Eton Mess Balls

One of my friends asked if I could use meringue in a cake pop and that set me thinking so here we have my experiment. It went almost to plan but by the end....not so much. Hence the title of this post.

You can buy the meringue if you do not fancy making it but they are easy to do.

Ingredients:

Meringue:

4 large egg whites
225g caster sugar

Cake Pop Bits:

600g White Chocolate
225g Strawberries chopped into small cubes
600ml Double cream

Equipment:

Lolly pop sticks
Cellophane cake pop sweet bags
Ribbon


Firstly, preheat your oven to gas mark 3. Place your eggs whites into a large bowl and beat them till they go stiff and brilliant white. Feel free to do the egg white test of sticking it over your head. If it falls on your head....well, I think you should know that it was not enough beating.
Next, add the caster sugar one spoonful at a time beating between each one. You will end up with a glossy marshmallow looking thing.

Now spread it on baking paper on a baking sheet and pop in the over for one hour. As soon as you put it in the oven, turn the to gas mark 2.

Once the hour is up and your meringue is done, turn the oven off and leave it in there till it goes cold.

If you are doing the cake pops later make sure you store the meringue in an air tight container or it shall go soggy.
Next, crumble the meringue into a large bowl or if like myself you run out of large bowls, use an empty Celebrations tin. In another bowl pour in your cream and whip till it is really thick. Then mix the cream and strawberries in with the crumbled meringue.

Place baking paper on a baking tray and then roll out the mixture into balls. I used an ice cream scoop to try and get a bit of consistency.

Once done gently cover with cling film and place in the freezer for 4 hours. While waiting I found playing in the snow passed the time.

When your balls are almost ready to come out the freezer melt the chocolate. To do this get water boiling in a pan and place a glass bowl over it. Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Break up your chocolate, put in the bowl and stir from time to time to help it melt.

Now this is where my problems arose. I am not sure if it was because I did not have them in the freezer long enough, or if it was because of the cream melting rather quickly from the chocolate but, I had the firemans pole situation a lot.

Either way, after being annoyed I simply decided to pour the chocolate over the balls instead and have them as a dessert.

I am pleased to say they tasted great even if they do not look it. Best eaten with a spoon!

Mr P said the cream balanced them out so they were not too sweet. He is not a fan of meringue but actually liked them. Yay!

Cheese Cake Pops

Say what?! A cheese cake in a pop? Are you crazy? Perhaps, but lets save that can of worms for another day.
So I had an epithany while dozing off to sleep the other night. I wanted to do another cake pop but felt my first attempt was not as good as it could have been. I started thinking about all the cakes and desserts I like and if it was possible to make these into a pop.
I decided to take a cheesecake recipe that I have done several times and give it a go. It was a bit of trial and error but I got there in the end. If you fancy just doing the cheese cake without the pop bit please do as it has always worked out as a good american cheesecake recipe. You do need to make the cheesecake the day before you serve it.

Ingredients:

200g digestive biscuits
50g unsalted butter melted
900g cream cheese
pinch of salt
300g caster sugar
240ml sour cream
2tsp vanilla extract
Lemon peel from one lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
500g milk chocolate

Equipment:

Food processor or if you have not got one, a food bag and something heavy.
Lolly pop sticks
9in spring cake tin
Cellophane cake pop sweet bags
Ribbon
Foam (that one you get from florist that they stick flowers in. You can get it on amazon too) wrapped in clingfilm

Makes about 16-20 depending how big your balls are. (never gets old)


Day one, preheat your oven to gas mark 4. Put your biscuits in your food processor and whizz till they are crumbs (or bash them in a bag). Add the melted butter and whizz again. Butter your cake tin and then line the base with the crumbs. Don't use all of it, you just want a thin layer if your doing them as pops as we need some of the crumbs for decoration afterwards.

If your doing just the cheesecake, use it all. Pat it down and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or till it has browned on top.

