Cake pops

[derektheladyhamster]

Has anyone got the cake pop maker from lakeland?

I fancy making cake pops, but the recipe with cake and frosting looks a little sickly.

What ingredients go into the lakeland maker, and do you have any other tips regarding making and decorating them?

MIL was given one which we've used. It produces lovely spheres from a fairly normal sponge mix which you can vary.

Bought one on Saturday! We haven't used it yet so I can let you know later in the week. DD1 (6) and DD2 (3) really liked the look of it, having made them at a friend's house, and I can't be doing with making them by hand. I decided in the end that £20 for a day's activity in half term for all of us was a damn sight cheaper than going to the farm etc etc. with luck we'll use it several times over and it won't be so expensive...

Incidentally the lady I spoke to at Lakeland said it was a standard sponge mix. She said to dip the sticks into melted choc and then stick them into the balls. The balls (and stucks) then go in the freezer while you tidy up and prepare the decorations. By the time you have decorated them they should have defrosted and be ready to eat. The Lakeland website shows them going in the fridge - I don't suppose it matters as long as they are cold so the choc sets quickly.

Sticks obviously not stucks!

The only pain with them is having something to stick the sticks in once you've decorated them so that they stand up nicely. Work that out before you start.....

Lovely, thanks. I think I might have to buy one

i use two cakes from this half sphere mould. I stick them together with chocolate or butter icing then coat the outside and decorate as with a cake pop.

I've got this one AmericanOriginals which makes 12 at a time instead of 6. They are really yummy, so much so I haven't got round to putting any on sticks yet as we eat them while they are still hot!

What do you use to decorate them? I have made some, and covered them in melted chocolate. But is there anything better?

I have one - I use the hummingbird cupcake recipe and it works well.

The hard bit is coating them - if they defrost too much the moisture makes the chocolate sieze. I suspect that I just need to do them in smaller batches.

I've got one! made them for the first time on the weekend and they were v tasty and not too sweet in spite of the blue icing! just followed the recipe in the box and I didn't do anything with fridge or freezer although the icing didn't look totally smooth. more practice required!

My 12 year old dd received the American originals one for her birthday, as well as a stand to put the made cake pops in while the dry.
She loves it. Very easy to make. The maker came from Argos.

I have only made them the crumble-sponge-and-mix-with-frosting way. You only add just enough frosting to allow you to shape the mixture into balls....they don't taste sickly. I don't really get how they would hold their shape well enough made of just cake in the mould but maybe that's what all the freezing is about.

Just to update in case anyone is interested!

The machine was great - very easy to use. If you overfill the hollow you get mini flying saucers and if you don't fill it enough, the pops are not perfectly round.

We put them in the fridge after they had cooled and just took them out as we decorated them. We used a variety of different toppings - white chocolate, milk chocolate and then Silver Spoon strawberry and orange flavour buttons. The buttons are easy to melt but much runnier than melted chocolate. I have to say that I preferred the chocolate but the kids liked the lurid colours of the buttons!!

The kids then covered (and I do mean covered!) them in sprinkles, mini marshmallows etc etc and actually they were lovely! The sponge tasted really nice - quite moist. So all in all, a pretty enjoyable afternoon that kept 2 adults, one 6 year old and 2 3 year olds happily entertained.

I think next time, I will make the pops themselves and then stick them in the freezer so there is a stack to be decorated at a later date. The machine makes approx 30 pops from one batch of mixture and that's quite a lot to decorate in one go.

Oh yes, forgot to say that we used the polystyrene packaging from the box to stand the pops in while they dried.

I have read so many wonderful reviews of these machines... but I have had no such luck with mine! My bottoms burn or they don't cook through. I gave up after several batches. Any tips or advice will be appreciated and possibly tried out :)

Hi everyone I'm new to this, im making a cake for my sister I need it done for Thursday, if I bake it tomorrow how should I store it, buttercream and fondant on i too x