Cake Pops – Chocolate with Cream Cheese Frosting

My best friend, Buggie, hosts an Oscar viewing party each year. This year her theme was “Cartoons” in honor of the nominated best-picture film, Up. Had I not been super busy trying to get things in order before leaving on a week-long business trip I might have tried to fashion a costume. Instead, I decided to tackle cake pops since I figured I could make them look like balloons (and thus not shirking my themeing duties).  I have never made cake pops, but they seemed a perfect fit for the event, so here they are. Now I think the popularity of the cake pop phenomenon can be attributed to Bakerella, but she uses boxed cake mix and canned frosting and I was worried about creating lollipop-sized sugar bombs. So I made the cake and frosting from scratch and limited the sugar to keep the sweetness factor in check. The cake is adapted from Smitten Kitchen and the frosting is from Martha Stewart.  The cake pop technique is all Bakerella with a helping of Pioneer Women.

These were wildly popular, probably the most requested thing I have ever made…so beware if you attempt these!

Marci’s Up Cake Pops with Chocolate Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting:

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
~1/3 cup plus of semisweet chocolate (or 3 oz)
~1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
~2 1/2 cups sugar
~2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
~1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
~2 teaspoons baking soda
~3/4 teaspoon baking powder
~1 1/4 teaspoons salt
~3 large eggs
~3/4 cup vegetable oil
~1 1/2 cups greek yogurt
~3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Double Chocolate Layer Cake

FROSTING
~8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
~8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
~1 cup confectioners’ sugar
~2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
~1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

SHELL / DECOR
~Assorted colors of candy melts or bark white chocolate combined with food coloring
~Lollipop sticks
~Styrofoam block

DIRECTIONS

CAKE
Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease a 9×13 in. pan.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, yogurt, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Pour batter into the pan and tap in the counter a few times to release air bubble. Bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool cake completely in pan on a rack. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert back onto the rack. Cake may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

FROSTING
Whip butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer until light and fluffy (about five minutes). Slowly, tablespoon by tablespoon add powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and milk and be sure to scrape down the sides. Keep adding sugar until desired consistency.  Set aside until cake cools.

ASSEMBLY AND DECOR
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl with a fork or pastry blender.
2. Mix thoroughly with frosting.
3. Roll cake mixture into bite-sized balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Makes 45-50)
4. Chill for several hours. You can speed this up by putting in the freezer. But this step is KEY, cake balls are much easier to coat when chilled.
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package, but do it in batches to avoid it getting too thick to use.
6. Stick a lollipop stick in the melted candy and insert into the cake ball.
7. Dip into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.
8. Place in a styrofoam block to dry.
9. Chomp.

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