Take out to cool completely. While that is happening, beat your cream cheese till smooth and then add the sugar and salt. I like to do this in the food processor as it is quick and easy. Otherwise just do this in a large bowl till well combined.
Next add the sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon peel and juice and beat again. Now add the eggs and egg yolks and give a final mix.

Pour the mixture onto the base and put in the oven for about 50 minutes. It should have a slight wobble in the centre when done. After this time, leave it in the oven but with the door ajar for another 45 minutes. Then take it out and leave to cool. When it is take it out of the tin and put in the fridge overnight.

Day two, take it out of the fridge and either serve or if you are popping it, scrape all the cheesecake into a bowl. Add about half of the base. Use your own judgement as to how much base you want in the mixture. Give it a mix. Now this is quite a messy bit, line a baking tray with cling film and either using your hand or a better idea is an ice cream scoop, make the mixture into balls. You then need to put them in the freezer for about 4/5 hours.

When you are just about to take them out, melt your chocolate and get your left over crumbs ready on the side. Once melted take the balls out of the freezer, dip your lolly pop stick in the chocolate and then into the ball. Then quickly but carefully coat it with chocolate. I found the bigger the ball, the heavier it was which caused what I am now calling, the firemans pole situation. In future I would make them a little smaller.

I then used the foam to stick them in so as not to get flat heads like my previous cake pops. Next sprinkle the left over biscuit crumbs before the chocolate sets.

When they are all done, put them in a cake pop bag and tie with ribbon.

I was quite pleased with these. You get that nice creamy cheesecake filling with a hit of the chocolate. Its a deconstructed cheesecake if you will.

Mr P said he liked them but they needed more crumbs on the outside. Can't please everyone....sigh.

Strawberry Cake Pops

These cake pops should come with a warning. If you do not like sweet food then steer clear of these bad boys. However if you do, nom nom away!
I decided to make my cake pops strawberry flavour with a white chocolate coating as I think these two ingredients compliment each other nicely. I ran out of the white chocolate for the last few so I use some milk chocolate as well.
When I do these again the only thing I would do differently is get some styrofoam so that I can stick the lolly pops in while they set. I had to turn mine on their heads which meant they came out with flat heads. Not the end of the world but if you want them to look all posh and what not then that is the way to do it.

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g butter, at room temperature
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cake Ball Ingredients:

225g Cream cheese
300g Icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons Strawberry jam
2-3 drops of red food colouring

Cake ball coating ingredients:

500g White Chocolate
Any cake decorations you fancy. I used sugar stars and strawberry curls.

Equipment:

Lolly pop sticks
7in cake tin
Cellophane cake pop sweet bags
Ribbon

Makes a batch of 20

First thing preheat your oven to gas mark 4. Next, cream the sugar and butter in a bowl and when it becomes well combined and fluffy, add the eggs making sure you mix well between each one. Add the vanilla extract and give it a final mix. Now sieve the flour and fold into the mixture in about 3 batches. Keep folding till there are no flour streaks. Line your baking tin with grease proof paper and then put the cake batter in. It will take about 35-40 minutes in the oven and is done when a knife comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool completely and when it is, crumble into a large bowl. Now to make the frosting. Mix the cream cheese, strawberry jam, icing sugar and food colouring and once combined, pour into the cake crumbs. Using your hands mix till it turns into a sort of wet dough texture.

Now roll the mixture into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Lay them out on grease proof paper, cover with cling film and put in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

When your balls are firm (hilarious innuendo) and ready to come out of the freezer melt the chocolate in a bowl. Dip one end of your lolly pop stick in the melted chocolate and then poke it in the cake ball.
The chocolate helps it to stay on the stick. Now dip the whole ball into the chocolate and gently twirl it. It may be helpful to use a spatula as well to make sure it fully coats the ball.

Using whatever decorations you want sprinkle the balls with them and pop them on some grease proof paper till they set. If you are giving as gifts, wrap them in plastic sweet bags and use some ribbon to tie it. How jolly nice.

Mr P enjoyed his with a cup of tea.