Cake Pops

These are little balls of cake, so delicous, and so cute. They are perfect for childrens parties or even as a gift. You can play around and experiment the different ways you can make it interesting.

First of all, this is what they're supposed to look like:

Photo by www.bakerella.com

I couldn't find any sticks at the last minute, so I used mini cupcake cups instead. It's a little easier in the cups, as doing it on a stick is supposed to be quite difficult and the balls can come off in the process. It's all a matter of practice and technique, which one day I might master.

Here is my recipe.

Cake Pops

Ingredients:

1 Cake of your choice, whether you choose a box cake or make it yourself from scratch (I used White Wings brand Chocolate cake)
1 Tub of ready-made Frosting (such as Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, again I used Chocolate)
1 Packet Nestle Melts (or use any chocolate you prefer for melting and coating, I used white chocolate)
Sprinkles (optional)

Method:

Make cake as per instructions on the box, or however you normally make it. Here's a tip I just realised while making it: I searched around to see what would happen if I dont add egg into the cake (personal reasons). Most websites say there are lots of other ingredients that replace eggs in baking recipes like vinegar and baking soda, or mashed banana. I asked my mum what would happen if I dont add the egg, would it be a complete disaster? As I imagined it would just not be as fluffy and spongey. She said it would just be more dense and chocolate brownie-like, and it would not flop at all. So if its an option for you, leave out the egg, it will work out a bit better for you later on in the process. But to be safe, rather just make it like you normally would, egg included, I wouldn't want your 'cake popping' to be a disaster on my part!!

Once the cake is cooked, let it cool so its easy to touch. Now break the cake up and crumble it comepletely. It's easy to cut it into half and rub the two halves against each other.

Next, add frosting into the mix. How much you add is up to you and how your cake has turned out. Like I mentioned earlier, adding no eggs has actually made my cake more into a mud cake, which means the cake is more dense than light and spongey. The frosting is there to act as a bonding agent if you can call it that, so having the cake more dense makes the need for frosting less. So just add frosting as you go and figure out the texture until its just right for rolling into balls. Be careful not to add too much frosting, it can ruin the whole mix. The idea is for the balls to be cake, not mushy frosting!

Once its all mixed together, put in the fridge for a few minutes or until its hardened up a little so you can roll balls easily. Then roll the mixture into balls and place onto a tray lined with baking paper. Place the tray into the freezer for 20 minutes. Be careful not to freeze the balls. The idea is to cool the balls down quite a lot so when coating them in chocolate, the chocolate cools and hardens immediately. You can do what I did and instead put all of them in the fridge, then when you are ready to coat with chocolate, place about ten balls onto a plate and into the freezer for 10 minutes. Take them out and coat with chocolate and sprinkles if you are (sprinkle immediately as the chocolate will harden very quickly). Repeat again with another ten on a plate into the freezer. If you do them all at once in the freezer, taking them out will mean half will soften while outside, or the remaining will freeze if you leave them in there whilst coating the others.
After dipping each ball into the chocolate, place it straight into the cupcake cups so it sets in the mould.

These are DANGEROUS!! Too easy to eat. But there are so many variations you could make: Vanilla cake, banana cake, Christmas cake at christmas time...the options are endless.

Hubby has taken a plate of them to work today, as there is too much 'bad' in the house now. Here's hoping they go down well at work!

If you have made cape pops, or will try making them soon, please share your stories with me. I would love to know how you go and possibly see some photo's.

Happy baking!

Peppermint Crisp Tart

This is one of my favourites, so good I find myself opening the fridge every five minutes with a spoon to take what I always tell myself is the last bite for today! Oh yes, this doesnt last more than a day here unfortunately. And its also not the most nutritious dish, but oh it tastes pretty good.
This dessert is South African, just out of interest.

Peppermint Crisp Tart

Ingredients

1 tin of caramel
250ml thickened cream
2 packets Nice biscuits (or any plain biscuits, originally its supposed to be Tennis biscuits which are a coconut biscuit but there is nothing like that in Australia)
2 Peppermint Crisp chocolate bars

Method

Crush the Peppermint Crisp bars in their packaging however which way you prefer, so long as they are crushed enough for sprinkling. I choose to roll over it with a rolling pin

Pour cream into a large bowl and beat until thickened enough to form peaks.

Add the caramel and continue mixing until its all blended together.

Now line any dish you plan on using with biscuits, to make a layer on the bottom. Top this with a layer of the cream/caramel mixture and add a sprinkling of the peppermint crisp.

Continue with another layer of biscuits, caramel and peppermint crisp until you end up with at least 3 layers of each and ending with the caramel sprinkled with peppermint. If you have enough for more layers then continue but it should end with the peppermint crisp. It all depends on the size of your dish. With an average rectangled size dish, the ingredients are enough for 3 layers.

Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let it set and the biscuits to soften. Overnight is best.

Don't forget to lick the bowl clean of the delicious cream and caramel mix.



Can you tell those are finger lines from cleaning the bowl:)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.