So, it has often happened that my baking has been completely disastrous, with pastry leaking, treacle exploding in the oven, and bread dough completely failing to rise. However, there have been times when I have been able to convert disaster into something either good, or something at least slightly less disastrous.
One such example was this: I had been making some more red velvet cupcakes, and I was extremely idiotic and (using my novice-status as an excuse) overfilled the cupcake cases with the cake mixture. It meant that when they were finished baking, I did not have 16 perfect little cupcakes, but one large deformed mass of cake that had spread all over the baking tray. Needless to say, I was not impressed, and had one of my wailing fits. Luckily, I decided to pull myself together, and did an Internet search on what I could do with left-over cake.
I came across this recipe for cake-pops, along with other great ideas for what to do with leftover cake. As I had so much red velvet cake on my hands, I made some pink vanilla buttercream and got stuck in. I also did not have an ice-cream scoop to shape the cake-pops perfectly, so I used a teaspoon and my own fair (and meticulously washed) hands. I also used the teaspoon method when covering the cake-pops in chocolate. I used a blend of milk and dark chocolate to cover the cake, and then used to sprinkles I had in to decorate.
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| Waiting for them to set. |
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| The finished product. |
These cake-pops have proven to be very popular with my friends, and I have made variations on this basic recipe, including red velvet and whisky cake-pops (made with Old Pulteney 12 year old whisky). They were completely delicious, and because I limited the whisky to just two teaspoons, it didn't overwhelm the cake. I may have to try using rum or Cointreau another time. What do you reckon?
Beckie.
