Peppermint Mocha Cake Pops

While I would have had the Christmas tree up weeks ago, my husband is not so eager to begin the holiday season…so I patiently waited until after Thanksgiving dinner to take on the task.  That said, the Christmas music has been blaring ever since and our apartment is starting to resemble a department store with paper snowflakes and Christmas knick knacks everywhere you look.  Okay, I’m kind of obsessed.  I just love the warmth and loving feelings that overwhelm us at  Christmas time and just the happiness that fills the air in general!  With so much holiday spirit here, I needed something festive to eat.  I give you peppermint mocha cake pops: mocha brownie cake pops with peppermint cream cheese buttercream filling.  I used my Babycakes Cake Pop Maker to make the cake balls, and used leftover buttercream from the turkey cake pops I made for Thanksgiving for the filling.  They had a great flavor, but I think because the brownie mix is so much denser and fudgier than cake mix, it took a lot longer to bake, resulting in a crispier outside.  I made these yesterday and like I said, the outside was a bit too crisp, but today they seem more moist…maybe they drew some moisture from the coating, not sure.  Not necessarily a recipe I would scrap, but if I make them again, I’ll use cake mix instead.

Mocha Cake Pops:

• 1 box of Ghiradelli mocha brownie mix
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbsp coffee
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 cup peppermint cream cheese buttercream (recipe below)
• 1 bag of Wilton candy melts
• optional: crushed peppermint

1. Mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined, but don’t overmix (the box advises 50 strokes with a wooden spoon).
2. Fill cake pop maker wells.  I used a Ziploc bag to pipe the batter into the wells and filled them so that it rounded over the bottom well.  It does rise while it bakes, but I only filled mine even to the bottom well the first time and those cake pops didn’t fill out completely.
3. Cook in the cake pop maker following manufacturers guidelines for about 15 minutes.  I could not believe they took this long, but they really did!  If you can’t tell if they’re done, just stick a toothpick in the center of one, if it comes out clean, they’re all set!  These were dense, which made them sort of difficult to remove; I ended up using a spoon to place them onto the holder to cool.
4. Cool completely before filling.
5. Fill each cake pop with peppermint cream cheese buttercream.  The outside of these were a bit crisp, so I actually poked into the pop with a cake pop stick first and then inserted the piping tip.
6. Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Melt candy melts according to package directions, add peppermint extract (1/4 tsp) if you want the coating to be peppermint flavored.
8. Dip cake pop stick into melted candy and insert into cooled pops.  Let harden for a couple minutes, then dip the whole thing into the candy coating.
9. Decorate and embellish as you see fit!

Peppermint Cream Cheese Buttercream:

• 1 cup cream cheese buttercream (make your own using the recipe from this post here or use store-bought)
• 1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Mix together – easy as that!  You can add crushed peppermint if you want to add texture.  One cup was enough for me to fill all of the cake pops, but I didn’t fill them super full.