The perfect way to use up your chocolate over the weekend
Niamh Larkin, executive pastry chef at 45 Park Lane in London, shows you how to recreate the five-star hotel’s popular cake pops. This at-home version is perfect for using up your Easter egg chocolate over the weekend and a fun activity to do with your children. You can be as creative as you’d like with the sprinkles and toppings.
Ingredients: for the vanilla cake and chocolate cake
- 200g butter
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 200g self raising flour
Milk chocolate ganache
- 100g cream
- 100g milk chocolate
White chocolate ganache
- 80g cream
- 150g white chocolate
Coating
- Additional chocolate of your choice (I like to use three different colours so you have three varieties of cake pop, e.g. milk, dark and white)
- Sprinkles of your choice (the more colourful the better)
Method
- First make the cake. Heat oven to 170C fan. Grease and line the base of 2 - 20cm sandwich tin. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl and beat well to a creamy consistency. Slowly beat in the eggs, one by one, then fold in the flour and mix well. (Halve the mix and add a tablespoon of cocoa powder for chocolate cake).
- Tip into the cake tins and bake for about 20 mins until risen and golden brown. Set aside to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, make the ganaches (you can of course use your Easter eggs for this!).
- In one bowl mix the ingredients for the milk chocolate ganache, melt together gently in the microwave, set aside.
- In another bowl mix the ingredients for the white chocolate ganache, melt together gently in the microwave, set aside.
- Once the cake is cooled, crumble into large crumbs. Add the ganache and stir together. Take chunks of the cake mixture and roll into balls, transferring each ball to a lined tray or plate, push a lollypop stick into each, then put into the fridge for an hour to set.
- To coat your cake pops, you can use your Easter eggs, be sure to melt it very slow and carefully in the microwave white and milk or dark separately. Tip the sprinkles into another bowl. Take each of the chilled cake pops and dip into the chocolate, allowing it to drip off a little over the bowl. Dip into the sprinkles, then stand upright in a mug to dry at room temperature for an hour, or in the fridge for 30 mins.
45 Park Lane, London, W1K 1PN; dorchestercollection.com
