Sticky Date Cake Pops

Sticky date cake pops are a lovely alternative to the usual sponge ones. I’ve re-created a British dessert and given it a Halloween twist, so you and your little witches and wizards can enjoy something different.

You can decorate them with Halloween colours or whatever toppings take your fancy. They’re fun little treats to put out at a party. I do rather like a recipe where the decorating is as much of the attraction as the eating.

Sticky Date Cake Pops Recipe

Makes about 30 pops. You’ll need a cake pop mould, and sticks if you want to serve them that way.

Ingredients

• 85g dates, pitted
• 85ml boiling water
• 25g butter
• 1 medium egg
• 35g golden syrup
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 65g demerara sugar
• 75g self-raising flour
• 2 × 340g bags of candy melts
• Extra butter and flour for preparing the mould
• Decorations

Method

Whisk together the butter, sugar, golden syrup, egg and flour.

Soak the dates in the water. Let that cool sufficiently for your food processor, then blitz the dates with the soaking water. A sealed blender and boiling water are not a good combination.

Add the date purée and bicarbonate of soda to the cake mixture and mix through.

Butter and flour the cake pop mould. Using a teaspoon, add mixture to the bottom half — the half without the holes. Fill each little cavity to the top of that half. Once the top half is fitted, there’s room for the cakes to rise.

Give the mould a gentle shake, then bake in a preheated oven at 160°C conventional, or about 140°C fan, for around 25 minutes. Check the cakes are cooked; different mould sizes can change the timing.

Cooling And Decorating

Wait 10–15 minutes before you remove the top of the mould. Take it off too soon and the cakes can break. Remove the pops carefully and let them get completely cold before coating.

Melt the candy melts as directed on their packet. Dip the cakes and put them on a lined tray to set. Get the decorations on quickly, while the coating will still hold them.

For pops on sticks, secure the stick in a cold cake with a little of the coating before dipping. Leave them supported until set. Use age-appropriate decorations and let an adult deal with the oven and hot coating.

Then wrap them or put them out for everyone to enjoy. A sticky date cake in a Halloween disguise — it’s no trick!

For the savoury side of a party, try my cheese straws. There are also Halloween things to do in Kent if you’d like to make a day of it.