Based on The Legend of Zelda “Breath of the Wild”
Yield: ~25 Cake Pops |Prep time: 2 hours | Cook time: 26 min. | Total time: 6-7 hours (includes chilling and cooling)
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (31g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120mll) canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) hot water
Chocolate Frosting
- 6 Tablespoons (86g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 2-3 teaspoons heavy cream or milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cake Pop Coating
- 32 ounces vanilla-flavoredwhiteand/or light greencandy melts (I bought one bag of each and mixed the two colors in a 1:1 ratio) orcoating (or pure white chocolate)
- Optional: Peppermint oil (I used this)
- Small, pointed paint brush (preferably one specifically made for food decorating, as the bristles are more secure and won’t come off into the cake pops’ coating)
- Wilton Color Dust Food Decorative, Spruce Green
- Wilton Color Mist Food Color Spray, Silver
- Wilton Color Mist Food Color Spray, Gold
- Optional: Wilton Color Mist Food Color Spray, Black (I did not use this, but I should have!)
Master Sword Sticks
- Wilton 6” Lollipop Sticks
- Tape or Hot Glue
- Scissors
- ~48 cut-out 5×7 images of the Master Sword from Breath of the Wild– I altered/used this image and had 16 total prints (16 x 3 images per print = 48 total images) printed on matte 5×7 photo paper:Above image rendered by Lukegr (at Imgur ©) from Nintendo ©original image –https://goo.gl/images/ZULcCf
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch pan (round or square) or 9-inch springform pan (I used butter).
Make the cake:
- Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a medium bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the hot water, and whisk everything together until combined. Make sure there are no pockets of dry ingredients hiding.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before crumbling.
Make the frosting:
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. If you are using a mixer with regular beaters and don’t have a paddle attachment, simply beat for less time – about 1 minute. This isn’t a lot of butter and it will get stuck on the sides of the bowl, so you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to really help get it creamed.
- Add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons of heavy cream/milk, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low.
- Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until it really comes together. Add another teaspoon of milk/cream if it looks a little too thick.
Make and shape the cake pops:
- Crumble the cooled cake into the bowl on top of the frosting. Make sure there are no large lumps.
- Turn the mixer on low and beat the frosting and cake crumbles together until combined.
- Measure 1-2 Tablespoons of moist cake/frosting mixture and shape into small triangles (with a mold, cookie cutter, or otherwise).
- Place triangles on a lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 2 hours (or longer) or freeze for 1 hour.
**Make-ahead tip: I made the cake triangles without coating 1 day ahead of time. Cover and keep in the refrigerator. You can store the undipped cake balls in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze them for up to 6 weeks. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator then continue with coating them. You can also freeze the finished cake pops for up to 6 weeks once the coating has fully set. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Coat the cake triangles:
- Melt the coating (candy melts) in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup (best for dunking). Use a microwave (or you can use a double boiler and pour some at a time into the liquid measuring cup). To do this, simply put the candy melts (as mentioned, I used a 1:1 ratio of light green and white melts) into the measuring cup/bowl and put into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals of 30-second microwaving.
- Optional: After all candy melts are completely melted with no clumps, add just a couple drops of peppermint oil at a time and stir. Taste the mixture before adding more peppermint oil (it can be very strong!).
- Let the coating cool down for a few minutes before you begin dipping! If it’s too hot when you dip, the coating will crack.
- Remove only 2-3 cake triangles from the refrigerator at a time. (Keep the rest cold!)
- Dip a lollipop stick about 1/2 inch into the coating, then insert into the center of the cake triangle. Only push it about halfway – 3/4 through the cake triangle.
- Dip the cake triangle into the coating until it is completely covered. Make sure the coating covers the base of the cake triangle where it meets the lollipop stick to ensure it will stay put without sliding off.
- Very gently tap the stick against the edge of the measuring cup to allow excess coating to drop off.
- Place into an upside-down strainer, hole-poked styrofoam block, or box with holes poked into it, making sure not to let the cake triangles touch each other to let the coating dry evenly.
- Repeat with remaining cake triangles, only working with some out of the refrigerator at a time. The cake balls must be very cold when dipping!
- Coating will set within an hour.
Decorate the triangles:
- Take the Silver Food Color Spray and make short bursts of spray at the cake triangles, one at a time or all at once.
- Repeat with the Gold Food Color Spray, but in different areas of the triangles.
- Use the Black Food Color Spray lightly, again in short bursts, this time only at the base of one side of the triangle and perhaps at the back of the top (behind the stick) to create the old, shadowed look of the Master Sword’s base (Note: Again, I did not do this, but I am convinced the Master Swords’ base would have looked much more realistic if I had!).
- Use the small, pointed food painting brush for the accents. Dip the paint brush in a small cup of water to get a tiny amount of water, and dip into the Spruce Green Color Dust. Paint thin lines around the top of the coated cake triangles to outline the edges, and then one single line, or two parallel lines, down the middle of the edge of the triangle pointing forward. This will create a more realistic-looking, triangular base for the Master Sword.
- Let dry for ~5-10 minutes.
Create the final Master Sword with base:
- Use 2 cut-out Master Sword Images per cake pop stick. Snip off the end of each sword (about 1/2-1 inch from the bottom) to fit the cake pops.
- Line the two images up on each side of the stick with the stick upright (with cake triangles sitting on a flat surface).
- Tape or glue the two images together around the cake pop sticks.
- Store cake pops in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Recipe Notes:
*You can use candy coating/candy melts, almond bark, or pure semi-sweet chocolate. If using almond bark or pure chocolate, chop it up before melting. Melt it down with 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to thin out so it’s easier to use as a coating. Bittersweet, white chocolate, or milk chocolate work as well. Coarsely chop and melt down with 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to thin out. Keep warm over a double boiler. You can also temper pure chocolate for the coating.
References:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2018/02/01/chocolate-cake-pops/print/