I made these cake pops (and cupcakes) for our New Year’s Eve supper with friends – but I think they would be lovely for any special occasion involving champagne! I also hadn’t made cake pops since moving to Paris, so it had been way too long without these sweet little treats. Here’s how to make them:
INGREDIENTS
24 vanilla cupcakes (I used
this
recipe, halved)
1 ½ cups sugar
3/4 cup champagne + 2 teaspoons
3 egg whites
2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
500 grams white chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
12 cake pop sticks (6″ long)
DIRECTIONS
Remove the liners from 12 of the cupcakes, and crumble the cake into a bowl; set aside.
Make the champagne buttercream:
Combine the sugar and 3/4 cup of champagne in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high until boiling. Continue to cook until syrupy – it should drip off of a spoon a little more slowly than a liquid. Reserve 1/2 cup of the syrup, and use the remaining syrup for the next step.
Meanwhile, whip the egg whites on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer, until frothy. When the syrup is ready, pour the syrup into the egg whites in a steady stream, with the mixer going. Continue to mix until thick, glossy meringue has formed, and the bowl has returned to room temperature (about five minutes).
Cut the butter into small pieces, and begin adding them to the meringue mixture, a couple of pieces at a time, mixing on medium-high speed. Continue until all the butter has been added. (It may begin to look a little curdled as you keep adding butter, but don’t worry, just keep mixing!). Finally, mix in the remaining two teaspoons of champagne, and the vanilla. Set the buttercream aside.
Form the cake pops:
Add the reserved champagne syrup to the crumbled cake, one tablespoon at a time. Mix the crumbs and syrup together with the back of a wooden spoon, until the mixture becomes moist enough to form into shapes (I used about 4 tablespoons of syrup). I shaped the mixture into 12 cylinder shapes. Place the cake-balls into the fridge for about an hour.
Dip the cake pops:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler; stir in the vegetable oil. Dip each stick into the melted chocolate (about 1 cm into the chocolate), and insert halfway into the cake-balls. Return to the fridge for about 10 minutes, until the sticks are secure.
Immerse each pop, one at a time, into the melted chocolate. Don’t stir it around! The chocolate needs to be deep enough to fully dip the pop into. To remove the excess chocolate, rotate the stick with your right hand, while gently tapping your right hand with your left hand (or vice versa if you’re left-handed!) – this will help the excess chocolate fall away easily, without knocking the pop off the stick.
Place each dipped pop, cake-down, onto a piece of parchment (or alternatively, stick-down into a piece of styrofoam). Add sprinkles, and let them sit until the chocolate coating has set.
Finishing touches:
Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. On a cake stand or serving tray, pipe rosettes about one inch in diameter. Place a cake pop into each rosette, and serve!
Also, at this point, you’ve got 12 remaining cupcakes, and lots of champagne buttercream! Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes, and add a few sprinkles.
Oh! And don’t forget the champagne :)
