any one got the cake pop machine from lakeland?

[MikeLitoris]

this one?

I'm not a fan of cake pops but I get asked to make them loads.

they take ages to make and I think they are too sickly sweet.

the reviews are amazing but I've never used a kitchen gadget that actually worked before.

it's only £20 but I don't want to buy another bit of crap just to stick it in the cupboard and never use it again.

Please don't tell me you made that chocolate rose cake too

Why TF am I so crap at cake decorating and everyone else is a tossing genius?

sorry, Gwendoline but not very yes I did (easier than it looks, honest)

My last post was possibly not very complimentary . Your chocolate rose cake and your cake pops are things of beauty, in case that didn't come across!

My cakes always taste pretty good but look like this :(

Stealth- they are lovely!

s'OK, Gwendoline - it had not occurred to me to take it in anything other than the spirit in which I hope it was intended

LOL at collapsing chocolate cake - I have had more than a few of those (but have 2 DC and 4 chickens who are generally happy to eat the evidence while I curse and swear and start again).

Stealth. Can I ask how you did the chocolate roses?

Mike - I googled for a tutorial, but basically you just cut small circles of chocolate sugarpaste, roll the edges thin (I used a ball tool, but I have done it with a (hardboiled) egg in the past), and keep wrapping them around a little cone until you get the rose looking the way you want. And then repeat. And repeat. And wish you had not decided to cover the whole cake with bloody roses. And repeat . No real skill involved, just lots of patience and wine.

If you search on Pinterest, people have used cake pop makers to make polka-dot full-size cakes (like this) so that's another use if they go out of fashion.

yes thats how I make them. was hoping you had a secret much easier and less boring way of making them

I'm fine with small roses but my bigger ones look like cabbages.

I really should practice but I find it so boring after the first one!

casey I love that!

guess what I'm making this weekend!

Ooh ooh ooh polka dot cake . That would look so fab on the inside that no one would be bothered about the outside!

Do you think twice-cooked cake still tastes OK? I think I need trustworthy (MN) feedback on that..

I think I would have to try it out on less fussy dc first.

I already have a birthday cake to make for this weekend so it may have to wait a while before I attempt it.

My self imposed ban on Lakeland has failed thanks to you lot

Wheres best to buy candy melts and sticks ?

Just looked on ebay - 100 sticks for £3. Don't know what they're like though. I've got my melts from Lakeland so far but there must be cheaper better options out there, just haven't been arsed to look yet.

The most expensive day of my life was the day Lakeland moved into my home town . When I had to schlep over to Bluewater I spent almost nothing.

You could put a cake pop in the middle of a bun, couldn't you? So an orange cake pop inside a chocolate bun. They take almost no time to cook so wouldn't dry them out too much...

Ooh spot me trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about :o

I've just been to Lakeland and bought one of these! I love it!!!!

And it's all your fault ! I've been trying to convince myself I don't need one for ages but you lot changed my mind

It's ace! They're just Cooling down then me and dd are gonna decorate them.

I love the polka dot cake! Gonna try that this weekend

I have a friend that uses a site called food angels to buy her melts.

Iirc she pays £9ish for big 1kg bags.

No idea how that compares to other places.

I just use the ones from asda or lakelands.

Umm, you do all realise that candy melts are just white chocolate with food colouring right?

Not exactly -- they are chocolate with a range of things (including trans fats) added so that you don't need to temper the chocolate. If you just added food colouring to regular white chocolate you'd end up with something quite different.

Having used white chocolate and food colouring to do cake pops last week I beg to differ. Just bunged some white choc in the microwave and added colouring after, worked exactly like melts (didn't even need to add any fat to make it runnier).

It was Netslé dessert chocolate (the do white, milk and dark, especially for cooking).

Interesting - does the microwaved chocolate not melt easily after it's dipped-and-set (more easily than candy melts)?

I can't find an ingredients list for Nestle dessert chocolate, but candy melts definitely do contain added trans fats and regular white chocolate for eating (e.g. Milkybar) doesn't. So if Nestle Dessert Blanc doesn't contain trans fats but behaves like a tempered chocolate then it's certainly a very attractive alternative (except that it's Nestle. Bugger).

I think cooking chocolate always contains stuff to make it behave when melted and recooled.

But in the interests of experimentation, I will go get my cake pop maker this afternoon, and compare the candy melts, cooking chocolate and ordinary DS and I will have fun !