Cake Pops

I wouldn't necessarily call cake pops the new cupcake, but their trend definitely is going around.  Personally, I find them a little too time consuming to be worth the effort.  I am a cookie person though and if I'm going to spend my time on decorating I'd rather decorate cookies!  However, I had some leftover cake from an event and I didn't know what to do with it...and then the idea struck me to finally try to make cake pops!  I didn't want to do any crazy decorating, just something bright and cute and perfect for spring but that had great flavor.  The leftover cake I had was my Honey, Lavender, & Lemon Cake and a plain yellow cake, and I thought it would be nice to do a Lemon Cream Cheese Icing since I also had leftover lemon curd.  For me cake pops are the perfect way to re-purpose left over ingredients in a new, bright, fun form! The result was sweet and floral cake with a bit of tang from the cream cheese and lemon.  Between the flavor and the bright colors they were the perfect spring treat!

Below I have the recipe I used for the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting and a link to the cake recipe I used...but this post is really a template to do any flavor you'd like!  All you need is cake and icing essentially and just follow the instructions below!  Like I said before, the perfect thing to do if you have any leftovers!  Especially if you were carving or leveling or forming cakes...don't waste all those little pieces!  Turn them into cake pops!

Cake Pops

Recipe for Lemon Cream Cheese Icing adapted from The Hobby Rome Diaries
Makes about 3 dozen cake pops
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Ingredients for Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese

- 1/3 cup of lemon curd

- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 1/2 sheet cake.  I used my Honey, Lavender, & Lemon cake.

Cupcakes for Two!

Have you ever just wanted one cupcake??  Sometimes I have a craving for cupcakes, but I know I don't want one dozen sitting around my apartment.  This recipe comes to the rescue!  It's so simple, takes less than a half hour to make, and yields just TWO cupcakes (or in my case 1 dozen mini cupcakes).   This is the perfect recipe to satisfy a quick cupcake craving!!

Cupcakes for Two

Recipe adapted from How Sweet it is
Makes about 2 standard cupcakes or 1 dozen mini cupcakes.
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Ingredients

- 1 egg white

- 2 Tbsp sugar

- 2 Tbsp butter, melted

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/4 cup - 1 Tbsp brown rice flour

- 1 Tbsp tapioca flour

- 1/4 rounded tsp gluten free baking powder

- pinch of salt

- 1 1/2 Tbsp milk (dairy, almond, or soy, I use almond)

Jesicakes has been very busy...

...but I will return with new recipes next week!  I'm planning on trying a vegan and gluten free recipe inspired by my mom who just made the transition from vegetarian to vegan.  Also I have a lot of lemon curd in my freezer left over from of the reasons I haven't posted in a while so I'm going to make Poppy Seed Lemon Linzer Cookies.

So the past few weeks I did the dessert tables for two events! 

Vanilla Bean Whoopie Pies

I love Whoopie Pies but I've never made them myself, let alone tried a gluten free one.  I recently acquired some vanilla bean pods and wanted to think of a recipe to use them in.  I decided to make simple vanilla bean whoopie pies.  Then was the question of the filling.  I wanted something to compliment the vanilla bean but not overpower it.  I decided to go with a light mocha buttercream.  Once I made everything, I was 4 whoopie pies short of filling them all.  So I also whipped up some really quick strawberry buttercream as well.  Both were delicious although I think I preferred the mocha buttercream.  Coffee with a hint of chocolate didn't outshine the vanilla bean cake but paired nicely with it.  The cake was light and moist and filled with vanilla flavor.  They're a perfect balance of delicate and flavorful.  And as my boyfriend put it, the coffee flavor makes it acceptable to have them in the morning!

Vanilla Bean Whoopie Pies with Mocha Buttercream

Recipe adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Makes 2 1/2-3 dozen cookies
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Ingredients

- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup white rice flour
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, roome temperature
- 4 Tbsp shortening
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Vanilla Bean Pods, split and seeds removed