Paul Deen recipes on the Food Network. I used this recipe, but substituted vegetable oil for half a pound of butter (which is a taking measurements from this alternative recipe). Adding that much red food dye was fun because of how bright the mixture turned.
Luckily they came out beautifully, despite the repeated Googling to translate pounds to grams and not having a cup.
For the frosting I used the following:
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz. package Cream Cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (I used margarine)
3-6 cups Confectioners Sugar (I used Caster sugar)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Tip: If you think you have too much frosting, you probably do. Do not feel obliged to mix it all into your cake mix or cake mix will become too wet. Ignore the recipe and use judgement.
How To
Once your cake is out of the oven and cool, crumble the cake up in a bowl and then add in the frosting, mixing it in using a fork.
Leave to cool in the fridge for half an hour-1 hour.
Remove the mix from fridge and squish into the shapes you want. Pop onto a grease proof paper-lined tray and put back into the fridge for another half hour.
Then, the tasty bit. You'll need some lollypop sticks and some florists' foam - both of which I believe you can get at HobbyCraft - or steal children's lollies and use a mighty amount of Bluetack. Officially using 1 pound of cooking chocolate - or melting as required, as i did - dip the lolly sticks into the chocolate, and then insert into your cake shapes. Then carefully (using a teaspoon helps) cover your cake shape in melted chocolate. The less you melt at once, the less likely you are to have to re-melt it - which is something I forgot about when making mine.
Stick into the florists' foam, and finish them all. When finished, put them in the fridge. I stuck mine in the freezer because the fridge was so full - I made these during the holiday which meant there might have been a physical fight with my Mother for fridge space - and they came out fine. Because it was around the holidays, I tried to make one that looked a bit like a giant Christmas tree and the rest in spherical shapes, but you can really make them in any shape.
Decorate as you like! I added some more slightly lumpy swirls of chocolate to mine and doused in edible glitter, which I've always wanted to use but haven't had an excuse. The Pop Bakery website a company who make some beautiful ones in London is a good place to steal inspiration from.
I'll have to have another go and make some mushrooms - and they also make owls. I want to make all their designs at home for myself! And if that's not enough food-on-sticks, you can always have a go at making some Pizza Pops!
All images © Claire Tayler for BitchBuzz.com