March 28, 2016

Lemon and Coconut Gluten Free Healthy Cake Pops


Easter is a time to relax with your friends and family and typically eat a lot of chocolate. Usually you eat so much chocolate you can't contemplate eating any until the next Easter. To avoid this usual chocolate overload this time of year, I wanted to make a sweet treat that wasn't chocolate based but was still Easter themed. I chose to make lemon and coconut cake pops iced in a pastel blue with polka dots to decorate. You may have heard cake pops can be tricky to make, let alone attempting the challenge of making a healthy version of the sweet, but if you have the right tools and some patience you will handle this baking task with ease.

I would recommend buying a silicone cake pop tray, a cake pop drying set (or try some of these ideas to hold your cake pops) and the cake pop sticks. I found these all at a local kitchenwares store and all the equipment was on sale; I think the cake pop craze has died down and no one knows what to do with the stuff anymore! Hopefully you can pick some trays on sale too. If not, all the things you need will be online.

This recipe worked out so well I know I will be making cake pops again! If you don't want to make a lollipop out of the cake, you can always make cute cake balls as a sweet treat. Cake pops are perfect for parties and are a nice portioned treat.

Lemon and Coconut Healthy Cake Pops

Ingredients:

Cake:
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp milk (I prefer soy milk)
  • the zest of one lemon
  • 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil
Icing:
  • 1 packet of white candy melts or 1 packet of white chocolate melts
  • blue food colouring
  • coconut oil

Method:
  1. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients - coconut flour, baking powder and salt.
  2. Mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and combine with the dry.
  3. Lay your cake pop tray onto a baking tray and fill the side without the holes with the cake mixture. Overfill each hole slightly with the cake mix. Press the other side of the tray on top on the filled tray and press the sides to seal together.
  4. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes. 
  5. Let the cakes cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before turning out and putting into a bowl. Cover and put in the freezer to cool down. Store in the fridge if you are not icing immediately.
  6. Melt the candy melts or white chocolate on a low heat in the microwave. Put in for 30 seconds at a time to make sure you do not overcook the chocolate. When the mixture is melted, add 4 - 5 drops of blue food colouring or until you reach your desired colour.
  7. To make the chocolate or candy melts thin enough to ice your cake pops, add some coconut oil. My candy melts were very thick and I added about 1/2 a cup of coconut oil to the mix. The white chocolate may not need as much oil added. Add a little at a time and stir thoroughly until you reach a nice even consistency.
  8. When you are happy with your icing, take out your cakes. Set up your drying stand and put out your polka dot sprinkles. Carefully insert a cake pop stick half way into one side of the cake. Dunk the cake into the bowl of icing and let the excess run off. Decorate with sprinkles as desired.
  9. Place carefully into the cake pop stand to let dry.
  10. Once all the cake pops are completed, leave to dry for a few hours to set the icing. Store in a container until time to serve. Check out this link for serving ideas