Chocolate sponge cake
165 g (6 oz) softened butter
300 g (10½ oz) caster sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
3 beaten eggs
200 g (7 oz) plain flour
65 g (2½ oz) self-raising flour
70 g (2½ oz) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
250 ml (9 fl oz) buttermilk
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 or 160°C for a fan-assisted electric oven.
2. Butter and line a 20 cm (8 in) round cake pan.
3. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs
gradually, incorporating them well after each addition.
4. Mix all the dry ingredients then add them to the mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.
5. Spread the cake mixture evenly in your mold and bake for an hour, checking that a skewer can be inserted
comes out clean when inserted into the deepest part of the cake. Let cool for five minutes before turning
out of the box.
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Fixings are mixed with the cake crumbs so that the cake pops can be formed into balls and other shapes.
This chocolate buttercream is a perennial favorite. It’s best to buy chocolate in the form of callets, as the smaller pieces melt more evenly. Strawberry and caramel flavored chocolates are also available.
You will need…
125 g (4½ oz) caramel chocolate callets
250 g (9 oz) softened butter
250 g sifted icing sugar
1. Place the chocolate callets in a plastic container and microwave on medium power for two minutes.
minutes then in short bursts until melted
2. Cream the soft butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer at low speed.
3. Add the liquid chocolate, mix and beat on high speed until soft and light.
Crumble the cake into fine crumbs by hand or in a food processor. Prepare the chocolate binder and mix the cake crumbs and binder to create a firm mixture. Scoop out an equal amount of mixture for each ball, either in measuring spoons or on a scale, and roll the mixture into a smooth ball.
Use a cake stick to make an indentation, then remove the stick. Place the balls on parchment paper and refrigerate for an hour. After an hour, prepare the chocolate coating (see below), place it in the hole and immediately insert the cake stick. Place on a plate to let set.
Chocolate-caramel coating
It is best to use Belgian chocolate callets, which are a couverture chocolate prepared in the form of small buttons. You can get callets in reasonable quantities and in a range of types, such as white, milk and dark chocolate, and different flavours, such as strawberry, orange, lemon, caramel and cappuccino.
1. Add your chocolate callets to a microwave safe bowl and heat over medium heat for up to thirty seconds to start, then remove and stir. It’s easy to think you can leave it on for twice as long, but it melts so quickly that it will ruin the batch, so be extra careful to do it in short bursts.
2. When you see signs that the chocolate is starting to melt, reduce the microwave time to five to ten.
seconds at a time. When you only see a few drops of chocolate remaining, remove them from the
Heat completely in the microwave and continue stirring until the residual heat in the bowl has melted the last remaining bits.
Dip cake pops
Dipping cake pops is easy: just make sure your sauce is well melted. Make sure the bowl you’re using is deep enough to fully dip the cake pop into the coating.
1. Take your cake pop and dip it completely into the coating. Tilt the bowl if necessary to get the
depth necessary to cover well.
2. Lift the cake pop from the coating and gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl, keeping the cake pop above the coating so the excess falls back into the bowl.
3. Remove from the bowl and tap the base of the stick on the work surface once or twice just to make sure the coating is evenly applied and meets the stick under the pop. Then hold it over the bowl and twist your wrist to remove any extra excess. Once the flow of pop slows, tap again and stand up again. Set the soaked cake pop aside on a block of Styrofoam to firm up.
If you have any chocolate left, pour it onto parchment paper or cellophane
and let it cool. Cut it into small pieces and store it in a bag until you need it.
Decoration
For the ears, roll five small balls of caramel flower paste. Flatten them slightly and insert a ball tool in the center to create a hollow. Cut each ball in half.
2. For the snout, roll ten small balls of cream flower paste. Flatten slightly and score with a smile tool on the bottom half. Roll ten small dark brown balls for the noses.
3. Create five small bows in pale pink and five in pale blue.
4. After dipping your lollipops in the melted caramel chocolate, attach the still-wet ears. When
dry to the touch, draw a “seam” line from the back of the head across the top between the ears and down to the
center front. Attach the snout and nose with glue. Once dry, pipe the eyes with black icing using a #1 tip.
5. Use edible glue to attach pink bows to the top of the bears’ heads, slightly to the side. Glue
blue bows under the chin of all the bear boys.
