Damn you, easily available ingredients and equipment and damn you Youtube for showing me how to do it!!

[MaureenMLove]

I am about to become obsessed with cake pops! Why fgs? Haven't I done enough princess castle cakes, car cakes, horse cakes, big cakes and cup cakes? Haven't I said for over two years, 'I've retired from making cakes for other people'? Don't I deserve to stop making bloody cakes??

Well?

Have any of you taken the plunge into pop cakes yet? They just look so easy and simple and pretty and lovely.

Aaarghh! I live 10mins from a shop that will provide me with all the things I need and it's bloody Christmas, so I just know I'm going to end up making them for presents!

Anyone got the number for the cake persons alternative to AA?

Step away from the little paper sticks and cello bags while you can.....save yourself

I've got the Lakeland cake pop machine - makes it very very easy!

Thought they'd be a nice personal touch as a pressie for my Rainbows this year. And DD wants to make Hello Kitty ones!

I saw the Candy Melts in Hobbycraft a while back and wondered what to do with them.

Just one bag for £2.99 and a small bag of 18 sticks? Just to check they are easy to make?

Got loads of polystyrene in the loft too.....

don't bother with the lakeland machine. whip up a cake n butter icing. crumble cake add small amount of icing then roll to desired shape. pop in freezer for 30mins then decorate snowmen are easy to make. so are xmas pudding

I do have a fab tip somewhere in my box of tricks using cream cheese mixed together with cake crumbs, roll into balls pop into fridge and then dip into white choccy, naughty but nice.

ah yeah i normally use half butter half full fat cream cheese in the butter cream icing then...

Well, I made them. Wasn't bad for a first attempt. Do you have to use the candy melts or is there anything else on the market? It just didn't melt enough to coat the balls as easily as I though it would.

*Arithmeticulous how do you find the Lakeland machine? I've previously made cakepops from scratch but have just borrowed a cake pop maker to make some for my DD's birthday later this week. Does it work on any cake mixture as i'm using a vegan recipe?

Have heard lots of bad things about candy melts not melting enough so i'll be using plain chocolate with a bit of oil added. That gave me the right consistancy last time.

Maureen, I have to add oil to the candy melts to get the right consistancy.

Ah, that's interesting. Once all the prototypes of everything I've tried are eaten, I'll give the oil a try. Thanks.

It makes very nice doughnuts! It's just a way of cooking balls of mixture- I expect they taste v different to a ball of icing+cake as they are just cake.

yeah add oil or trek to candy melts to make them more runny - however i find they sometimes leak oil so make sure they are totally coated be- no gaps.

i don't get on with cake pop machine. because they are so small they go stale so quickly...

cuteable I was think of making them on Thursday evening with eating planned for Friday. I assume they won't go stale inthis time?

The Book People left some stuff at school today, including a little kit for popcakes. It was only £6, so I'm going to get it I think. It was a silcone top and bottom for make the cakes and the top part had stick holes in it, so after you've coated them, you can use it as a holder.

Might be a classic white elephant gadget, but for £6, it's worth a try.

i would cover them with chocolate / candy melts as soon as you can. they should be fine. the cake pop maker gets good reviews so maybe its just me that doesn't like it...

DD decided that she wanted them to be 'traditional' cake pops instead so i did them by hand and made them into mini Christmas puddings. Pic is on my profile

Well, my cakepops silicone case arrived today.

After a couple of failed attempts to get the right amount of mix in the pods and learning that you need to really grease them well, I have sucessfully made 14 cakepops!

I tops them with ordinary melted chocolate and they are almost perfect!

I'm please with my first try! I made them into christmas puddings and although the white chocolate didn't melt as much as the dark, they look OK!

TooManyQualityStreet I'd love to see yours, but your profile isn't public.

Think i've sorted my profile now MaureenMLove

Aw, they're lovely! I've just sampled one of mine and they are bloody lush!