Halloween White Chocolate Cake Pops

Halloween is always a great excuse to get creative in the kitchen. At least, it is for me. Cake pops were something I had been meaning to try for so long, and was inspired by some I had seen on Pinterest.

Some creepy eyeballs were to be my cake pop of choice!!

I think I have learned a lot from making these, so please read on to discover the amazing recipe by Molly Bakes, which has had so many compliments from everyone I have given them to.

For the cake, you will need...

120g unsalted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 free range eggs, at room temperature

180g self raising flour

4 tbsp milk, at room temperature

For the vanilla cream cheese frosting, you will need...

80g unsalted butter, softened

40g cream cheese, softened

200g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp icing sugar (but I left this out as I didn't want them to be too sweet)

For the decoration, you will need...

400g bag of candy melts - I couldn't find these so used 400g white chocolate

Decoration (I used blue food colouring, black food colouring and red food colouring)

Lollipop sticks

Something suitable to stick your cake pops in to make them stand up while they dry. This is important, as I found out!!!

. Preheat the oven to 180C

. Grease and flour a 25cm round cake tin (or approximately that size)

. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (5 mins) and then mix in the vanilla extract

. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add half the flour and then half the milk and mix until fully combined

. Repeat this with the remaining flour and milk

. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack and you have your cake ready!

. While your cake cools, you can make the cream cheese frosting. Combine the butter and cream cheese, gradually adding the sugar until well mixed and light and fluffy

. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using

. Crumble the cake thoroughly into a large mixing bowl. I carefully cut the edges off my cake to make sure there would be no lumps, and then sat in front of the TV with it for about 15 minutes, rubbing it lightly between my fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

. Take the frosting and add it to the cake, one tablespoon at a time. The amount you need will vary depending on how moist your cake is. I used less than half of mine as apparently my cake seemed moist enough!

. Keep mixing until you have a firm fudge-like texture. I used electric hand mixers for this. If it is ready, when you squeeze a bit in the palm of your hand it shouldn't crack (too dry) and it shouldn't stick to your hands (too wet)

. Wrap the mixture in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, so it is firm but not hard

. Break off ping pong ball sized pieces of mixture and roll them into balls. Put them on a lined baking tray and return to the fridge for another 15-20 minutes, or until firm

. Meanwhile, melt your chocolate or candy melts. Do this either in the microwave (very carefully) or in a double boiler (a bowl over a pan with boiling water in it) and keep stirring to evenly melt until it is a smooth silky consistency

. Take a lollipop stick and stick the end into the chocolate. Push it about half way into a ball of cake mix, and leave to set on a baking tray. Repeat with each of the cake balls

. Take each cake pop and fully submerge them in the candy or chocolate, one at a time. Allow the excess to drip off. Remember to have whatever you will leave them to dry on at the ready! I made this mistake. Cover plates with greaseproof paper... Trust me... Some of mine stuck!

. Either add on decorations at this stage (e.g. sprinkles) or allow the cake pops to set for a few hours before beginning more elaborate decoration

I used a small paint brush to paint on the eyeballs. With the red veins, I had a squeezy bottle with a thin nozzle, so I put those on straight from the tube.

The perfect spooky treat, ready for the trick-or-treaters to arrive, but only after a good few hours to really firm up. 

Cake pops are great for lots of different occasions. You can turn them into almost anything, which is proved by Bakerella! Her speciality is cake pops, and I always love to look at her holiday-related posts on her blog, which you can see here.

To give you some more spooky inspiration, take a look at these...

Bakerella trick or treat ghosts; see them here

Pumpkin cake pops by The Pink Whisk, see them here.

Mummy cake pops from Craftsy website, here.

Have you made any Halloween cakes or biscuits? If so, let me know what you made! I made these chocolate and passionfruit ganache tarts, with white chocolate spider webs on them last weekend for a pumpkin carving party!