I don't think that cake pops need any special introduction. For me they are are a parents friendly way of measuring out your kids' sugar intake. One after lunch and maybe one more because they look at me really nicely and said that they are soooooo good :)  Still these can be really sweet. So my mind goes into overdrive. There must be a more kid friendly out there. The idea is to replace the middle of the pop with fresh fruit. My trusty friend Pinterest doesn't yield many results, which is surprising given the number of cake pop pins floating around there. Google isn't any better. Well I guess I'll have to be the test bunny (buhuhu ... not).

Select a fruit and cut it into appropriately sized pieces. I tried it with strawberries and bananas and both worked fine. You can also use whole strawberries, but choose smaller ones, otherwise your cake pops will be way too big and might fall off the stick.

Cut the fruit into rounds and then cut them into quarters or thirds. This should give you a decent sized base for the cake pops. Make the cake pop mix, which for me is some leftover chocolate cake, mixed with melted dark chocolate an mascarpone cheese. I am usually just eyeballing it with the ingredient amounts. If the mix falls apart in you hand, add more mascarpone or melted chocolate. If you can make a ball in your hand, the mix is just fine. If it feels too sticky, add more cake. Measure out the mix in your hand, make it into a ball and smash it down like a pancake. Place a piece of fruit on the pancake and then fold it around the fruit, making it into a ball. Roll it around you palms to seal any holes. Let the pops cool in the fridge.

Finish the cake pops as usual, first melting some chocolate, dipping a stick into it and securing it into the pop. Be more careful with the banana filled ones, since banana is more soft than strawberry or usual cake pop mix. Dip the cake pops into the chocolate and decorate. 

If you are feeling extra creative, use those whole strawberries and don't make the pops into balls, but instead just follow the natural shape of the strawberry, which will result in a cone shaped pop. This is a perfect base for a rose, since it is the same shape as a rose bud. The petals are made with white chocolate ganache using  ratio of 3 : 1 for chocolate : cream and a petal piping tip.

This is how this beauty looks from the inside ... mmmmm. It is not just healthier, but for my taste, it is definitely a more tasty version of the regular cake pop. I'll be definitely making these for my kids' next birthday.

cake pops chocolate fruit kids summer

julij 21, 2016

Sweet little minions are perfect for a minion themed party!

The eyes and the ruffled hair need to be prepared a day in advance. The hair is made from modelling chocolate by shaping the chocolate into a tear drop shape and cutting the tip into 3 to 4 strands using small scissors.

Eyes are made out of fondant. Roll out the white fondant and cut out small circles with cutters.

Then use a smaller cutter to make a circle print into the fondant so that it looks like the eyes have goggles.

Paint the rim with silver food colour and finish by drawing a brown pupil.

I made the eyes in two sizes; bigger ones for minions with one eye and smaller ones for minions with two eyes. I needed 15 large eyes and 30 small eyes to make 30 minions altogether.

The next day, it is time to start to make the actual minions. The cake pops mix is almost always may way of using the leftover of previous cakes, that have been frozen and defrosted when needed. This time I had some Liz's chocolate cake laying in the fridge, which I combined with melted dark chocolate and mascarpone. The pops were larger than usual, approx. 30 g each. Instead of shaping them into balls, I shaped them to be a bit longer, like cylinders and let them cool in the fridge. As per usual I then dipped the cake pop stick into melted chocolate and stuck the minion on top and let it set. Minions were then dipped into melted white chocolate which was gently dyed yellow. Actually I could have dyed it a little more yellow, but I always have this fear of white chocolate seizing on me.

Before the chocolate sets, add the hair and the eyes.

It is best to draw the mouth with a toothpick, but only after the chocolate has partially set and before it has set fully, so you gotta pick your timing. To soon and the chocolate will be too runny to draw, too late and the chocolate will be too hard.

Once the chocolate is fully set, melt some dark chocolate and fill a piping bag. Cut only a small hole in the bag to first pipe the hair on those minions that are still bald and then make the hole a bit larger to pipe the goggle band around the head.

cake pops chocolate minions

januar 09, 2016