So, the good news is that the people at my new job haven’t fired me yet. And I haven’t quit. This is a fantastic job. Super fantastic. Although, (shameless personal plug here) I really need to sublet my apartment in Champaign. So, if you know someone who needs a place to live in Chambana, please send them my way so that I can move out.
I am taking a breather from the Cookie-A-Thon to bring you holiday cheer in the form of cake pops. I brought them to the office last week to follow up on a promise from my interview where I stated that I would bake for my co-workers. And I think they all liked these (and if they didn’t, they were all nice enough to pretend that they did).
I am pretty sure that I had this brilliant idea while sipping on one of those fancy SkinnyGirl cosmo thingies (the margarita kind are much more delicious). And when I woke up Sunday morning, I had been dreaming about these. So, I caved and figured out how to go about making them. I channeled my inner Bakerella and got to work.
Clearly I have a thing for ginger. I have been using it a fair amount this year (Ginger Peach Pie and Ginger Brown Butter Doughnuts, just to name a few). But, nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to the scent and flavor of fresh baked gingerbread.
Molasses and ginger are one of those food marriages made in heaven. You might have molasses in your cupboard from the gingerbread cookies you made last Christmas, or a Christmas a little ways back before you were gluten-free. I am begging you to go find that lonely bottle, plot a celebration for an excuse to make this and then plot out your time.
It took time split over 2 days to make these, all though the actual active time was much closer to 3 hours – there was cake baking and cooling time and then cake ball chilling time.
It took about an hour and a half both nights, the first night being about 20 minutes of active time, and the second night, almost all of the time was active.
| Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cake Pops |
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- 375 grams (3 cups) sifted all-purpose gluten-free flour
- 1 teaspoon xantham gum*
- 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (225 grams) butter, cubed and softened
- 400 grams (2 cups) sugar
- 680 grams (1 cup or 235 ml) molasses (blackstrap gives a more intense flavor, and is what I used)
- 1 cup (235 ml) buttermilk (no low fat!)
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup cream cheese frosting (about the amount of a clementine)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped crystalized ginger (optional)
- 450 grams (1 pound) white chocolate coating**
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 11×13, 12″ round or 2 9″ round pans. The shape doesn’t matter, just that you don’t fill the pans more than half full with batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, xantham gum (if using), ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes on medium.
- Add the molasses and buttermilk and then have faith. This is going to look horrible. Kind of like the mixture curdled. Mix on low, scraping down the sides until the mixture is evenly blended. Then, up your speed to medium and let the mixer go for another 3-4 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides.
- Add the eggs in 2 groups, beating on medium and scraping down the sides after each addition. Add half the flour mixture and mix low speed. Scrape down the sides and add the rest of the flour. Mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Spread the batter in your pan (or pans) and bake for 60-70 minutes. The cake should spring back when gently pressed. Let the cake cool overnight.
- Trim the edges from the cake. They tend to be a little more crunchy than the rest of the cake, but they are super delicious.
- Crumble the cake and add 1/4 cup of the cream cheese frosting. Mush it together with your hands. Really smush it good. If it isn’t sticking together well, add the last of the frosting. Mix in the chopped ginger.
- Scoop the mixture with the tablespoon ice cream scoop and roll it into balls.
- Place on cookie sheets and chill them in the freezer or somewhere cold (our garage gets cold enough that we put tables out there to hold our dough & chocolate for chilling when Christmas baking) for half an hour or so.
- To let the chocolate set, you can either just put the cake pops pop side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet (this results in flat tops) or you can lay a cooling rack over 4-6 of the same, short cups. Make sure they are shorter than your cake pop sticks and that they are spread out. You could also use a piece of styrofoam to hold the sticks.
- Melt the white chocolate (not chips!!!!!!) according to the package directions in a tall, narrow container (like a cup).
- Place a stick into each of your balls of squished cake and dip them into the white chocolate. Stand them to set.
- Decorate with sprinkles before the chocolate sets or drizzle with colored chocoalte.
*xantham gum is not needed if you use Cup4Cup, Jules’ Nearly Normal or similar blends that contain xantham gum already.
** Do NOT use white chocolate chips. They won’t work correctly. You need white chocolate coating (sometimes sold as “almond bark”) or Wilton Candy Melts – if using those, you might need a teaspoon of shortening to thin it out slightly.
These were super delish!