Cath Kidston Inspired Cake Pops

It feels like months since I've made cake pops, and probably because, it actually has been months! Which is a shame as I love making them, I've just been too busy so it was nice to have time to do some properly when asked to make a batch.

This particular batch were to be very pretty, pastel, floral and Cath Kidston inspired. Who doesn't life a bit of Cath Kidston? The colours, flowers, polka dots... it's all too cute and I love it.

I made three designs, two floral ones which were similar but with different base colours and one with polka dots standing up in floral cases. The two floral ones were made from being dipped in coloured white chocolate. Half in pink and half in pale blue.



For the floral part I cut out circles of fondant and set them on the cake pops with royal icing, for the flowers I cut out red fondant with flower plungers, added a gold pearl for the bud and again placed them on with royal icing. For the stalk and leaves I piped on green royal icing and to finish piped white pearls around the design.



The polka dot ones were sooo easy to make and look super cute. I saw these mini cupcake cases in the garden center and the floral design fitted in so well I couldn't pass them by. So when I had dipped the cake pops in white chocolate, just before they were set I put them head down in the cases so they stood up. To make them even sweeter I piped pink polka dots around them and boom, they were finished.

To make them look more professional I wrapped them up in their own little individual cellophane bag and silver tie. When they were finished they looked great and like something out of Laura Ashley and I hear they went down a storm.

I even got to use my Wilton cake pop decorating stand that I got for Christmas for the first time. This shows you just how long it's been since I made them.



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Fairground Toffee Apples

It's that time of year again where the air is filled with candy floss, anything fried! and of course, toffee apples! I remember this being the one sweet item I wanted to buy from a fairground...even now, I feel a bit cheated if I go to one and don't manage to get one. So I thought it was about time I finally found out how to make my own, and it was really simple! They're a great little extra for a childrens party..adults one too!



 Ingredients

• 225 g demerara sugar
• 115 ml water
• 0.5 tsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 25 g butter
• 6 sweet apples - I just think these are better than sour ones, all about the sweet!
• Ice lolly sticks
• Red food colouring

 Now you'll need a sugar thermometer here, these are easily and cheaply bought, if not your nan will almost definitely have one. They did a lot of jam making etc back in the day.

How You Do It

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water over a medium heat. When dissolved, stir in the vinegar, butter and golden syrup. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until it reaches hard-crack stage (138C)You can test this by dropping a small drop into a glass of water and seeing if it forms a ball. This should take around 10 minutes boiling time.  Now add the red food colouring.

2. While this is cooking, stick the lolly sticks in each of the apples, when the toffee is ready dip each one into the toffee and spin it round to make sure it's covered, you may need to use a spoon to pour it on the top parts of the apple.

3. Leave to harden on a lightly oiled tray before serving. This is the point where you can add some sprinkles etc if you want to jazz them up a bit but sometimes plain is best.  Make them look really professional by wrapping them in cellophane when cool and tying them up with some ribbon.


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