Red Nose Cake Pops

It's Red Nose Day!

In order to get involved, spread awareness, and hopefully encourage a few extra donations, I decided to create something a bit special for today's post: Red Nose Cake Pops!

Red velvet cake pops covered in red candy melts make the tastiest red noses you'll ever try. I baked up a batch of Hummingbird Bakery Red Velvet Cupcakes, to use as the cakey-base for these, but you could use any sponge recipe you like!

Ingredients:
12 red velvet cupcakes
75g cream cheese
200g icing sugar
200g red candy melts
1 tsp vegetable oil

Prep time: 40 minutes
Makes 15 cake pops

1. I'm cheating this time, and using a batch of the Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes I made earlier. So, the first step is to whip up a batch of your favourite red velvet cupcakes, and leave them to cool!
2. Whilst the cakes are cooling, prepare your frosting by beating together the cream cheese and icing sugar until it forms a smooth paste.
3. Take the cooled cupcakes out of their wrappers and break them into a blender. Pulse the cakes on a high speed to break them into fine crumbs. Once the cake is sufficiently crumbed, pour the crumbs into a bowl, then mix in a tbsp of the butter cream. Add more butter cream a little at a time until you get a mixture that holds together well without crumbling, but isn't too sloppy. 
4. Now its time to get your hands dirty! First of all, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, and make some space for that tray in your fridge or freezer. Measure out 30g portions of the cake mixture, then shape it into a ball with you hands and place this on the baking tray. Once you've turned all of your mixture into balls put these into the freezer for 20 minutes to set.
5. Melt your red candy melts, either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Stir in the vegetable oil to "thin down" the candy to make it easier to dip your pops later. Don't worry - you won't be able to taste the oil! 
6. Take your tray of cake balls out of the freezer and place on your work surface next to the melted candy. The cold cake will set the candy very quickly, so it's important to have everything you need to hand here as you will need to work fast!
7. Dip a lollipop stick around 1cm into the candy and then push this into one of the cakey balls. The theory behind this is that the chocolate will help to stick the cake pop to the stick! Stick each cake pop with a lollipop stick in this way. By the time you've stuck all of the sticks, the first one you did should be set. 
8. Dip each cake pop into the melted candy and give it a quick spin to coat evenly. Take the tap the cake pop on the side of the bowl to remove any excess chocolate, then put the cake pop, stick side first, into a polystyrene block. Repeat with all the pops and then leave to set. 
9. Hey presto - your very own, very tasty, Red Noses!

Cake pop tips:
Use a tall, thin receptacle for melting your chocolate, such as a mug or small bowl. If you use a wide bowl your chocolate will be too shallow for dipping!

When dipping, it's best to get your cake pop in and out of the warm chocolate as quickly as possible, as the temperature of the chocolate and the bowl/mug will melt your cake pop and make it fall off of it's stick. Don't worry too much about doing it, just go for it and it will work.

Line a baking tray with clingfilm, then pour any leftover chocolate onto it and put it in the fridge. Once set, you can break the chocolate into chunks and store in a food bag until next time. Note - this doesn't work so well if you drop cake in the chocolate or keep dipping your fingers/a spoon in!

Finally: Practise makes perfect!

Like this post? get involved in the Red Nose fun by making a donation to Comic Relief: https://www.rednoseday.com/donate

Happy Thoughts
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