Chocolate-Coated Tombstone Cake Pops

Ready to raise the stakes this Halloween? These Chocolate-Coated Tombstone Cake Pops are so devilishly delicious, they’ll have your guests digging in for more—no resurrection required

 

Ingredients

 

For the cake pops

  • 175g softened butter
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 175g self-raising flour, sifted
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
     

For the cake pop frosting

  • 80g butter
  • 160g icing sugar
     

For the cake pop coating and decoration 

  • 200g Lily O’Brien’s Dark Chocolate Drops or Milk Chocolate Drops (your preference)
  • 1/2 tsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
  • 300g icing sugar
  • 50ml water
     

For the graveyard scene (optional)

  • A pre made chocolate tray-bake cake for convenience or make your favourite basic recipe
  • Cocoa powder
  • Small halloween props such as mini pumpkins, skeletons, small trees etc
     

Method

  • Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan and line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
  • In a large bowl cream together the sugar and butter with a wooden spoon or with a hand-held electric mixer, until smooth and creamy
  • Add the baking powder, vanilla extract and the salt and stir to combine.
  • Break one egg at a time into the mixture along with a third of the sifted flour and mix thoroughly. Repeat until all eggs and flour have been fully incorporated.
  • Spoon the mixture into the cake tin, smooth the top and bake for 45-50 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven until well risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and if it’s ready the skewer will come out clean.
  • Let the cake cool for a few minutes in the tin then run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a wire rack.
  • Once the cake is cool enough to handle, break into small crumbs into a large mixing bowl.
  • In a separate smaller mixing bowl, make the frosting that will bind the cake crumbs together. Place the 80g of butter and 160g icing sugar into the bowl and blend the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy.
  • Add the frosting to the cake crumbs and work the frosting into the crumbs until evenly combined. Test your crumbs by taking a tablespoon of mixture in your hands and roll it into a ball, if you get a nice sturdy ball then you’re mixture is ready, if not and it’s still crumbly then make a little more frosting and add to your cake crumbs to ensure you have a firmer consistency.
  • Using a lollipop cake-pop mould, take a spoonful of mixture, roll it into a ball and then press neatly into the mould, repeat with each recess until you have filled all the spaces. Place the filled mould into the freezer for an hour so your cake pops will firm up. Repeat this process if you need to re-use your mould to use up all of your cake mixture. Just pop out the frozen cake pops onto a plate and place back into the freezer until all the cake pops are ready and firm.
  • Remove the cake pops from the freezer and insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of each cake pop until only 13rd is left sticking out of the bottom and place on a large piece of greaseproof paper on your work surface.
  • Melt your preferred chocolate drops in a mug in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted. Once melted add 1/2 tsp of oil to the chocolate and stir to combine. Allow this to cool for a few minutes.
  • Dip each cake pop into the mug of melted chocolate, swirl and coat thoroughly, shaking off any excess chocolate and then place back on the greaseproof paper. Once all the cake pops have been coated in chocolate, leave to set.
  • Make the icing for the decoration by thoroughly mixing the 300g icing sugar and 50ml water together until you have a nice smooth mixture. Fill a piping bag with a small nozzle attachment and decorate your cake pops with your choice of scary halloween shapes and characters.
    If you would like to make a spooky but delicious graveyard scene like we have to display your cake pops, then simply place a pre-made chocolate tray bake (or make your own favourite recipe) on a board or plate, then spoon over cocoa powder to give a soil effect. Insert your cake pops, lollipop stick first into the cake and place mini pumpkins, small skeleton hands, and small branches around to finish the eerie effect.
  • Overall the recipe will make around 16 small lollipop sized cake-pops which will last around 1 week when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Happy Halloween!