Daring Bakers April Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

When I saw that this month’s recipe was for cheesecake I was a little worried, mostly due to my lack of experience making it. However this recipe was for cupcake pops and who doesn’t love food on a stick? And as luck would have it, about a week before I heard about this mission I had offered to make cheesecake as a birthday treat for my husband’s coworker, Angela. It was official; this mission would be made just for her. Yay!

The day I started to make this began innocently enough. Everything was going well until step one; I tried to find a pan with tall enough sides to hold a ten inch cake pan but I didn’t own one! The largest roasting pan I had could hold my nine-inch pan, so I decided I had to go with that. I forged ahead.

I prepared the batter as directed, poured it into my cake pan, filled my roasting pan with near-boiling water (that was trickier than I expected) and put the cake in the oven. And because I had to use a smaller pan, I had a fair amount of batter left over. That was when I decided to be a rebel and create not one but two types of cheesecake pops: the “Challenge” version and a slightly modified version. The modified version was made using my new Wilton silicone pan that had 24 1”x1” squares. I prepared the pan the same way I did using the 9” metal one and also baked them in a water bath. The results of each pan were dramatically different. I’ll recap the “Challenge” ones first.

The 9” metal cake pan took an eternity to bake. I had it in the oven for close to 80 minutes and I’m not even convinced that it was finished baking. However since the toothpick came out clean, I took it out of the oven against my better judgment. I let it cool overnight in the fridge and eagerly began the second phase of the recipe.

The top of the cake looked so pretty with its soft, golden brown hue; it seemed like such a shame to have to turn it into mush, but I did anyway. This was when I started to get annoyed. Attempting to shape the cheesecake into a ball shape was akin to rolling a blob of toothpaste in between my hands; it just stuck to me and oozed in between my fingers! I was only able to produce a small ball-like shape but it was nowhere near the required two ounces. So I’m improvised. I prepared a 9”x9” brownie pan with waxed paper, filled it up with the cheesecake mush, put a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface, and stuck it into the freezer for about three hours. Once it was really good and solid, I pulled it out of the freezer and cut the block of cheesecake into about 20 two-ounce chunks. They started to get soft fairly quickly so pushed a hollow lollipop stick into each one and put them back into the freezer to harden.

I decided to make two options for the outer shell. First, I melted a bar of Hershey’s Symphony Milk Chocolate with almonds and toffee in a double boiler. I successfully enrobed six pops and then stuck them back into the freezer. I finished the rest of the pops with a pound or so of melted semisweet chocolate chips. I had the hardest time getting the chocolate to thin out though! I had to add several spoonfuls of vegetable shortening to get the chocolate to the point where it was viscous enough to cooperate. I had to work really fast because the melted chocolate was thawing the cheesecake which would then cause the pops to break apart and fall back into the chocolate. I lost several pops this way. The ones that survived got a either a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips or of rainbow sprinkles and were quickly put back into the freezer.

As for the experimental “square” pops, these were much more of a success. I baked these for about a half hour and each square baked perfectly. The texture was much more firm and I didn’t have to keep freeze them at all. They were ready to go once they had cooled from the oven. I coated them in pink Candy Melts and decorated them with pink, orange, and yellow sprinkles. I didn’t lose any of them to breakage either. These also traveled really well too and they kept forever. I ate the last ones about two weeks after they were made and they still tasted really good. I think these would be a fun option for a bake sale.

When it came time to send the pops to my work with my husband, I was convinced that they would arrive as a vat of cheesecake and chocolate goo. However to my delight they were fine. I packed them in a container lined with ice packs and he promptly put them in the freezer until they were severed. Later on that day my husband instant messaged me with comments from his coworkers about the bigger, two ounce pops. Here’s the actual conversation:

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Husband says:
Fred said this about the cheesecake: When you get home, you need to give your wife SO MUCH LOVE.

Husband says:
Angela said, "You need to come and listen to people exclaiming in the hallway."

Husband says:
Then, the general consensus from Fred "She could quit her job and make a fortune!" with exclamations of assent all around.

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So, even though these were kind of a pain to make, in the end they were delicious and allowed me to use some of my creativity. Everyone that had one really seemed to like them too. The flavor of the cheesecake was really very good and the texture was what I think a cheesecake should be. It was very light and just melts in your mouth. The flavor was subtle and not too cream cheesy.

I learned a lot from this challenge. It really pushed me to get creative and to think on my feet. I wonder what next month will bring?

Cheesecake Pops
From the book: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionery coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Optional
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) -

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a spring form pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.

