Cute-Tastic Gingerbread Cake Pop DIY

Hey there! I’ve got my second round of Christmas bakes ready and waiting for you and let me tell you they’re cute as a button and easy AF! All you need is a little bit of cake, frosting and chocolate and you’ll be in for a major crimbo filled treat.

Before we get started, I have a little bit of housekeeping to do. Next week I’ll be off on my holi-bobs so I’m giving myself a blog break, followed by a cracking wee Christmas bauble cake on Dec 17th and then I’ll be taking 2 weeks off for Christmas and New Year and to move to a new house! Cos it finally happened, I am ditching the commute and heading for city pastures. Scotrail can suck it! No more cancellations, no more replacement buses that steal my sanity and no more waiting on the tracks watching my day disappear thanks to signal failures. I am a happy, giddy, gushy bunny indeed!

A couple of cake tips and then we’ll get started. If you’re like me and have a freezer full of cake, you don’t need to do any baking for this beauty, just defrost what you’ve got and you’re golden. If you are baking from scratch, it’s crucial to let it cool first or the frosting will melt when you mix. When it comes to the chocolate, be careful to chill properly at each stage or you might have cake poking through. And finally, if the chocolate feels a little bit thick, a knob of coconut oil can be used to thin it out and still let it set properly.

Ok, shall we get going?  

Ingredients – Makes 24

1 batch gingerbread cake (recipe here)

50g butter

100g icing sugar

400g pink chocolate/candy melts

Gingerbread mould (silicone)

Edible silver balls (optional)

Piping gel (optional)

Method

Mix up the gingerbread cake and bake as instructed. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Tip the cake into a large bowl and start to hack away at it with a fork until there’s only crumbs remaining. In a small bow mix together 50g of butter and 100g of icing sugar. When it’s completely smooth, mix the buttercream in with the gingerbread crumbs and knead for 5 minutes until it comes together like a dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to the side.

Over a pan of boiling water, melt 300g of pink chocolate. When melted, pour the chocolate into the gingerbread mould, swirling it around to cover the sides. If there’s any parts that are struggling to get covered, use a toothpick to pull the well of chocolate where you want it.

When the sides are covered, line a tray with cling film and tip the mould upside down to let the excess chocolate drip out. When the last remnants have dripped, tip the mould the right way up again and use a bench scraper or palette knife to wipe any excess from the top of the mould.

Try to get the edges of the gingerbread men as clean as possible as this will save you from picking the scraggly bits off later. Leave the chocolate to set completely. Fold the cling film that was used to catch the dripping chocolate back on itself and funnel the chocolate back into the bowl, we’ll use this again later.

When the chocolate in the mould is set, place it in the fridge to chill for 5-10 mins. While the chocolate is chilling, knead the cake pop dough again to make it soft enough to mould. When the chocolate is cold and hard, tear off small pieces of cake pop dough and gently press it into the mould being firm but careful. Fill each gingerbread man to about 1-2mm from the top of the mould. Place the mould back in the fridge to chill again.

While they’re chilling, re-melt the chocolate from before along with the remaining 100g. Pour this over the top of the moulds, making sure there’s no more cake visible.

When they’re all filled to the top, use your bench scraper again to run off the excess. Leave to set for 5 minutes, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

And we’re done! Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy! If you want to give your pops a little more pizazz, use a few drops of piping gel to stick the silver balls on as buttons.

They should keep for about 5 days in the fridge, or if you’re in my house about 5 hours. I swear every time someone walked in the kitchen, they grabbed a couple. Enjoy!