Name: Top hats
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 2 cup (340g) firmly packed butter cake crumbs; 375 gram white chocolate melts; black food colouring; 9 lollipop or paddle pop sticks; 50 gram ready-made white icing; cornflour; styrofoam block; Butter cream; 60 gram butter, softened; 3/4 cup (120g) icing sugar, sifted; 1 tablespoon milk

Ingredients

2 cup (340g) firmly packed butter cake crumbs

375 gram white chocolate melts

black food colouring

9 lollipop or paddle pop sticks

50 gram ready-made white icing

cornflour

styrofoam block

Butter cream

60 gram butter, softened

3/4 cup (120g) icing sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon milk

Method

1.To make butter cream, beat butter in a small bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually beat in half the icing sugar and beat until as white as possible. Add milk and continue beating, then add remaining icing sugar. Beat until a smooth, spreadable consistency.

2.Grease and line a deep 15cm square cake pan. Using a fork, combine cake crumbs and ¼ cup of the butter cream in a medium bowl. Press mixture evenly into the pan. Cover and freeze 1 hour or refrigerate 3 hours or overnight, until firm.

3.Stir chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water until smooth (don’t let water touch base of bowl). Use black colouring to tint chocolate grey. Pour into a heatproof jug.

4.Use a 3cm cutter to cut 18 rounds from the cake crumb mixture. Join two rounds with a little of the chocolate. Repeat with remaining rounds.

5.Dip the end of one stick into the chocolate; push it through the rounds about halfway into the top round. Freeze cakes for about 5 minutes to set.

6.Dip one cake pop into the grey chocolate, rocking back and forth to coat; don’t swirl the pop, or it’ll break. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into the jug. Stand pop upright in a styrofoam block until set. Repeat with remaining cake pops. Re-melt chocolate as necessary.

7.To make brims for hats, re-melt chocolate and spread about 2mm thick onto a sheet of baking paper. Stand 10 minutes or until almost set. Use a 5cm round cutter to cut 9 rounds from chocolate. Use a metal skewer to pierce a hole through the centre of the rounds (heat skewer if chocolate has hardened); thread brims onto sticks underneath cake. Secure with melted chocolate. Stand upright until set.

8.On a lightly cornflour-dusted surface, knead ready-made icing until icing loses its stickiness. Roll icing on a surface dusted with cornflour until 2mm thick. Cut icing into 9 strips, measuring 1cm x 8cm, or long enough to wrap around the hat. Secure bands to hats with remaining butter cream.

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