| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 40 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Cook: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 6 dozen pops |
Ingredients
- Unflavored nonstick cooking spray
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup nonfat milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 cup pecan halves, for decorating
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 pound confectioners’ sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds finely chopped white chocolate (or two 11-ounce bags white chocolate chips)
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. For the cake: Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugars together. Stir in the milk and vanilla, and then add the oil. Whisk in the pumpkin puree and pour the liquid mixture over the dry mixture. Use a wooden spoon to stir the batter together, and then switch to a whisk and give the batter a good 3 or 4 beats before pouring it into the prepared baking dish. Use a rubber spatula to smooth out the batter and place it in the oven until the cake is golden and springs back to light pressure, 25 to 28 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely. Meanwhile, place the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a large plate to cool, then transfer to a cutting board and finely chop. Place the nuts in a medium bowl and set aside. Divide the cake into quarters and crumble it into a large bowl. Once all of the cake is crumbled, drag 2 forks through the cake in opposite directions to crumble it into a very fine crumb (you can also use a food processor to pulse the cake into fine crumbs). Set aside.
- For the frosting: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper and set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until airy, about 3 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stir the cream cheese frosting into the cake crumbs and, once the mixture looks like wet graham crackers crumbs, roll it into ping pong-size balls. Place the cake balls on the prepared baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour. Place the chocolate and vegetable shortening in a medium microwave-safe bowl and melt at 50-percent power, stirring every 30 seconds until the chocolate is completely melted, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes (or melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring often, until the chocolate is melted). Remove the cake balls from the freezer and insert a lollypop stick or small appetizer-length skewer into the top of each one (stick it in far enough so it is more than halfway through but doesn’t puncture the other side of the ball). Dip each ball into the white chocolate, using a spoon to help coat the underside. Tap the stick against the side of the bowl a few times and swirl the stick to encourage the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Dip the top of the ball into the nuts, and then place the cake pop back on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet, nut-side down (so the stick points straight up). Repeat with the remaining cake balls. Let the cake pops stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Serve that day or refrigerate for up to 3 days and then serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 72 servings |
| Calories | 157 |
| Total Fat | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 18 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 14 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Sodium | 57 mg |
Reviews
We realized that the shortening was not listed in the method (it gets melted with the chocolate) so we updated!
I’ve been making these for years and start getting requests every year as soon as the weather turns chilly. They taste MUCH better after they have set for a day, so you can absolutely make a day or 2 ahead of time. They are time intensive, I usually spread it out over a full weekend. I’ve used semi sweet chocolate instead of white and that’s a big hit too. Along with other reviewers I find it too moist if I use all the icing, I usually use about 75% of the recipe and just add a bit at a time.
Can you do these with regular chocolate? I’ve never been a fan of white, but I would love to make these for thanksgiving. Not sure if it will dry.
i havea cake pop pan. How can I adjust this recipe to work with the pan?
This recipe was obviously not checked thoroughly. It doesn’t state where the shortening goes. I’m sure you add it to the melted chocolate to thin it out and give the pops a light chocolate coating. Only rated one star for a bad recipe.
Where does the shortening go!!?? I’m all the way through this and am staring at an unopened box of vegetable shortening….. With the chocolate maybe since it’s the last item!?!?
Very good recipe. I have used one similar to this, but I really liked incorporating the pecans, it gives it that sweet/salty combination that I love. Cake pops are very time consuming, but ver worth it in the end. When I add my frosting to my crumbled cake, I add a little bit at a time so it the ‘batter” does not become too moist- it it is too moist, the pops will not stay on the stick. Also what I do with mine is form the balls and allow them to sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes, I then melt some of coating (whether its chocolate or candy melts and dip the sticks in about half an inch and then place them in the cake balls. This will allow the coating to set so the pops won’t slide off the stick. I then again allow them to cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes. I would also advice using a mini crock to warm your coating/chocolate. This allows it to stay warm without hardening. Makes it very easy to dip!!
Great recipes for each component, but when you put them all together, you end up with a cake pop that’s a little too cloying. To make less sweet, I used only a half pound of confectioner’s sugar in the icing and drizzled the white chocolate onto the cake balls instead of fully immersing them. And because I like my cake pops to have a more substantial texture and mouthfeel, I don’t crumble the cake into a fine crumb. Instead, I leave chunks of the cake in tact so the end product isn’t so mushy. Loved the addition of toasted pecans; they gave the pops a nice crunch and the perfect contrast to the sweetness. And don’t forget to add the shortening (I actually used a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to the white chocolate while melting–if you don’t, you’ll end up with a gloppy coating for your cake balls. The shortening/oil really imparts a silky, smooth texture to the chocolate. All in all, pretty time-consuming, but totally worth it! My guests raved.
This is time-consuming (baking cake, allowing it to cool, freezing, etc. but I knew that going into it. Working with melted chocolate is also difficult, but I also knew that prior. The reason I am giving it three stars is because the cake and frosting is much too soft and a is more like a thick batter than cake and b slides right off the sticks. I followed the recipe exactly and am now going to toss out everything I have made and find another treat to being to Thanksgiving dinner. If I were to try cake pops agin, I would know that you can make the cake and frosting blend ahead of time and place it in the freezer for even a day and then decorate later. I would also hold back on the amount of frosting I add to the cake.
These were a HUGE hit but they took some serious time. I made these over two days, actually because I just didn’t have enough time after work.
A few recommendations: you may run out of nuts, rolling the cake balls in the melted chocolate is not easy. It hardened up pretty quickly. I would melt the chocolate in batches.
Overall, what an AWESOME recipe for the fall.. or any time!