What is a Cake pop: A cake pop is essentially a lollypop made out of cake and butter cream. Their texture is that of a truffle, they taste sweet, and make perfect gifts. They can be decorated for a variety of occasions, from making faces of people, or animals, Christmas cake pops, baby shower cake pops, and many more. Wedding cake pops are becoming particularly popular!
History: The BBC names POP Bakery in the UK (http://popbakery.blogspot.com/) and Bakerella in the US (http://www.bakerella.com/dont-lick-bite%E2%80%A6/) as undoubtedly launching cake pops into the latest food trend (Article here --> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2010/09/what-are-cake-pops-and-how-can.shtml) They seem to be a relatively new trend but we can question how long they are likely to hang around. Macaroons and Whoopie Pies being the two other big trends in the last year or so are still seen in our high streets, on cookery blogs and TV shows alike. Quite noticeably, cake pops are now being made available in coffee shops such as Starbucks, but there has been some debate as to whether this will mark their end as seen in The Honest Cooking Magazine. (http://honestcooking.com/2011/04/27/will-starbucks-kill-the-cake-pop/)
I think cake pops have a big future ahead of them yet as we find plenty of new and exciting ways to use them. Celebrities have had wedding cupcakes. We just need to wait for a celebrity wedding cake pop bouquet!
Essential tools: You can make cake pops almost without any specialist tools. However, if you want to display the cake pops upright (as a lolly pop) you will have to buy or make a cake pop stand. (Note: they look just as cute if you give them a flat bottom and pop them in a miniature cake case!) To make a cake pop stand take a shoe box or similar and simply poke holes into the box at various intervals.
Some people may prefer to buy a cake pop scoop (similar to an ice cream scoop) in order to get their cake pops of a uniform shape and size.
Method: Making cake pops is incredibly easy. Take a cake, any type of cake, and crumble it into a bowl until it resembles bread (or cake) crumbs! Add enough butter-cream to bind the mixture. Shape into balls and place into the freezer (ideally leave them overnight; at the very least they will need an hour.) Once they are frozen, dip a cake pop stick (note you can use anything from straws, skewers, toothpicks etc) into melted chocolate and push it into the bottom of the cake pop. Cool them again either in the fridge or freezer. The chocolate will act as glue. Once they have cooled back down again remove them from the freezer. They can now be decorated in any way you like. A popular method is dipping them in melted chocolate. This will harden on contact with the frozen cake pop. Before completely hard sprinkles, chocolate chips and other adornments can be added. Enjoy!
Tips & Tricks: There seems to be one main consensus over the internet. Use old/stale shop bought cake, and Betty Crocker style icing from a tub. This is because the crumb of stale or shop bought cake and the consistency of the icing is much more dense and therefore more suitable for creating a truffle like cake pop.
What do you mean, I'd say these adorable cake pops are pretty complex! I love them, really pretty :) And thanks for the tissue box idea, I may have to steal that idea next time :p
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could've done it without making a little stand :) it was a lifesaver! I guess 'easy' isn't the word, just easier than I had anticipated :p x
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