Baking ingredients
- 200 g butter
- 200 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 200 g self-raising flour
Decorating ingredients
- 80 g butter
- 200 g icing sugar, sieved
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g white colour melts
- 250 g Renshaw Navy Blue Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Deep Purple Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Turquoise Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Grey Ready to Roll Icing
- Edible glitter
- Gold lustre dust
- Silver lustre dust
Instructions
Baking Instructions:
Step 1
Pre- heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Step 2
Grease and line a 25cm round cake tin or a 20cm square cake tin.
Step 3
Cream the butter and caster sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract.
Step 4
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
Step 5
Fold in the flour.
Step 6
Add the mixture into the lined cake tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until firm to touch and is a light golden brown in colour.
Step 7
Turn the cake out and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Decorating Instructions:
Step 8
To make the buttercream, soften the butter and gradually add the sieved icing sugar. Cream together until light and fluffy. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of milk if the mixture is too stiff. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Step 9
To make the cake pops, remove the crust of the cake with a sharp kitchen knife first to avoid any lumps. Crumble the cake finely in a large mixing bowl. (Doing this by hand will achieve a finer crumb, but you can also use a food processor).
Step 10
Add one tablespoon of buttercream to the crumbled cake and mix until you have a fudge-like texture. Add a little more buttercream if the mixture has not fully combined. Test the mixture by squeezing a little in your palm – it should be pliable and not crumble. (If you add too much buttercream the mixture will be soggy, sticky and heavy and the cake pops will fall off the cake pop stick when you try to dip them in the white chocolate).
Step 11
Wrap the cake pop mixture in cling film and chill for at least one hour. The mixture should be firm but not too hard when it's ready to work with.
Step 12
Break off a small piece of the mixture and roll into a ping pong sized ball with your palms. Place the cake balls on a tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are firm.
Step 13
Melt the colour meltse following the instructions on the pack.
Step 14
For each cake pop, take a long cake pop stick and dip one end 2cm deep into the melted white colour melts. Immediately insert each stick into the centre of each cake ball, stopping the cake pop stick half way through. Place on a tray lined with baking paper for 1 to 2 minutes to set.
Step 15
Dip each cake pop on a stick fully into the melted white colour melts. Be sure to cover the cake pop at the point where the stick is inserted as this will secure it in place. Gently tap the cake pop over the bowl to remove any excess white colour melt.
Step 16
Allow the dipped cake pops to set fully in the fridge before adding the decoration.
Step 17
Form small pea sized balls of Renshaw Grey Ready to Roll Icing into drum shapes. Form a small hook from thin sausages of paste and fix on top with a little cooled boiled water and allow to dry. Fix to the top of each cake pop with a little water.
Step 18
Paint the hooks and drums with edible silver lustre diluted with a little clear alcohol or water.
Step 19
Knead and roll out the Renshaw Navy, Deep Purple and Turquoise Ready to Roll Icing, cutting out small circles, stars and strips of each.
Step 20
Decorate each pop with your chosen design and embellish with edible glitter and gold and silver lustre dust.