Cake pops without the icing melts

[Cinnabunbun]

Baking novice here so feel free to state the obvious. I'm hoping to make cake pops for a bake sale but I'm not sure how to go about icing them. All the YouTube tutorials I can find talk about using "chocolate melts" or candy melts as the icing. I don't really want to buy these. Is there an alternative? Can I just use icing sugar and water/lemon juice or is there a reason why people seem to always use the melt thingies?

The melt thingys are like flavoured chocolate. I guess it sets quickly which is why it’s used.

I think normal icing sugar will be too runny and take ages to set.

I just use normal chocolate and decorate. If you wanted colour you could try white chocolate with a gel colour but you might have to do a few layers?

The candy melts set very solid so hold the thing together. I don’t like the flavour personally (they are usually quite oily) so just use chocolate. Melt the chocolate then dip the pops in it. Doesn’t give such a glossy finish but tastes a lot better!

You can cover them with chocolate, but you need to add a small amount of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate so it covers the cake pops smoothly. Don't add too much or the chocolate won't set!

Don’t add food colouring to white chocolate - it doesn’t set properly

Ah plain white chocolate looks like a good and simple option