How to make your Royal Wedding Cake Pops!

This recipe makes enough for approx. 20 cake pops

Chocolate Cake

55g cocoa powder

250ml boiling water

120g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing

200g caster sugar

200g self raising flour, plus more for tin

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, at room temperature

Put the cocoa into a jug, pour in the boiling water and stir until fully combined. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5. Lightly grease and flour a 25cm round cake tin or a 20cm square cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar until it turns pale and fluffy.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.  Mix the vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Pour in the dry ingredients in one batch and gently beat until combined. Fold in the cooled cocoa until the colour of the mixture is even. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45–60 minutes, or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Chocolate Frosting

40g unsalted butter, softened

80g cream cheese frosting, cold

200g icing sugar, sifted

100g chocolate, melted and cooled

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Gradually add the icing sugar and, once combined, add the chocolate. Continue beating for 5 minutes.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

Combine the cake sponge with the frosting

Once you have the baked cake and frosting ready you can proceed to the next step of the cake pop process.

Crumble the cake thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. You may want to remove the crusts of the cake with a sharp kitchen knife first to avoid any lumps. Once you have crumbled the cake as finely as possible, take some of the frosting, a heaped tablespoon at a time, and begin mixing it in with the crumbs. You may not require all of the frosting, depending on how moist the cake is, so just use a little at a time. Keep mixing until you have a fudge-like texture. To see if it’s ready, squeeze a little of the mixture in your palm – it shouldn’t crumble and it should be pliable. If you add too much frosting the mixture will be soggy, sticky and heavy and the cake pops will just fall off the stick when you try to dip them. Wrap the 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. 

Making your red and blue cake pops!

For each cake ball, flatten and shape it into a 2cm-thick circle by pushing into a biscuit cutter. Remove and smooth the edges with moistened fingers. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden.

When using candy melts, it’s important to make sure that all of your equipment, such as bowls and spatulas, is dry and free from water.

To melt the candy, you will need:

½ bag red candy melts

½ bag blue candy melts

¼ bag white candy melts

Place your red and blue candy melts in separate microwave-safe bowls and melt each as follows: microwave on full power for 1 minute; take out the candy melts and stir thoroughly. Place back in the microwave and melt for a further 30 seconds. Stir again, making sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Return to the microwave for a further 30 seconds, then give a final stir.

Candy doesn’t normally achieve the same silky, runny consistency of chocolate. To make it easy to work with, you will need to add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil per 400g bag of Candy Melts. Work the oil into the candy with the spatula until the desired consistency has been reached.

Dip a lollipop stick 2cm into the melted candy and insert a stick through the centre of each cake pop. Allow the candy to set. Now dip each of the cake pops fully into the melted candy, making sure they get coated evenly. Gently shake off any excess candy into the bowl, then place back onto the tray to dry.

Melt the white candy melts then quickly pour into the piping bag so the candy doesn’t set. Cut a small piece off the tip of the bag. Place a cake pop onto a flat surface. Pipe the outline of a heart shape on the pop and then pipe your ‘Kate’ and ‘Wills’ messages. Repeat with the remaining pops!

Cake Pops by Molly Bakes is published by Square Peg in June