Yield: After all the casualties I ended up with 15 big, two ounce pops and 24 square ½ oz pops. The original recipe says it makes 45.
Would I Make This Again? As a normal cheesecake recipe, yes. As smaller, bite-size lollipops, yes. As the recipe directed, no; it was just too messy. Overall rating of the cheesecake (not necessarily the pops, just the actual cheesecake) 4 out of 5 stars.

Alex's Mocha Melted Ice-Cream Cake with Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

Alex and I are both business analysts on the same product team and although we almost never work together on projects, we're still very much a team. When I'm stuck on an issue, he is always there to help me work through whatever it is.

When Alex told me his birthday was coming up, I couldn't wait to make him something special. He said he didn't want anything too fussy, but something basic. I also managed to pry out of him that he wanted something made of cake, preferably chocolate, and maybe something with some coffee flavor.

I knew there would be a slew of recipes to choose from but this one really intrigued me. I really wanted to make a cake using melted ice cream! I decided to add a few mini chocolate chips to the batter, just for some extra chocolatey goodness. Happy Birthday Alex!


Incredible Melted Ice-Cream Cake
by Anne Byrn

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix (one without pudding in the mix!)
2 cups melted ice cream, your choice of flavor (I used Häagen-Dazs coffee)
1 tablespoon instant coffee or espresso powder
3 large eggs
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting (see below)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside. ( Or just use Pam wit Flour - I love this stuff!)

2. Place the cake mix, melted ice cream, instant coffee, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended. Add chocolate chips and mix just until it's best combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 38 to 42 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a small rack, then invert it again onto a second rack so that the cake is right side up to complete cooling, 30 minutes more.

4. Meanwhile prepare the Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting.

5. Slide the cake onto a serving platter and pour the warm frosting over the cake (you will have a little extra). Let it stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Marshmallow Frosting
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large marshmallows or 3/4 cup marshmallow fluff
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup whole milk or whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl.

2. Set aside. Place the marshmallows, butter, and milk/cream in a medium-size heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows are melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the confectioners' sugar and cocoa mixture over the marshmallow mixture. Add the vanilla and stir until the frosting is smooth and satiny.

3. Use at once to frost the top of the cake of your choice.
4. For the garnish, I used marshmallow fluff to "glue" on chocolate covered coffee beans


Yield: Cake: approximately 16 servings Frosting: 1 1/2 cups
Would I Make This Again? For certain! This is a good recipe when you don't feel like baking a big fussy cake. This cake had a very interesting texture. Alex said it sort of tasted "cold and creamy". I want to make this again but with a different flavored ice cream, like Cherry Garcia. For a cake-mix based recipe, this was an impressive cake. 4 out of 5 stars.
As for the frosting, it's a definate keeper. It tasted really chocolately and created this Magic Shell like coating on the outside of the cake. Everyone at worked really liked it too. Yummmmmers! 5 out of 5 stars

Nitin's "Snow Storm in April" Bars

I seriously think this is the easiest dessert I have ever made that didn't involve a mix. My coworker Nitin wanted something with chocolate and coconut for his birthday. I really wanted to make him my Mandy's Candy bars which are always a hit, but that seemed like a cop-out. Then I stumbled on this recipe and couldn't resist. Could four ingredients really taste that good? You betcha! What a little gem this recipe turned out to be!

You're probably wondering about the name of these little guys. On the day I brought these bars to work (4/18), we were treated to a very strange day for weather. Throughout the day we had hail, ice pellets, little snow flakes, giant snow flakes, freezing rain, sideways rain, about 10 minutes of sunshine, and flurries. By the time I went to bed we had about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow outside (that's my birdbath!) . I'm not saying these bars caused the crazy weather, but it was an interesting coincidence...

Chocolate Coconut "Snow Storm in April" bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (If you don't like or have any white chocolate chips, just increase the semisweet chocolate chips by 1/4 cup)

Optional Topping
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut or other nut of your choosing

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving extra so it hangs up and over the edges of the pan. Spray the paper with some Pam or butter lightly.

2. Combine milk and graham cracker crumbs and mix together until well combined. I used my stand mixer on medium speed for about a minute, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl once.

3. Add coconut and mix until well combined. Scrape bowl.

4. Add both chocolate chips and mix on low speed just until they are well combined.

5. Pour into prepared pan and spread until even (batter will be very thick). Bake for 30 minutes. Be careful not to over bake them.

6. If you want to add the topping, when bars are done, remove pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate chips over the top, if desired. Let it sit for about a minute, until the chocolate is melted and spread the chocolate around the surface until the top of the bars evenly covered. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle coconut over the top. Let the bars cool completely and then put in the fridge until you're ready to cut them.

7. To cut them, use the parchment paper to pick them up and out of the pan. (Note: If you don't have any parchment, you can just grease the pan and hope for the best. These can be a little tricky to get out of the pan without the aid of the paper.) Using a very sharp knife, cut bars into the desired length. Store in an air tight container.

