Today we are making a range of cake pops for our Easter basket! These include Easter Bunnies, Chicks and Easter Eggs – all our own variations on Bakerella’s designs in her amazing book, Cake Pops: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes for More Than 40 Irresistible Mini Treats
As usual, I’m going to focus on walking you through how to decorate your pops, rather than write out the entire process again. All of the info you need to prepare the underlying pop or cake ball is in the Basic Cake Pop Recipe blog post.
All of the equipment I use is available on Amazon and to make things easier, I’ve created your own special Amazon store with everything you might need for cake pops. There’s a separate site for Amazon USA and Amazon UK. The links to both are on the right of this page by the flags! >>>>>
Let’s get started!
Easter Bunny Cake Pops!
What you’ll need:
- Undipped Cake Balls (made according to the Basic Cake Pop Recipe)
- Lollipop Sticks
- White (or Chocolate) Candy Melts
- Mini White round sprinkles
- Large cookie cutter with rounded edge
- Black & pink edible ink food pens
- Mini pink heart-shaped sprinkles
- Few teaspoons of Vegetable shortening
- Styrofoam block
How much do I need?
Well that depends on how many cake pops you are making…. it will be approximately 2-3 lb of the white or chocolate candy melts, 48 white sprinkles and 24 mini heart sprinkles per 24 cake pops.
What you need to do:
First we need to reshape the cake balls we have made earlier. Squeezing one end of the cake ball gently with your fingers, mold it into a rounded triangle shape.
Melt down 6 or so of your candy melts by zapping them in the microwave at 30 second intervals until they are properly melted. I use the Wilton Ceramic Mini Candy Melting Set
Take a lollipop stick and dip the end in a little of the melted coating. Push the stick into the base of your triangle shape, midway along the bottom edge (so directly in line with the point of the triangle, so your pop will point upwards). You only need to push it in a little way, don’t go further than half way into your pop. Repeat for the other pops and return to the fridge for the coating to set.
Next we are going to prepare the ears. Bakerella uses pink candy corn candies, but I went with ingredients I already had – the candy melts themselves…
Using the rounded edge of a cookie cutter (in my case a Snowman!) press down on a candy melt to either cut a crescent moon shape off the side of your candy melt (for floppy bunny ears), or cut two crescent shapes off (to leave a pointed bunny ear shape).
Cut enough ears for all your pops (i.e. 2 per bunny!) and set to one side. You can add any trimmings from the candy melts to your melting point for the next stage so than none is wasted.
Next melt down the rest of your candy melts by zapping them in the microwave at 30 second intervals until they are properly melted.It usually takes 3 zaps, so 90 seconds in total (but do check every 30 seconds). You might need to add a very small amount of vegetable shortening to thin out the consistency a little.
Taking a few cake pops from the fridge at a time, dip your pop into the candy coating in a straight up and down motion, make sure it is fully submerged in the candy melt coating. Try not to move the pop around too much in the candy melt or else it is more likely to dislodge the cake from the lollipop stick. If the bottom of the pop needs a little more coverage, gently rock the pop from side to side or tilt the bowl until all the cake is covered. Then remove the pop straight up in one swift motion. It is best to leave the cake pop in the candy melt mixture for as short a time as possible to avoid it slipping off the stick.
Tilt the pop upwards once removed from the melts and twirl it to allow the excess candy melt to drip off. Just before it properly dries, attach your bunnies ears. Then place it upright to dry – on a styrofoam box or cake pop stand if you have one. Repeat for the other pops.
I found (after trial and error!) that it produced a cleaner result if I waited until the initial coating had hardened before adding the other features, like the eyes, nose and mouth.
So once the coating on your pop has hardened, add a little melted coating to the back of your heart sprinkle and attach as your bunny’s nose. Add the white sprinkles for eyes using the same method, adding pupils with the black edible ink pen. Finally, draw on the mouth with your pink edible ink pen.
Easter Chick Cake Pops!
What you’ll need:
- Undipped Cake Balls with sticks attached (made according to the Basic Cake Pop Recipe)
- Yellow Melts
- Mini white and yellow round sprinkles (for eyes and wings)
- Black edible ink food pen
- Mini orange heart-shaped and flower-shapes sprinkles (for beaks and feet)
- Few teaspoons of Vegetable shortening
- Styrofoam block
How much do I need?
Well that depends on how many cake pops you are making…. it will be approximately 1.5 lb of the yellow candy melts, 48 white sprinkles, 48 yellow sprinkles, 48 orange flowers and 24 mini heart sprinkles per 24 cake pops.
