Cake pops made in the Thermomix® have been our go-to for children’s birthday parties for years. We bake a single chocolate sponge in a loaf tin, crumble it completely and bind the crumbs with melted white chocolate into a mouldable mixture. From that we shape 20 balls, push them onto lolly sticks and coat them in fondant.
The football design is just one of many options. We have made these cake pops as snowmen at Christmas, as flowers for Mother’s Day and simply covered in colourful sprinkles for last-minute celebrations. The base recipe stays the same every time.
Football Cake Pops with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 8 ✓
- 400 g flour
- 100 g sugar
- 20 g cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 5 eggs
- 250 g butter + extra for the tin
- 200 g black fondant
- 300 g white chocolate
- 500 g white fondant
Instructions 0 / 10
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1
Grease the tin.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (fan 160 °C, gas mark 2-3). Grease a loaf tin with butter.
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2
Mix the batter.
Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs and butter into the mixing bowl and mix for 30 sec / speed 5.
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3
Bake the batter.
Fill the batter into the loaf tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Rinse the mixing bowl.
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4
Roll out the fondant.
Meanwhile, roll out the black fondant and cut out pentagons roughly 0.7 cm across.
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5
Leave the cake to cool.
Remove the cake from the oven, leave it to cool a little, then turn it out of the tin.
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6
Melt the chocolate.
Break the white chocolate into pieces, place in the mixing bowl, chop for 5 sec / speed 6, then melt for 3 min / 50°C / speed 2. Dip each lolly stick 1.5 to 2 cm into the chocolate.
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7
Crumble the cake.
Crumble the baked cake. Add the crumbs to the mixing bowl with the chocolate and mix for 20 sec / kneading mode.
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8
Shape the cake pops.
Roll the chocolate cake mixture into balls roughly 3 cm across, push them onto the lolly sticks and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
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9
Decorate the cake pops.
Cover the balls with white fondant. Roll the fondant out 2 to 3 mm thick, cut out circles with a cutter, wrap them around the cake pops and neaten the edges towards the stick. Press the pentagons of black fondant onto the surface in a staggered pattern to create a football design.
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10
Serve the cake pops.
Keep the finished football cake pops in the fridge until ready to serve.
Tip: To let the cake pops dry in the fridge, push the sticks into a piece of polystyrene so the balls do not touch each other.
Nutrition per serving
Why chocolate binds the cake crumbs
The chopped white chocolate melts at 50 °C on speed 2 in 3 minutes. As soon as we add the cake crumbs and mix on kneading mode for 20 seconds, the liquid chocolate coats every last crumb. As it cools, the chocolate sets again and turns the loose crumbs into a compact mass that can be shaped into balls. Without this binding the cake pops would fall apart.
30 minutes in the fridge is essential
After shaping, the balls need at least 30 minutes in the fridge. During that time the chocolate sets completely. If we take the cake pops out too early, they slide off the stick when being wrapped in fondant or lose their shape when handled. We push the sticks into a piece of polystyrene during the chilling time so the balls do not stick to each other.
Rolling out and neatening the fondant
The white fondant is rolled out 2 to 3 mm thick. Using a round cutter, we cut out circles large enough to wrap around a ball completely. We press the edges together at the stick and smooth them flat. For the football pattern, we cut small pentagons from black fondant and press them onto the white surface in a staggered arrangement. The fondant sticks by itself when it is fresh. If it becomes too dry, we moisten the spots with a drop of water.
Ball size affects how well the stick holds
The balls should not be more than 3 cm in diameter. If they are too large, the weight becomes too great and the stick will not hold. We dip each stick 1.5 to 2 cm into the melted chocolate before pushing it in. The chocolate sets and bonds the stick to the ball. This only works if the ball is not too heavy.
Cocoa powder instead of milk chocolate in the batter
We use unsweetened cocoa powder in the batter, not milk chocolate. The cocoa gives the dark colour and chocolate flavour without making the batter too sweet. The sweetness comes later from the white chocolate we use to bind the crumbs, and from the fondant. If the batter itself were already very sweet, the finished cake pops would taste too sweet once decorated.
Until ready to serve
We keep the finished cake pops in the fridge until ready to serve. They will keep there for up to 3 days. The fondant stays firm when stored cold and does not crack. If we leave the cake pops at room temperature, the chocolate inside the balls softens and the fondant can come away.
More Thermomix® recipes for children’s birthday parties: Birthday cake, Muffins, Cupcakes.