Yield: 1 batch made about 20 smallish one-bite bars
Would I Make This Again? Yep. It's a great recipe. Very easy to put together and would be a good recipe for kids to make. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I Heart Bakerella's Cupcake Lollipops

It was a typical February afternoon in Seattle. Cold, windy and rainy. Blah. The day was progressing like any other and it was lunch time. I had just arrived back to my desk, waiting patiently for my piping hot (yet still frozen in the center) Cedarlane vegetable enchiladas to cool off. As I do just about every work day, I fired up the first of several of my favorite blogs while I started to dig into my lunch:NotMartha.org. The daily post consisted of a collection of a bunch of links to interesting stuff of or related to my favorite subject: food. Yay!

I scroll through the links: something about beef (gross), crust less quiche (promising)...and then I see it: "cake lollipops at Bakerella". Bakerella? Cake lollipops? I'm so there!

Oh. My. Goodness. These cake lollipops were the cutest things ever! That was until I clicked on the picture and was directed to Flickr. I immediately started looking at Bakerella's photostream and that's when I saw them....Cupcake Lollipops!!! Only the coolest most adorable thing EVER! I knew right then and there I had to make these -- so I did, two months later :-)

These were challenging (and fun...and messy!) to make but worth the effort. If you'd like to make them you can either go to Bakerella's blog where she *just* posted really wonderful step by step instructions (I would have loved these yesterday!) or to theMarthaStewart.com website(there's a step by step video there). Bakerella, was invited to be on the show to make these! How cool is she?

I have a few tips after making these:

1. I didn't use cheesecake frosting from a can but instead make it from scratch. I just don't care for canned icing. The recipe still worked out fine, although the "dough" (cake + frosting mixed together) was on the soft side. My recipe is really simple: 3 8oz blocks of cream cheese, at room temperature. 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature. 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix the cheese and butter together until really well blended, add the vanilla and mix again. Add powdered sugar and mix on low until the sugar is combined. Then mix on high for about 2 minutes. Done. (Makes about 2 1/2 cups)

2. Don't skimp on the Almond Bark for the bottoms of the little cakes or try to use candy melts or even real chocolate. What's Almond Bark? This is the stuff you usually find on the bottom shelf of the chocolate chip isle that comes in a solid block. It typically comes in two flavors: chocolate and vanilla. Don't worry, it doesn't taste like almond or contain almonds. What I loved about this product was that it stayed viscous for a long time which meant I didn't have to keep tempering it. I also loved the way it looked when it set. It was very smooth and even. Eventually I ran out and had to use candy melts instead and the texture was just different and it didn't look as pretty to me as the bark did. I think the almond bark also adds a nice chocolaty flavor. The candy melts don't really taste like anything so bark is a nice contrast.

3. The directions to use the 1 1/4-by-3/4-inch flower-shaped cookie cutter. I had a hard time finding this at first but eventually found it at Williams & Sonoma as part of a six piece pack for $10. I also found the exact same six piece pack, although packaged differently, at Michael's for $3. Yeah... I'm bringing back the set from Williams & Sonoma (rip off!).


4. While you're at Micheal's, pick yourself up a big hunk of WHITE Styrofoam. Avoid the green kind. Why? Well, the green kind is designed to work more with silk flowers and breaks apart as you touch it. Before you know it you have have this green, sand-like material all over the place, which will attach itself to the pops. Ick.

5. Give yourself lots of time. It took me many hours to make this from start to finish. Be patient and think through each step before you start.

6. Always use the lollipop stick when handling the cupcakes, especially when you're sticking them into the Styrofoam. I made the mistake of pushing on down onto the top of the cupcake to stick it into the Styrofoam and the stick went right through the top of the cupcake, breaking it.

I really enjoyed making these little guys. I already have some other ideas on what I can use the "dough" to make next. It's a great way to show your creativity. I think I got a little carried away but I loved the results.
Bakerella, thank you for this recipe. You're a genius!

Yield: I made two cakes, using two boxes of cake mix and made about 75 total cupcakes.
Would I Make This Again? Um, YES! Just a little aside: One of the gals at the party today asked me if I made food like this for a living after she ate one of these little guys. I laughed out loud and told her I was a business analyst by day. If there was ever a reason to rate a recipe 5 out of 5, that was it.
(I made this one for my hubby. Happy Anniversary honey!)

Brilliant new SideSwipe Spatula Mixer Blade

Why did it make so long for this to be invented? My days of stopping to scrape down the bowl are over! Check out the new SideSwipe Spatula Mixer Blade -- I totally want one!