Kids' birthday cake ideas: Fairy cake pops

Materials:

• baked and cooled cake
• icing (buttercream, cream cheese-based, or storebought frosting)
• candy melts
• chewy candies like Starburst or fruit leather
• mini butterfly and flower cookie cutters
• lollipop sticks
• Styrofoam block
• candy for decorations

Directions:

1. Blend a cooled cake in a food processor until finely crumbled. Assemble candy melts, lollipop sticks, icing and cake crumbs.

2. Stir the icing into the cake crumbs until the mixture becomes pliable. With damp hands, roll the mixture into balls. Insert one end of the popsicle stick into a cake ball, and the other end upright into a Styrofoam block. Refrigerate until the cake balls are firm.

3. Dip the firm cake pops into melted, liquefied candy melts. Rotate to completely coat them. Reinsert the pops into the Styrofoam block and refrigerate again until firm.

4. Assemble various colours of fruit chews, taffy candy, mini M&Ms, candy-coated licorice alongside some small butterfly and flower cookie cutters.

5. Warm up the fruit chews and taffy candy on a plate by placing them in the microwave for no more than five seconds, or just until pliable. Thinly roll out the softened candy between two sheets of parchment paper and cut out some shapes.

6. To make the blossoms, stick a mini M&M into the centre of a warmed flower. Gently pull up the petals. To make the butterflies, stick a tiny piece of licorice into the mid-section of the warmed butterfly. Gently pull up butterfly wings. Attach to cake pops using liquified candy melts. Let them cool before you serve them to your guests.

Check out our fairy birthday party—these sweets compliment it magically.

A version of this article appeared in the May 2014 issue of Today's Parent.

See more of our DIY birthday cake ideas here>

For more cake pop help check out this video: