White Chocolate Banana Bread Cake Pops (Vegan Recipe)

Instructions

To make the banana bread:

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan oven (190°C conventional / 375°F / gas mark 5) and line a 20cm (8”) round cake tin with parchment paper.
Add the brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and rub out any lumps in the sugar.
125 g soft light brown sugar
Peel the bananas and add them to a large bowl. Mash them throughly using the back of a fork.
315 g ripe spotty bananas
Add the coconut oil and milk to the bowl with the mashed bananas and mix everything together.
100 g coconut oil, 45 g dairy-free milk
Add the flour and stir together until just combined.
225 g self-raising flour
Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin and bake for approximately 35 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool fully (around 1 hour).

To make the cream cheese frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy.
40 g vegan cream cheese, 10 g vegan block butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Add the icing sugar and use the wooden spoon to mix the ingredients together into a thick frosting. 
Note: The frosting will look as though it is too dry to come together but give it a minute or two and it will. Keep smoothing the wooden spoon over the mixture, pressing it into the side of the bowl and it’ll start to combine into a thick frosting. The frosting needs to be thick in order to hold the banana bread crumbs together.
200 g icing sugar

To make the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

Place the cooled cake on a chopping board and lightly trim off any golden, firm or caramelised edges. You can enjoy the offcuts to fuel your cake pop decorating!
Crumble the soft cake interior into crumbs by breaking off chunks and rubbing them between your hands into a large mixing bowl.
Add the cream cheese frosting to the bowl of cake crumbs and stir well to combine. The consistency should be similar to wet sand.
Use a spring-loaded small ice cream scoop (4cm / 1.6“) (or tablespoon) to scoop out a ball of cake mixture. Roll the ball gently between your hands to smooth it out, it won’t be perfect but you will be able to smooth it out again later. Repeat for the remaining mixture - you should get around 24 balls.
Place the balls of cake mixture on a tray lined with parchment paper and place the tray in the fridge for 3 hours or the freezer for 30 minutes for the cake balls to firm up. Don’t skip this step - you need them to be firm.
Once the cake pops have chilled and are firm, remove them from the fridge/freezer and roll them between your hands again to smooth out some of the lumps and bumps. Pop them back in the fridge whilst you prepare your toppings.

To decorate the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

Set aside a cake pop stand and 24 cake pop sticks. If you don’t have a cake pop stand then use the cake pop sticks to press holes in a small cardboard box or piece of polystyrene. 
Note: if you’re making a stand out of a cardboard box, opt for a shallow box - you want the cake pop sticks to be taller than the box so that the cake pops don’t slip all the way in.
Next, you want to melt the white chocolate. Place a small saucepan of water on the hob and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat so that it is very gently simmering and place a bowl over the top of the saucepan. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water underneath.
Add the white chocolate to the bowl and allow it to melt gently, stirring occasionally until it has fully melted. Once it has melted, stir in 1 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil); the chocolate should be smooth and glossy.
425 g vegan white chocolate, 1 tbsp coconut oil
Carefully take the bowl of melted chocolate off the top of the saucepan and set it aside to cool for 10 minutes until it is still liquid but cool to the touch.
Take 5 cake pops out of the fridge. Press the cake pop stick into the centre of each cake ball to make a hole. Remove the stick, dip the end in the melted chocolate and then place it back in the hole you just made. The melted chocolate will set, helping to keep the stick in place. Set the cake pop down with the stick facing up, to allow the chocolate a few minutes to set.
Pick up the cake pop by the stick and dip the cake ball in the melted white chocolate, using a spoon to pour extra chocolate over the ball as necessary to fully coat it. Hold the cake pop over the bowl for a few seconds to allow any excess chocolate to drip off.
Place the chocolate-coated cake pop in the cake pop holder and immediately sprinkle crumbled banana chip and walnut pieces on top (they’ll stick to the chocolate).
30 g dried banana chips, 30 g walnuts
Repeat with the rest of the cake pops and then set them aside somewhere cool to allow the chocolate to dry (ideally in the fridge if you’ve got space). 
Note: Coat and decorate a few cake pops at a time and leave the rest in the fridge because dipping a cold cake pop into melted chocolate has the benefit of setting the chocolate quickly - less chance of smudging the chocolate!
Once the cake pops are fully dry, remove them from the stand and store them on their sides in an airtight container for easier storage. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

White Chocolate Banana Bread Cake Pops (Vegan Recipe)

Ingredients

For the banana bread:

Cream cheese frosting:

Toppings:

Instructions

To make the banana bread:

To make the cream cheese frosting:

To make the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

To decorate the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

Notes

Nutrition

White Chocolate Banana Bread Cake Pops (Vegan Recipe)

Ingredients MetricUS 1x2x3x

For the banana bread:

Cream cheese frosting:

Toppings:

Instructions

To make the banana bread:

To make the cream cheese frosting:

To make the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

To decorate the Banana Bread Cake Pops:

Notes

Nutrition

Ingredients