Lalaloopsy Cake Pops {Tutorial}

Get ready for the cutest cake pop tutorial! I adore Lalaloopsy dolls and so excited to introduce my newest contributor and talented cake pop maker, Sam from Evie & Mallow!!! I love her cake pop creations and very happy to have Sam join the Living Locurto Creative Team!

Today, Sam will walk you through step-by-step instructions on how to make Lalaloopsy Cake Pops. Whether you are a beginner cake pop maker or just like to eat them, you’ll love these sweet treats!

Hi everyone! It’s Sam from Evie & Mallow. I don’t think I can put into words just how excited I am! People have been asking me for months for a tutorial on how to make my Lalaloopsy cake pops. It’s an honour and a privilege that Amy has given me the opportunity to share it with you on Living Locurto. Please bare with me as this is my very first tutorial. I hope you enjoy it!

Although these pops aren’t too tricky, they are pretty time consuming. You’re going to want to make sure you have all of your supplies ready and in front of you before you begin.

What you’ll need:

TOOLS

• Very sharp exacto knife – for shaving down imperfections and making the overall surface area of your pop smooth.
• Scribe (*optional) or toothpick – for poking out air bubbles in your chocolate
• The “pointy” gumpaste tool – for making hair lines
• Wilton “Fabric” mold or button mold – for the eyes. Pre make all of the eyes the day before, or a few hours before you start.
• Bow Mold – The majority of them have bows in their hair, so you may want to invest in a cute bow mold.

When you look at the dolls, you’ll notice that they have 3 types of hair:

Curls or side ponytails. For these you’ll need CANDY NECKLACE pieces.

Spikey hair on top of their heads. MIKE AND IKES are perfect for this type of hair. Good and Plenty are also good, but I don’t like the taste, so I choose the Mike and Ikes.

Long hair or braids. It took me A LOT of experimenting to get this hair right. I finally found that sour straw candy work the absolute best. Other good choices are pull apart twizzlers, tootsie rolls (softened and molded into “hair”) and of course fondant if you choose to not use candy.

For the cheeks, you can choose to make your own out of fondant (which is very easy),

or you can buy a bottle of WILTON JUMBO CONFETTI (but you’ll only need the pink ones, so make sure you have enough!)

Lastly, some have flowers in their hair or stars on their face, etc., so make sure you pay attention to the details and have what you need before you begin. Trust me, I’ve learned from experience!

Alright, so now that you have everything all set, lets start!

Grab a handful of COLD cake pop dough…and I mean a handful. Roll it into a VERY compact oval. Use your thumb and forefinger as a guide.

The ball is usually the size of the palm of your hand when you’re done.

The reason why they’re so big is because they need to be in proportion to the eyes you’ve made (using the Wilton mold). If you’re using a different button mold, your ball could be bigger or smaller. Place the eyes (and cheeks) on the ball to make sure they look right.

When inserting the stick, hold the ball in the palm of your hand so you can feel how far in the stick is going. These pops are very heavy, so you want to make sure the sticks are ¾ of the way through.

If at this point, your cake pop dough is not cold, put them in the fridge until they are cold to the touch. If the dough is warm, they will fall off the stick. I always dip my pops cold (contrary to the cold vs. room temp debate that people have) If they crack, they crack (and I’ll tell you right now, these ones WILL). I’d rather fix a crack than have an unusable blob of cake in a bowl of chocolate.

Now for dipping.

You don’t want to hold these pops upside down and lift out. They’re too heavy. What works best for me is to “lay” them into the melts, dipping the front, push them down a little bit, then turn them over and repeat for the back.

Each person typically has their own way of shaking off excess chocolate. If you have your own style that you’re comfortable with, by all means, please stick to whatever works best for you.

With these particular pops, I shake the stick back and forth on the bowl to get as much off as I can (I myself am not a “tapper”), then hold them upright and wiggle them from side to side to even out and settle the chocolate.

Put them in the fridge to harden and cool.

After the first dip, they don’t look pretty. LOL

The colour will be uneven (I always double dip and sometimes triple dip if I’m not happy with the colour consistency). Now is the time to repair any cracks

.

Take a small amount of coating and put it along the crack. You can use a toothpick, pipe it on or use your finger. Rub the chocolate INTO the crack and let it harden. Don’t put it in the fridge. Once it’s set, take your exacto knife and scrape (with the side of the blade) the bumps and rough edges down. Continue to smooth the rest of the pop by rubbing it with your thumb. The heat of your hand will slightly warm up the chocolate and “polish” the pop.

Put them back in the fridge until cold to the touch.

Take them out and wait 5 minutes and dip again. When the pop is wet this time, add the eyes, cheeks and any detail that is on the face (ie: stars, etc).

Don’t be afraid to move them around a bit if you put them in the wrong place, however be careful…they’ll slide around, so be patient before you stand them up to dry.

Now onto the hair.

Dip the top of the pop (almost to the eyes), lift up, give a little shake (to get off the excess), turn right side up, give a little shake (to settle the melts). Dip one side, then the other.

Adhere whatever candy you’re using for hair. Each piece needs to be attached one piece at a time and held in place (about 10-20 seconds) until you can let go and it doesn’t move. If the hair dries before you can attach all of your candy pieces, just dip the candy bit in the chocolate, then attach it to the pop.

Once all the candy is firmly attached, (of course, after putting them in the fridge), it’s time to cover the candy with more coating.

You can do this by dipping, or by simply spooning the chocolate over the candy whilst you hold the pop on an angle over the bowl. You be the judge on how you’d like to do their hair (ie: for Rosy Bumps N Bruises, I pipe chocolate over the candy, let it harden and do it again.

For Blossom Flower Pot, I leave the candy un-coated). Try to be neat completing this step as you may not be covering it up.

You’ll notice that the back of the heads are not at all cute.

Smooth the bumps down with your exacto knife, again like you did when fixing your cracks, then cover with a coating of chocolate using the back of a spoon.

Next, add the details to the face. Pipe a “criss-cross” on the inside of the eyes (to complete the button look)as well as a “stitched” mouth.

Lastly, use your “pointy fondant tool” to scrape away some of the chocolate to make hair lines (if that’s the look on the doll you’re doing), or pipe the hair detail and add your bows/flowers etc.

That’s it! Congrats! You did it!!

Take a step back, look at the little works of art you’ve created and give yourself a pat on the back.

I hope that I have taught you something and answered some of the questions you may have had.

I know that some of these steps may be unnecessary, but I’m a teeeensy bit of a perfectionist and this is what I’ve found has worked for me (after A LOT of trial and error). After you’ve done a few of them, you’ll find your groove and come up with some of your own tricks and short cuts.

You may surprise yourself…I know I did!

Sam is a mom of two, (Evan 4, (the “Evie”) and Molly 3 (the “Mallow”), who inspired her company’s name, Evie & Mallow. This former photographer and crafter from Toronto, Ontario made her first cake pop 3 years ago for her daughter’s birthday and hasn’t stopped since! You’ll find her laugh contagious, a Diet Pepsi in her hand and on Facebook here.

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