Ginger Cake Pop’s

After hearing so much about Cake pops I was dying to make some, they are essentially cake truffles on a stick, very simple to prepare and far more delicious than I imagined!

As I have decided to make most of my Christmas gifts this year  I thought Christmas Cake Pop’s would be a good starting point, of course I needed to test out a recipe before giving them as gifts. Finding gingerbread men cake sprinkles online sold me on the idea of dark chocolate and ginger as my flavour, a bit grown up but still fun , cakes cookies and crafts have an amazing selection of cake decorations, packaging everything you could ever need really. Looking online most recipes were American and use ingredients such as candy melts and cake mix not readily available in the UK, and expensive to order online. I used 70% dark chocolate it didn’t crack, worked perfectly and McVittie’s ginger cake, was exactly what I needed  it’s moist, sticky, was a good base to work with, and meant no baking.

I found getting the chocolate smooth on the Cake Pop’s, and to stop dripping the difficult bit, if you want a quick fix leave out the step putting the pop’s on sticks and just dip the cake balls in the melted chocolate, and dry on grease proof paper, to make as truffles instead

Ginger Cake pop’s

1x McVities ginger cake

150g dark chocolate

2x tbsp ginger frosting (see below)

Ginger frosting

150g softened butter

2x pieces of  jarred ginger in syrup plus 2tbsp of the syrup

1/4ts ground ginger

250g icing sugar

Ginger Frosting

First make the ginger frosting, whisk the softened butter until pale and smooth, add the dried and chopped ginger along with the syrup, whisk again briefly to combine, sift in the icing sugar and mix to combine in to a smooth thick frosting, cover chill in the fridge. The frosting will keep well in the fridge in an air tight container.

For the Cake Balls

Break up the cake in to pieces,  add to a food processor blitz until the cakes forms a crumb consistency,  add  2tbsp of ginger frosting and mix with a spatula, the mixture should be thick like marzipan.

Line a large baking tray with grease proof paper Dampen your hands and roll the mixture into walnut size balls and space out on the baking sheet, my mixture made 18.

Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

You will need  something ready to rest the cake pops in while the chocolate sets I used tumblers stuffed with some kitchen paper, if you have one a polystyrene block works really well.

Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over simmering water dip the tip of a lolly stick into the chocolate and secure in to  a cake ball pushing in about half way place back the baking tray and allow the chocolate to set.

Once the sticks are secure take a cake pop and dip into the melted chocolate making sure you cover the whole surface, lightly tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate be patient and allow the chocolate to drip off and keep turning the pop around to keep the surface smooth. Carefully secure in the prepared tumblers and top with sprinkle. Leave to dry.

Wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon. Cake pops will keep well for a couple of weeks.