Learning to Pop

I have a confession....one layer of the princess cake didn't make it out of the cake tin in one piece. What's a girl to do when a light, vanilla sponge is broken into a hundred little pieces?

I'll tell you what she does....she totally POPS her CAKE POP virginity and enters into a world of cake crumbs, more frosting, candy melting and stick swizzling...

First things first, I needed to take my broken up cake and transform it in to a big bowl of breadcrumbs...I was already starting to feel better that I was giving a gorgeous vanilla cake a new lease of life!

Now, I don't usually cheat with my buttercream frosting, but being short on time meant I caved in a brought my first Betty Crocker frosting in a tin. I went for the chocolate fudge flavour to keep my chocoholic family sweet. It was so simple to do, just adding 2 tablespoons of the choco-goodness to the crumbs and stirred until it all came together like cookie dough.

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Now for the fun bit, that brings out the child in me. Get your hands stuck in, give the dough a little squeeze and roll the mixture between your hands until it forms a lovely smooth ball. Being the perfectionist I am, I measured the same amount of mixture (a tablespoon) for each 'pop' so they'd look like an army of candy goodness in the end. 

And time to chill...overnight in the fridge is best if you have the time and the willpower to resist nibbling on these bite-size cake balls! 

Being my first time, I was faced with the age-old decision of mircrowave versus double-pan melting for the Candy Melts. After scouring the internet for the best choices, I went for the microwave this time, but I think the better option would have been on the hob, to keep the candy smooth and the right consistency. 

After stabbing each ball with a lolly stick, the melts in the microwave and I my trusty 'princess' glitter at the ready, I was ready to dip, dunk and get my pop on.

I found it really hard to keep the pops on the stick and had a few SOS moments which resulted in balls of cake and frosting being lost in a swamp of vanilla candy! I need to find a way of keeping the cake on the stick...so answers on a postcard please?

After a few lost stick incidents and my growning frustration at the candy not doing what I wanted I was about to spit my dummy out and I think I swore never to try popping again. However, I made the choice to experiment and make my pops more like toffee apple/chocolate truffle hybrids. I quite liked them!

Some were treated to a dip in candy hearts, glitter flowers and some had a roll around in my sparkly sugar.

The verdict? My first time didn't end with perfect cake pops, there were a few moments I was ready to admit pop-defeat and cake balls flying everywhere and sinking in bowls of candy was rather frustrating, but you know what? 

They were tasty, they went down VERY well at the party and I am dying to have another go. Watch this space for neat, detailed and character pops coming soon. Well, they do say it gets better with practice and no one REALLY enjoys their first time, right?