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:

-----------------------------------------------------
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.

-----------------------------------------------------
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.

Daring Bakings March Challenge: Perfect Party Cake

A month or so ago I was trolling around the internet, reading (and lusting) over baking and cooking blogs, when I came across one that was a Daring Bakers Blog member. Curious to learn more, I clicked on the hyperlink and found myself scrolling through a limitless blog roll of baking blogs all around the globe. I was in awe!

I read the history about how the group got started and what was involved in becoming a member of the group. I liked what I read, so I quickly fired off my “Pick me! Pick me!” email to Lis and Ivonne. Within a day I received my welcome email and was officially on the mailing list. I couldn’t wait for my first challenge!

On March 1, I received an email outlining my mission; it was a cake recipe by Dorie Greenspan called the “Perfect Party Cake”. While there were some rules regarding the recipe that I absolutely had to follow, there was still a lot of room for creativity. For me this was a good thing because I can never seem to make any recipe without putting my mark on it in some way.

I couldn’t wait to make this cake. I wanted to do something really fun and different with the cake but in the end decided to stay true to the traditional party cake concept. The only thing I changed in this recipe was substituting black cherry preserves for the raspberry (my husband loathes raspberries) and adding the ingredient of lemon curd. The lemon curd just seemed like a really good addition to the lemon cake and lemon flavored buttercream. I also made one mini cake for my son, who detests coconut.

Since Easter was coming and I knew this was a cake to be shared, I decided to make the cake as the main event at my Easter brunch. My mother-in-law came, along with a few close friends; and of course my husband and my son were there as well.

One thing I really liked about this recipe was the author’s writing style. Dorie writes like she’s talking to you, not just in the stereotypical cookbook tone. For example, she is very specific as to how long to mix ingredients together, which I appreciated. For me this is really helpful because sometimes I really worry that I’m over mixing ingredients. Turns out I probably under mix most of the things I make.

My first baking challenge was not free of mishaps. I added an extra stick of butter to the cake batter by mistake. It wasn’t until I started to make the buttercream that I realized that I was missing a whole stick of butter and by then it was too late. The cake was already in the oven. The good news is that it didn’t seem to hurt the cake at all. I’m really curious to know what it would have tasted like had I left it out! The other mistake I made was that I banged the pans of batter on the counter before I put them in the oven to remove the air bubbles. This was some silly technique that I learned in seventh grade home economics. It occurs to me after rereading the recipe that perhaps having all those air bubbles would have helped the batter to rise more in the pan (my cakes were shy of an inch in height before I cut them in half). I’ll think twice before I ever remove the air bubbles from the pan again!

This was a cake that did not disappoint! While the cake didn’t look as pretty as I would have liked (next time I’ll do a crumb coat before I add the coconut), it really tasted great. The cake was soft and moist, with just the right hint of lemon flavor, and with a beautiful white color. The buttercream wasn’t too sweet and it complemented both the flavors and texture in the cake.

I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this experience as a Daring Baker member. I am already looking forward to next month’s mission!


Perfect Lemon Party Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours
By Dorie Greenspan

Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling/Finishing
2/3+ cup raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable (I used Hero brand’s black cherry preserves)
1 ½ cups of your favorite homemade lemon curd. The recipe I used can be found here (Note: this is not in the original recipe.)
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
4. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
5. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
6. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, and then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
7. Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
8. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
9. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
10. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.
11. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
12. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
1. Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
2. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.
3. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
4. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
5. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
6. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
7. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
8. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
1. Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. (I used this tool. In my opinion it worked a lot better than a knife.)
2. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
3. Spread it with one third of the preserves.
4. Top the preserves with about a one-third to one-half cup of lemon curd
5. Cover the curd with about one-quarter of the butter cream.
6. Top with another layer, spread with preserves, curd, and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam, curd, and have buttercream leftover).
7. Place the last layer cut-side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
8. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Yield: I was able to get about 14 slices out of this cake, but they were on the small side.

Would I Make This Again? Definately!! 5 out of 5 stars.