Recipe: Marble Peppermint Cake Pops

Everyone makes cookies at Christmas. While cake pops will never replace this tradition, they are a welcome departure from normal frosted sugar cookies. Cake pops are less fussy than a properly layered cake, and it’s a great activity for kids, too. The soft cake inside is gooey, and a white chocolate coating adds a crunch before it melts in your mouth.

I’m prone to saving all my cake scraps in the freezer and pulling them out for moments like these, but you can also make cupcakes or a simple cake, let it sit out overnight, then crumble it up in a bowl. I prefer to mix it with cream cheese because it cuts the sweetness from the chocolate coating, but any frosting you have on hand will do. The marbled look is fun, easy to do and makes a great presentation. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Marble Peppermint Cake Pops
24 to 30 pops

½ cup (1 stick) room-temperature butter
¾ cup sugar
2 room-temperature eggs
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1¼ cup flour
¼ cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
4 oz. cream cheese
20 oz. white chocolate melting wafers
Green and red food coloring

Special equipment: 24 to 30 lollipop sticks

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs and peppermint and beat to incorporate.
• Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour, sour cream, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Evenly divide the batter among the 12 cupcake liners.
• Bake about 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs attached. Let cool completely.
• Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tin and let rest uncovered at room temperature, 1 day so they become slightly stale.
• Crumble the cupcakes into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix in the cream cheese until the mixture is moldable. Roll pieces into 24 to 30 golf ball-sized pieces and place on a sheet tray. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
• Place the white chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave 30 seconds. Stir and microwave another 30 seconds, repeating until the chocolate is completely melted.
• Evenly divide half the melted chocolate into 2 small bowls; set the remaining melted chocolate aside. Add a few drops red food coloring to one small bowl and green to the other. Use forks to gently swirl the food coloring to create a marbled look, but don’t completely mix in.
• Dip 1 lollipop stick into the plain white chocolate, then slide the cake ball onto the stick. Dip the cake pops into a red or green marbled chocolate bowl and carefully turn to coat and transfer the marbled effect to the cake pop. Let any excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place the stick into a colander hole, piece of Styrofoam or a deep container of sugar to let the chocolate dry.
• Repeat with the remaining cake pops. You may need to melt and add color to more white chocolate to maintain the marbled look.
• Serve the cake pops immediately or store frozen in a zip-top bag up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.

Amrita Song is a longtime contributor to Sauce Magazine.