Cake Pop Recipes: Ideas for a display for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Weddings and Birthdays

Are you looking for a new and exciting kind of party food? Well, I have found a new twist on your old red velvet cupcakes: Cake Pops! These are so different from anything I have ever made before and they can be made for any occasion you might need. Bright and colourful for your summery birthday parties, white with edible glitter to look like your winter snowballs, or even writing on top with the Bride and Grooms names for a great wedding favour.

With this recipe you should be able to make between 15 and 25 (depending on how big your pops are and how many don't go the way you planned, believe me, a few will when you first do them. So make sure you make a few more than you actually need.)

60g (2oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

150g (5½oz) caster sugar

1 egg

20g cocoa powder

2 tbsp red food colouring

150g (5½oz) plain flour

140ml (¼ pint) buttermilk

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

4 ½ tsp white wine vinegar

For the glue:

20g (¾oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

40g (1½oz) full-fat cream cheese

125g (4½oz) icing sugar

To decorate:

Lolly sticks

800g (1¾lbs) coloured candy melts or white/milk chocolate

Sprinkles

Anything else you want to use to decorate

Handy tip for those of you in the UK: as candy melts are very difficult to come by, you can use colouring gel to colour white chocolate and create different colours. Make sure you use a gel and not liquid food colouring though as you'll change the chocolate.

To make the red velvet cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350oF, gas mark 4 and line the holes of the cake tin with paper/silicone cake cases.

2. Add the butter and caster sugar to an electric mixer or beat by hand, and cream together for 7 mins, or until it is light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg to the mixture and mix.

4. Mix the cocoa powder and the food colouring in a separate bowl until it makes a paste, and then add it to the mixture and beat it. Add the flour and buttermilk and mix it for 2 mins. Add the baking powder and vinegar and beat for a further 2 mins.

5. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases. Bake for 25 mins.

6. Remove the baked cupcakes from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

To make the glue:

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together for 2 mins.

2. Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Chill in the fridge until it is ready to use.

How to assemble the Cake Pops

1. Break and crumble the cupcakes in a bowl by hand until you end up with fine crumbs. Then add 4 rounded dessertspoonfuls of the glue to the mixture and stir until combined.

2. Add more glue if the mix is too stiff but don't add it all at once or the mixture will become too moist.

3. Shape the mixture into around 20 balls and place them on a tray lined with baking paper and chill in the fridge for 3 hours until the balls are firm.

4. When the balls are almost ready to be decorated, melt the different coloured candy melts, or the chocolate depending on what you have decided to use either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan. Handy hint: chocolate can be very difficult so it needs to be kept warm and you need to work quickly with it.

5. One at a time, dip the end of a lolly stick into the coating and then wait a few seconds for the candy/chocolate to begin to set. Push into the cake ball, pushing at least halfway through. Handy hint: Don't push any further either as the cake will not be able to support itself and will end up sliding down the stick halfway through decorating. Then dip each cake ball into the candy/chocolate and coat it evenly.

6. Roll each ball in a bowl of edible sprinkles, or decorate however you like!

Hopefully you should end up with something that looks great and tastes even better! For more handy hints and ideas, go to

Happy Cake Popping!