For our Game of Thrones viewing party, we wanted to have our cake and eat it, too. Enter: these beheaded Starks cake pops.
Not gonna lie: These require some time, dedication, and a steady hand. But they're worth it!
As an homage to Sansa Stark's favorite treat, the pops are filled with homemade lemon cake.
You can find the from-scratch instructions below, but if you're too crunched for time, sub in cake mix and/or store-bought frosting.
Here's the recipe:
Makes about 15 cake pops
INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cups flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
For the frosting:
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp lemon zest
1½ cup confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 dash of salt
For the decoration:
1 12 oz. bag white candy melts
1 12 oz. bag brown candy melts
1 12 oz. bag pink candy melts
1 12 oz. bag yellow candy melts
1 12 oz. bag black candy melts
1 12 oz. bag red candy melts
15 bamboo sticks
PREPARATION
For the cake
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time, beating in between until well combined. Add lemon zest and lemon juice and combine.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Slowly pour flour mixture into egg and butter mixture, beating constantly until well combined.
Pour batter into buttered 9-inch cake mold. Bake for about 50 minutes (you'll know it's ready when toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.) Set aside to cool down.
For the frosting
In a medium bowl, beat butter and lemon zest.
Add half of the sugar and stir until well combined. Add lemon juice and salt and stir. Add rest of the sugar and stir until smooth.
With a fork, break up your cake into crumbs. Transfer into large mixing bowl and combine with frosting until you reach a consistency where you can easily shape the cake.
Shape cake into balls about the size of a golf ball.
For the decoration
Melt ¼ cup white candy melt according to package instructions. Dip the tip of each bamboo stick into the candy melt and stick a cake ball on that tip. Rest for 10 minutes to let the candy melt harden.
Melt rest of white candy melt and throw a couple chips of pink, yellow, and brown candy melt in it. Stir to melt until well combined. Dip each cake ball into the mixture to coat it smoothly and uniformly.
Let the cake pops set. In the meantime, melt half a cup of red candy melt according to package instructions. It should look like blood, so if it's too light, don't hesitate to add a brown candy melt chip to darken it.
With a piping bag (or a Ziploc bag), pipe the blood dripping from the bottom of the cake pop down the bamboo stick. Let it set and dry out for about 10 minutes.
In a bowl, melt the remaining brown and black candy melts. Stir until well combined. Either with a kitchen brush or a piping bag, draw the hair on the cake pops. With a smaller tool (we used a thin stick) draw the face on the cake pops. Let it dry and harden for about 20 minutes and serve!
For more recipes, find the rest of our Game of Thrones viewing party plan here.
