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Kim-Joy’s recipe for lion cake pops

Kim-Joy’s recipe for lion cake pops. A dessert you can take pride in

These are great fun to make. And they last a good while, as the buttercream keeps the cake very moist, and this is sealed in with a thin layer of chocolate. If you want to decorate them in a rush, just dip the pops in melted chocolate and scatter on sprinkles before it sets. You will need cake pop sticks.


Makes: 12-16

For the cake:
100g butter
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g egg (about 2 medium eggs)
130g self-raising flour
1-2 tbsp whole milk

For the buttercream:
70g butter
140g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1-2 tbsp whole milk

For the coating:
Either 250g white chocolate and a little yellow food dye (oil-based and chocolate-safe), or 250g yellow candy melts/compound chocolate

To decorate the faces:
Orange candy melts
Fondant: black, white, brown, yellow
Edible pen

First make the cake. Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas mark 5 and grease and line the base of a 18cm round cake tin. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in the vanilla. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl, then gradually add to the butter/sugar mix, whisking well after each addition.

Add the flour and whisk until just combined. Add the milk and whisk to soften the consistency.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Then turn out on to a wire rack, remove the baking paper and leave to fully cool.

Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Cream together the butter and sugar until light in colour and fluffy. Add the vanilla and milk, and whisk again so that the consistency is softer.

When the cake is cool, remove any thick crusts, then use your hands to crumble it until it is breadcrumb-like. Add the buttercream, then whisk until well combined.

Use your palms to shape the mixture into balls of about 30g each; try to make them as smooth and round as possible. Place on a tray in the fridge for about two hours or until very firm.

Then either temper the white chocolate with some yellow food dye, or melt the yellow candy melts. You can do this in the microwave in short bursts, stirring well in between, or use a bain marie. Pour into a narrow, high-sided cup.

Dip the end of a cake pop stick about 1cm into the chocolate, then push this into a cake ball. Repeat and leave to set.

Then dip each cake pop into the chocolate, covering the whole surface of the cake. Let the excess drip off, then place upright (pushing the sticks into Styrofoam or similar works) and leave to set. If the chocolate in the cup begins to harden before you have finished, give it a quick burst in the microwave.

Then use some of the remaining melted chocolate to stick the orange candy melts round the outside. It will look like a flower now; you can leave it like this, or decorate it further to create a lion, using coloured fondant (glued on with a little more chocolate) and edible pen.