You can use other types of sprinkles or candies for your chicks features. Bakerella uses rainbow chips for the beak and wings, and draw the eyes on directly with your pen without the need for white sprinkles.
What you need to do:
Get the heart sprinkles ready.
Now melt down your candy melts by zapping them in the microwave at 30 second intervals until they are properly melted.It usually takes 3 zaps, so 90 seconds in total (but do check every 30 seconds). You might need to add a very small amount of vegetable shortening to thin out the consistency a little.
Taking a few cake pops from the fridge at a time, dip your pop into the candy coating in a straight up and down motion, make sure it is fully submerged in the candy melt coating. Try not to move the pop around too much in the candy melt or else it is more likely to dislodge the cake from the lollipop stick. If the bottom of the pop needs a little more coverage, gently rock the pop from side to side or tilt the bowl until all the cake is covered. Then remove the pop straight up in one swift motion. It is best to leave the cake pop in the candy melt mixture for as short a time as possible to avoid it slipping off the stick.
Tilt the pop upwards once removed from the melts and twirl it to allow the excess candy melt to drip off. Just before it properly dries, attach your beak. Then place it upright to dry – on a styrofoam box or cake pop stand if you have one. Repeat for the other pops.
I found (after trial and error!) that it produced a cleaner result if I waited until the initial coating had hardened before adding the other features, like the eyes, feet and wings.
So once the coating on your pop has hardened, add a little melted coating to the back of your flower sprinkles and attach as your chick’s feet. Add the white sprinkles for eyes using the same method, adding pupils with the black edible ink pen. Finally, stick on the wings with a little more candy coating.
To avoid making too much mess, I use a toothpick to dab the back of these sprinkles with the coating. I rest the pop on its side to decorate, so I use both hands. I keep the pop in place by placing it in an upside-down sprinkle jar lid to stop it rolling around whilst I add the features.
Easter Egg Cake Pops!
What you’ll need:
- Undipped Cake Balls (made according to the Basic Cake Pop Recipe)
- Chocolate candy Melts
- Lollipop sticks
- Mini round sprinkles of all colors
- Few teaspoons of Vegetable shortening
- Styrofoam block
How much do I need?
Well that depends on how many cake pops you are making…. it will be approximately 1.5 lb of the chocolate candy melts and a whole jar of your chosen sprinkle decorations per 24 cake pops.
You can of course use any sprinkles or candies that you’d like for your egg decoration. I just use what I have handy in my sprinkle cupboard.
What you need to do:
First we need to reshape the cake balls we have made earlier. Roll the cake ball between your palms into a cylinder, then round off the ends of the cake ball by gently squeezing with your fingers, leaving one end more pointy than the other, forming your egg shape.
Now melt down your candy melts by zapping them in the microwave at 30 second intervals until they are properly melted.It usually takes 3 zaps, so 90 seconds in total (but do check every 30 seconds). You might need to add a very small amount of vegetable shortening to thin out the consistency a little.
Take a lollipop stick and dip the end in a little of the melted coating. Push the stick into the rounder end of your egg shape. You only need to push it in a little way, don’t go further than half way into your pop. Repeat for the other pops and return to the fridge for the coating to set.
Once the sticks are firmly set, take a few cake pops from the fridge at a time and dip your pop into the candy coating in a straight up and down motion, make sure it is fully submerged in the candy melt coating. Try not to move the pop around too much in the candy melt or else it is more likely to dislodge the cake from the lollipop stick. If the bottom of the pop needs a little more coverage, gently rock the pop from side to side or tilt the bowl until all the cake is covered. Then remove the pop straight up in one swift motion. It is best to leave the cake pop in the candy melt mixture for as short a time as possible to avoid it slipping off the stick.
Tilt the pop upwards once removed from the melts and twirl it to allow the excess candy melt to drip off. Then place it upright to dry – on a styrofoam box or cake pop stand if you have one. Repeat for the other pops.
I found (after trial and error!) that it produced a cleaner result if I waited until the initial coating had hardened before adding the decorations.
So once the coating on your pop has hardened, add a little melted coating to the back of your chosen sprinkles and attach randomly to decorate your egg.
To avoid making too much mess, I use a toothpick to dab the back of these sprinkles with the coating. I rest the pop on its side to decorate, so I use both hands. I keep the pop in place by placing it in an upside-down sprinkle jar lid to stop it rolling around whilst I add the features.
Presentation
I am always trying to thing of new ways to present my pops. For Easter, I chose an Easter basket. For all my cake pop presentation needs, I don’t think you can go far wrong in a 99-cent store. I bought the basket and fake grass for 99 cents each, and just used a disc of styrofoam in the base of the basket.
Hope you have a wonderful Easter!
CP xx
