‘Pop party’ book review

This is the second Cake pop book by Claire O’Connell from The Pop Bakery. At just 23 she runs a successful cake pop business from her home in West Hampstead, London, creating truly beautiful pops, you know the kind that are too good to eat!

I hadn’t made cake pops before getting my hands on this ‘Pop Party’ book. They’ve been on my to-do list for a while now. I had a fancy dress party to go to on Saturday night so I decided to attempt to make some for that!  This was SO the book to inspire and help me, but more on that tomorrow!

The book

Not only does this book contain the basics on how to make a cake pop, but it also has recipes for some of Claire’s other delicious cakes including Omelie’s chocolate cake, chocolate pistachio ice cream cake and Ruffle cake (this is gorgeous. I must have a go at this one with its delicate layers of soft pink icing)

The cake pops

Each of the cake pops in the book look so cute. So much more detailed than the basic round ball ones we have all seen. There are babies with cute faces, racing cars, pencils, balloons, monkeys, fish, dinosaurs, swans, camels, unicorns, hot dogs, apples, mermaids and so much more.

My favourite designs have to be the mini tiered wedding cakes. They’re absolutely gorgeous hence they make the cover of the book (check it out in my Amazon book shop to the right of this post!). The Cavalier dogs are also really sweet with their big eyes and fluffy ears.  Lastly the ice lollies in bright colours with a bite taken out of them are very sweet (no pun intended!)

The extras

As well as the recipes and inspiration there are examples on how to display your pops as well as decorations to really create a party atmosphere. There’s a how-to on making paper roses, drink parasols, cake bunting as well as instructions on how to make a tiered display stand from polystyrene. The stand is really clever as it means the cake pops will stand up perfectly and not get damaged in transit. I made one for my cake pops.

This is the kind of book that you just can’t help but flick through and want to make absolutely everything in it. It’s beautifully shot, and incredibly pretty and Clare makes it all look so effortless (it’s not- believe me, she’s seriously talented!) I found her tips and ideas made my first attempt at cake pops a whole lot easier.

Right I’m off now to by her other book Pop Bakery now. I can’t get enough of them!

enjoy!