Maple-Pumpkin Cake Pops
Cake pops!
They’re an American concept that embraces fun, junk food, cuteness, and factory-made components. Think: boxed cake mix, crumbed together with packaged frosting, dipped in artificially-colored, microwave-melted candy buttons!
But not these! These are a grain-free, refined-sugar-free version good enough to serve to all your kid's friends at a fall birthday party! Makes approximately 50 1-1/4 inch cake pops. Glaze and shell recipes easily doubled.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Maple Spice Cake
- 4 organic or pastured eggs
- 1-1/4 cups coconut butter room temperature and slightly warm
- 1/2 cup tallow lard, or ghee, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin or cooked winter squash
- 1/3 cup maple syrup honey or coconut syrup
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Pumpkin Maple Spice Glaze
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter melted and cooled slightly (source)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 2 teaspoons canned pumpkin or winter squash puree
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Chocolate Shell
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder or cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or 1 drop liquid stevia
Garnishes
- ground cinnamon
- cacao powder or cocoa powder
- chocolate shell see recipe above
Instructions
Pumpkin Maple Spice Cake
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or preheat your cake pops waffle iron).
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Place the following cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl: eggs, coconut butter, fat of choice, pumpkin, maple syrup and spices.
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Mix together until well blended.
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In a separate small bowl, sift together coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt.
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Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold in until thoroughly incorporated without over-mixing.
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Pour batter into bottom half of cake pops (silicone) pan.
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Follow manufacturer’s instructions for putting on the pan lid.
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Bake about 13 minutes and then check for doneness, inserting a toothpick into the center of 1 pop.
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They are done when there is no wet batter adhering.
Pumpkin Maple Spice Glaze
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Make the glaze while the cake pops cool.
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Combine glaze ingredients in a blender.
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Blend for 30 seconds to emulsify the fat with the other ingredients. (If they separate a bit during the dipping stage, it is fine and will not affect the outcome. Just use a fork or whisk to remix them slightly.)
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Pour glaze into a small bowl, preferably one that tapers at the bottom, not a flat bottom one.
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If needed, place this bowl in a larger bowl of hot water to keep the glaze runny.
Chocolate Shell
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To make the chocolate shell, simply whisk together the 3 ingredients in a small bowl.
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Double or triple this recipe, based on how many chocolate-dipped pops you want.
Decorating Your Cake Pops
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When the cake pops are mostly cool, insert a popsicle stick (or these wooden popsicle sticks) 3/4 of the way into each one of them.
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Place them in mugs or low cups and freeze for 15 minutes.
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Dip each pop into glaze, tapping the stick against the cup's rim to remove any excess.
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Swirl the pop around as the glaze dries, to evenly distribute.
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Place each pop, as it’s completed, into the cup again.
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You will double dip each pop; so don’t worry if the glaze looks thin.
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Working in batches, place pops back into freezer after several have been dipped the first time.
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Once they refreeze for 5 to 10 minutes, double dip them, repeating the former method.
Decorate or Garnish
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To decorate with cinnamon or cacao powder, dip the dried, iced pops into a little dish of one of the powders, rolling it around to cover and tapping off any extra.
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This final garnish gives them a more sophisticated, adult flavor. I recommend this treatment for grown-ups and the glaze or chocolate shell alone for kids.
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You can also use the chocolate shell to drizzle chocolate stripes across either icing.
Recipe Notes
- Use attractive twigs (thin but strong) to create a frugal, autumnal alternative to buying popsicle sticks!
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder to the icing recipe, for a chocolate version of the Pumpkin Maple Spice Glaze. Whisk it in completely and dip pops according to above instructions. You'll only need to dip each pop once with this method.
- See this recipe for more information on cocoa butter's nutritional profile and how to use it in cooking.