Cake Pops

I have been extremely busy the past few weeks and haven't had a chance to bake which is very unusual for me.  However, I managed to squeeze in a cake pops class at the Oak Studio, Hampstead which I booked months ago. I was really looking forward to the class as a friend, Charlotte had bought me a cake pops book for Christmas and had agreed to come with me.  I've never made cake pops and they seem to be the latest baking craze in America.

The class was taught by Leigh who is a professional pastry chef and has her own bespoke cake business. You can check out her website craft cakes for class details (she also teaches cupcake decorating and celebration cake decorating) and check out her amazing custom cakes. 

The class is small (there were only 5 of us) and everything you need is provided.  We were welcomed warmly by Kate and then the fun began! Leigh provided cake dough which she pre-prepared.  It's basically a vanilla sponge cake crumbled up and mixed with a lemon buttercream icing in a 2:1 proportion.  The cake was really light and moist and I really liked the lemon taste. 

First step is to roll the cake dough into little round balls as shown above.

Bowl of melted Wilton Candy Melts on the right used for dipping

Fancy sprinkles for decoration

Dip lollipop stick in a little icing and push into the cake ball about halfway through

Dip it in candy melt until the cake is fully coated. There is quite an art to this! My first one fell off the stick :(

A chicken in progress... just needs eyes painted on.

You can see the completed chicken here as well as other the cake pops that we made

These are my creations. The tigers are unfinished here...

..completed tigers and what is supposed to be a pink cat? I'm not really sure what I was making to be honest!

Charlotte made this cute face perfect for red nose day!

All in all it was a really good day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I look forward to making more cake pops in the future. I also met another baker in the class, Olivia of livalittlebakery. She was the most talented student in the class and made some beautiful cake pops. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her creations as she was sitting at the other end of the table.

Thank you Leigh and Oak Studio for a fun, informative class.