Cake Pops

Cake pops!  They are so cute... but after a late-night affair with them last Easter, I must admit I was happy to say I am NOT a cake pop maker - give me cupcakes any day!!  The baking of the cake, then the crumbling of the cake, then the mixing with frosting, then rolling into balls, then dipping, then decorating - sorry this was just too much work!

But then my beautiful sister-in-law surprised me with a Cake Pop maker for Christmas!  And I will say that I was very impressed with the outcome!  

So, this is the little machine that works the magic...

It has 12 holes, so makes 12 pops at a time.  With a packet cake mix making around 50 pops, I did 4 batches, at 7 minutes cooking time each.

These perfect little balls are waiting to greet you after 7 minutes!  Well, they are not ALL perfect - there are the ones that you overfill (see at the back), and the ones that you underfill (front right hand side), but majority of them come out just perfect!

The next step is to slide in a lollypop stick, dipped in melted chocolate to help secure the stick to the cake.  Then I popped them in the fridge for 5 mins to set the chocolate and ensure the stick was secure.

The chocolate dipping was quite time consuming, as you need to let them drip for a while, otherwise the chocolate runs down the stick.  But it wasn't hard to do, you just need patience ;)  And turning them over and over is the key to even coverage!

And finally, I dipped them in sprinkles!  I was so pleased with how they turned out - very cute!

And because the machine only came with a stand for 12 pops, I was a bit lost with how to set the remaining pops.  I have seen them upside down before, so I did a couple of dozen upside down, as pictured below.   And then I dropped these off to my mum and dad, so that Dad would have a treat in his lunchbox for his first day back after holidays!

I think they are a great size for kids, and I can understand why everyone wants them at their parties these days!

My sister gave me this recipe book last year, so I look forward to experimenting with some other creations next time I am feeling creative :)