Nutella Cake Pops

Last year I received more than a few requests from my lovely readers for posting more kid loving recipes and I was happy to oblige. So, I asked my friend’s kids what they love to eat the most. What I figured from their answers was that they would enjoy anything that is small, easy to hold, can be dipped and popped into their mouths. The very first thing that came to mind was cake pops. Don’t we all love  cake pops? I am not sure why it took me so long to post this, but I am glad I am finally doing this. Cake pops are the cutest bite sized treats with big on taste Not only are they fun to eat, they are fun to make as well and a great way to use up leftover cake. The process may be time consuming but all in all (the rewards) they are well worth the effort.

Most recipes call for a boxed cake, store bought frosting and shiny decorative sugar and colorful sprinkles. Well, they do look very pretty but often contain hidden gluten. I like doing things from scratch and from ingredients that are readily available in average supermarket.

These cake pops are made from a sponge cake to which I added a frosting made of nutella and cream cheese. Sponge cake yields better texture cake balls and gives you control to use various flavored binders. I love the balance of flavor, the slightly tangy cream cheese  is a great match with rich sweetness of nutella.  I added all the frosting little by little because my cake was dry. If you have a moist cake, add 3/4 of frosting and go from there. You want a play dough like texture that you can roll into a ball. Using a melon ball scooper make mounds of equal size . If you don’t have a scoop use 3/4 tbsp of the dough.  Then roll each mound into a firm ball, place it on a cookie sheet  I got about 20 balls. Cover with plastic wrap and stuck in the refrigerator for few hours to harden.

While the cake balls are in the refrigerator,  get your decorating ingredients ready. I used unsweetened fine coconut, finely chopped pistachios, citrus candied peel and cake mate sprinkles. Canadian made cake mate sprinkles are gluten-free, dairy-Free, peanut-free and can be bought at any grocery store.

After chilling, it is time for dipping the cake balls. Candy melts are the most popular choice of coating used for cake pops as they are more consistent and do not need to be tempered. I prefer to use Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips because they are easily available anytime. A house with kids is unthinkable without chocolate chips.  Their coating is not as shiny and fancy but tastes pretty good.  To melt chocolate chips either use microwave or a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler like me, use a pyrex bowl and set it on top of a saucepan. There should be enough space for an air gap between the bowl and boiling water.

First you dip the lollypop stick in the melted chocolate and push it into the cake ball and put them in the refrigerator for little while. Once your cake balls have set up, it’s time to get to dipping! Reheat the chocolate for few seconds. While holding the lollipop stick, submerge the cake ball into the melted chocolate. Work quickly. Lift the cake ball out of the melts in a swirling motion or give it a gentle shake. While the coating is still wet  decorate your cake pops. You can either sprinkle by hand or dip it in the sprinkles.

When it comes to storing these cake pops, you need to keep them in the  refrigerator until ready to serve because chocolate chip coating won’t  crisp as much at room temperature. They can be easily stored in the fridge for one week.

Cake pops look simple to make but can sometimes be a challenge. I am no expert cake pop maker but here are some Quick helpful notes for you that I learned the hard way from sites like Bakerella, Wilton and  joy of baking.

• Crumble your cake with your hands or use a grater. Using a food processor or blender, sometimes make it mushy and clumpy.
• Cut the outer edges from your cake if they are too hard or else they will create lumps inside your pops.

• Avoid using cakes that contain fruit or are extremely moist, because when you add frosting the texture can become gooey.

• Don’t use too much frosting as it will make your cake balls too soft that won’t maintain their shape. Add frosting a little at a time until it binds together.

• The amount of frosting you add will vary based on the moisture of your cake recipe. You want your mixture just moist enough to roll into balls.

• Keep your cake balls small or else they will fall off the stick.

• Melt chocolate chips on low heat, stirring occasionally. The consistency of the melted chips is usually thick. Adding  coconut oil or vegetable shortening makes it smooth, shiny and thin, but not runny.  If you add too much oil it will weaken the chocolate and take much longer time to set. To see if your chocolate is fluid enough, scoop some up with a spoon and let it fall back into your bowl. It should fall back in a steady stream. If the chocolate is too thick and plops back into the bowl, you can adjust the consistency by adding a little oil.

• Use a deep and narrow bowl to hold your dipping chocolate. This is done so the cake pops can be fully submerged in the candy melts when dipped.

• Dip your sticks in chocolate then insert into chilled cake balls. Decide if you want your cake pops to have the stick facing down or up. Once all the cake balls have chocolate dipped sticks in them return to the refrigerator for at least 15-20 minutes.

• Dip the balls (one by one) into the melted chocolate chips until it is all the way covered (you may use the spoon to cover the entire cake pop), then quickly pull up. Hold the coated pop over the bowl at a 45 degree angle, and rotate it slowly. You can gently tap on your hand or wrist while rotating to shake off the excess chocolate.  Do not tap the stick on the edge of the bowl. Doing so will risk your cake pop to fall off.

• Place your sprinkling decor in wide bowls or plates to catch falling sprinkles while decorating. Put them back in the fridge for final setting, once you have decorated.

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My friend’s daughter

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