Do you love cupcakes? Then you are not alone. Cupcakes are popular with everybody. Their tastes and appearance are irresistible! Have you ever tried them while putting on sticks? They look more adorable and appealing to people, especially kids. What’s impressive about these cute desserts is the fact that they are easy to prepare and serve. It is the reason they are ideal to use in parties, baby showers, or birthdays. It is, therefore, essential to decorate them with candy melts or icing. Are you wondering how? In this article, you shall get insight into how to decorate cake pops with icing and candy melts. You may need to continue reading.
Cake Pop Decorating Ideas
Cake pops look better and more appetizing when decorated. There are different methods of decorating cake pops. Here are some of the significant cake pop decorating ideas.
1. Decorating with Icing
The following step by step will show you how to make and decorate yummy cake pops with icing.
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Step 1: Baking
Cakes get made with various recipes. You are free to use a cake recipe of your choice. Some love vanilla recipes, while others prefer chocolate. Some cake lovers go for something different, like strawberries, cookies, red velvet, or cream. Bake the cake of your preference.
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Step 2: Crumble the Cake
When it cools, use your finger to crumble it
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Step 3: Frosting
The frosting also comes with different recipes. You get to choose what you love. Some frosting comes as buttercream, cream cheese, or buttercream. The best frosting is not just about the flavor, but also the combination. For instance, chocolate cakes go well with peanut butter frosting. If you want your cake to have a beautiful rose color, go for a red velvet recipe with vanilla frosting. Also, cream cheese frosting combines better with carrot cake. It is, therefore, crucial to choose your flavors wisely.
But it’s not just about putting the right frosting, but also the right amount. Use only the amount to make your cake crumbles moist enough to roll into balls. Otherwise, excess frost will cause the pulp to have an unpleasant texture.
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Step 4: Rolling
Use your hands or an ice cream scoop to make round balls. Then put them in the refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes.
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Step 5: Melt the Candy
As the balls chill in the fridge, melt the candy or the chocolate to use as the pops’ coating. To dissolve them faster, try using a fondue pot or microwave. Always remember to stir while you stir.
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Step 6: Dipping
Take your sticks and insert them into the pops. Then dip them in the melted chocolate or candy until each ball is entirely covered. Then use your finger to remove excess liquid and smoothen the ball.
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Step 7: Icing
It is now the stage to decorate your cake pops with icing. You can use either of the following;
- Chocolate chips
- Crushed nuts
- Sprinkles
- Coconut
- Cookie crumbles
You are also free to use anything you want as a topping. Spread and distribute them evenly over the coated pops. Then leave them in a clean place ideal for cooling. If you desire them to set faster, place them in the refrigerator. You can also dry them inside the Styrofoam block. Icing can get made at home or buy them canned. To apply the icing easily, use a piping bag. What’s exciting about a piping bag is that you can easily make one. Do you want to know how? Check out the following;
Making a Piping Bag
Use the following procedure to make one;
- Start by rolling in the baking paper. Then fold its one corner to make a triangle shape
- Make the crease and use a pair of scissors to cut the baking paper into square-shaped
- Then cut following the crease to create two separate triangles
- Take the longest side and mart its center. The nozzle will be here.
- Hold one corner while you fold the other up including its apex
- While still holding at this point, make the other side come around and fold the top to secure it.
- Then staple it to make it secure
- Then snip off the bag’s end and drop your nozzle!
Viola! The piping bag is ready. Fill it with the icing. Then secure it by folding its top over and stapling. Your cake pops get set after dipping and hardening their outside coating. Squeeze the ice-filled piping bag with on your hardened cake pops and show your creativity by decorating them in your design. Then allow them to settle for some time. There you go, your cake pops are now iced and ready to eat! Unfortunately, many cake pop makers don’t know how to make frosting for their cakes. Fortunately, there exist various frosting you can make at home. They include the following;
Homemade Frosting for Cake Pops
Though frosting and icing get used for decorating cakes, they are different. The frosting is stiffer while icing comes as a thin sugary glaze, which hardens after cooling. Unlike icing, frosting pipes well and contains butter or cream. Other than cakes, both also get used to decorating muffins and donuts. The good news is that you can make the most frosting at home. The following is a list of various frostings found on the market today.
- Basic Buttercream
- Cream cheese
- Swiss Meringue buttercream
- Italian meringue buttercream
- French Meringue buttercream
- Ganache
- Whipped Cream
Having known the different types of frosting for cakes, let’s look at how we can make a buttercream frost at home.
How to Make Buttercream Frost at Home
Have you been buying frosting for your cakes? With this method, you will never revisit your store for frosting. What’s exciting about this recipe is the fact that it’s easy to make, and you can use different flavors like vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate. Start by using two pieces of butter softened at cold temperatures. Because butter comes with various amounts of salt, use the unsalted butter to control the amount of salt you need. Then use a mixture to beat the butter for about a minute until smooth and pleasant.
Take three cups filled with powdered sugar and add to the smooth mixture of butter. Then mix it slowly to avoid the sugar from spilling all over. After coming together, add heavy cream, a pinch of salt, and an extract of the flavor you want. For example, vanilla, almond, lemon, mint, or strawberry. This recipe works out best with heavy cream, but you can use milk though it would be that creamy. Ensure everything is well combined. Depending on the thickness of frost you want in your cake pops, this mixture is ideal for 12 to 14 cupcakes.
2. How to Decorate Cake Pops With Candy Melts
Never allow your cake pops to stay naked. Cover them attractively with an excellent taste using chocolate or candy melts. If you have no idea how to do so, check out the following step-by-step guide. Dipping your cake pops in candy melts helps in retaining their moistness and flavor. It also improves their taste and appearance.
The quantity of candy melts depends on the number of cake pops you want to decorate. For many cake pops, you will need large amounts of candy mixture. You can get them in your store next door or make yours at home. Fortunately, candy melts get packed in different quantities to cater to various cake pops. Get a smaller package of candy melts from the shop for your few cake pops.
When your cake pops are ready, put your candy melts if made at home in an ideal container that will allow you to dip the pops with ease. For the shop-bought, the containers they come with are perfect for dipping your cake pops. Insert sticks firmly into your cake pops. Then holding on the stick, dip the pop cakes one by one into the candy melt.
Then pull it above the mixture and swirl it around or use it to tap the container easily to get rid of the excess candy mixture. Swing it around until all the excess candy gets out. Then place it nicely on your decorating stand to dry. When dried well, serve it with a refreshing drink or milk. You can also take it without any accompaniments.
Final Thought
As illustrated above, cakes are delicious and a darling to people of all ages. But when given an extra touch like putting them in the sticks and adding some flavor and decorations, they become even better. Cake pops are one of the popular ways of improving both the appearance and tastes of our cakes. As described above, you can use various methods of decorating them. What’s fantastic about the things used for their decoration is the fact that you can make them at home instead of spending money buying them. If you have no idea of how you can decorate your cake pops, the concepts explained above will help.