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

Although I am not a big fan of Valentine's day, this year I decided on a Valentine's theme, since it was weekend anyway and I was baking as usual. It was also a chance to try this heart design on a cake that I saw on pinterest. 

For the hearts:
1 egg
30 g sugar
40 g flour
20 g butter
food colouring

For the roll dough:
2 eggs
60 g sugar
40 g flour
10 g corn flour
40 g butter
pinch of salt

For the filling:
340 g greek yogurt
250 g mascarpone
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp of confectioners sugar
fruit of your choice

Ingredients are enough for one baking sheet (mine is 30 cm x 37 cm), but the dough will not be very thick. If you like it thicker, than add an egg and increase the other ingredients by a third.

Separate one egg and save the egg yolk for later. Mix the egg white with the sugar and flour to get a thick batter.

Mix in the softened butter and in the end a bit of food colouring. Put the batter into a decorating bag with a small round tip or just cut the tip of the decorating bag.

The smaller the tip, the easier is to be more precise and the hearts will look more beautiful. My tip was a bit too large and the hearts came out less neat. Yeah well, it will be better the next time... Hearts are easy to pipe freehand, but if you find it easier just put a stencil under the baking paper.

Put the pied hearts into the freezer for an hour or so. You only need to pipe a half of sheet of hearts, enough to cover the outside of the roll.

For the rol dough mix the flour, corn flour and salt in a bowl. Put the sugar and the eggs, together with the egg yolk, saved from before, into a heat proof bowl and set it over a pot of boiling water. Mix the eggs over the steam, so that the sugar dissolves completely and the eggs become luke warm.

Pour the mixture into the mixer bowl and beat at high speed for 5 minutes. The mixture will rise significantly and lighten in colour. Add the flour mixture and fold in carefully.

Melt the butter and ti it in the batter until fully incorporated.

Heat the oven to 200° C. Take out the frozen hearts and pour the batter over them and spread it gently over the sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes.

Once baked, immediately and carefully (! really carefully the cake is really delicate) remove the baking paper and set the sheet cake dough on a kitchen towel  and roll it, so that the heart print is on the outside.

Use a real Greek yogurt for the filing since it is thick and you will not need gelatin for the filling.

Mix the yogurt, mascarpone and vanilla bean seeds with a spoon of sugar (or more if preferred). Take the sheet cake from the towel and spread  the filling over the sheet cake. Add chunks of you favourite fruit (in my cake apricots) and roll back into a roll.

cake roll fruit greek yogurt hearts

marec 18, 2016