Bee Bop Cheesecake Pops for the Daring Bakers

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This month’s installment of the Daring Bakers Challenge is hosted by two lovely DBs- Deborah at Taste and Tell and Elle at Feeding my Enthusiasms and their challenge is:

Cheesecake Pops From Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey by Jill O’Connor.

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I bought this cookbook a few months ago and I must say that it is filled with decadent sweets definitely in one or all of the title categories.

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My experience: I halved the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan to get enough depth to scoop, set in a baking pan filled with water. I baked it for about 50 minutes, so a full batch will need much more time than stated in the recipe. The cheesecake is delicious but I couldn’t see myself ever consuming 30-40 pops. Rick is on a business trip and I’m not a big sweet eater.
I decided to decorate them as Bumblebees drowsing on flowers to celebrate Spring and -well also because I love bees. I’m sure that’s obvious 🙂
When I scooped the cheesecake I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then rerolled the scoops to smooth and elongate them slightly before freezing for a couple of hours. I made a ganache of heavy cream and Callebaut bittersweet chocolate to dip them in. The yellow is a lemon flavored compound coating and I alternated dipping in each to get the striped effect. I melted lemon drops for about 3 minutes at 350F on parchment to make the wings. I also sprinkled a little yellow sanding sugar about to simulate pollen.

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Go on -give a try – get in touch with your inner Daring Baker- here is the challenge and recipe as provided by Deborah and Elle:

Allowed Variations. Yes you can make some changes to this cheesecake as long as you promise to use the basic cheesecake recipe (although you can add a flavor to it if you like) and do keep it white (sorry, no chocolate or coffee or mocha), and keep the pops to the 2 ounce size.

The dipping flavors and colors are completely up to you.

If you want to use decorations, go for it. Same with drizzles and ribbons on the sticks. Or leave them plain after dipping them. You can even dip them in graham cracker crumbs and then the chocolate to get more of the cheesecake feel to them.

You can cut the cheesecake into geometric shapes instead of making balls, triangles or squares or diamond just keep them about 2 ounces each. We can’t wait to see what combinations our Daring Baker come up with, just make sure to use the basic cheesecake recipe, to make the pops 2 ounces or close to that in size, and to dip each pop in chocolate or confectionary coating and have it on a lollipop stick.

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped, you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate Most candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) – Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Elle -Feeding My Enthusiasms
Deborah – Taste and Tell

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Check out the other Daring Bakers Cheesecake Pops here. We have a new site too with public forums if you have questions for the DBs. We have now acquired over 1000 members and have worn poor Blogger out- yes we are taking over the world! 😉

About the author

Gabi
I am a writer, artist, gardener, obsessed cook/baker and recipe lover. I spend my time finding new ways to enjoy my life and try to encourage everyone around me to do the same. I like creating a cozy, warm, comforting and inviting atmosphere and hope to share some of that here. Hopefully, I get to learn from others who share my interests too.

51 comments

  1. Pingback: Cheesecacke Pops by Taste and Tell and by Feeding My Enthusiasms « De (au)Gustibus
  2. Y says:

    Damn. I already used “beeyootiful” as a description for your Opera cake, but these, these are definitely and appropriately bee-yootiful 😀

  4. Gabi says:

    Gosh Thanks everyone for your SO nice comments- I had so much fun- they didn’t take long and I’ve loved seeing the creations of all of you who are fellow DBs! For the other readers (you know who you are) I seriously thank you for your ongoing support!
    Love you all!
    Gabi

  8. Elle says:

    Sure glad Deb and I allowed lots of variations…your bee is just the cutest thing! I’ll bet they taste as good as they look, too. Wonderful job!

  9. Jen Yu says:

    OMG! How Bleeping cute are those?! That is just the cutest and most brilliant dipping I’ve seen!! You are such a creative girl – fantastic job 🙂 I love them!

  10. Jeffmac says:

    Everybody should be sick of all those cute cupcakes by now. I declare the Bee Bop Cheesecake Pops as the new “in” food. Wonderful job again Gabi.

  11. Christine says:

    These have to be the prettiest pops that I have seen so far! You are so creative! When the page came up I actually said OH MY!

  15. John says:

    Gabi,
    Unlike you, me and bees, NOT SO MUCH. But your Bee Bop Pops are FANTASTIC!!! I need an entire hive. After seeing all the great reveals, yours included, I am in the mood for “Pops” again, already.
    John

  17. Tempered Woman says:

    Those look great! Of course you would make them bumblebees~ and perfect for the beginning of Spring. I think these are the cutest pops I’ve seen so far.

  24. Holly says:

    Great job! I think these are a shoe-in for the new favorite state dessert (down with green jello!). These are the most creative and cool pops I’ve seen!

  28. Shandy says:

    You are so creative! These cheesecake bubblebees are adorable and your idea for the lemon drop wings. . .how you figured that out. . .is absolutely wonderful! You definitely let your imagination go and I am so happy that I stopped by to see your creations! Beautiful! =D

  30. Lisa says:

    You did not just make wee bubblebees out of the cheesecake! YOU DID!! I heart them so very muchly!!!

    Okay so far.. you win most creative use of cheesecake, chocolate coating and lemon drops. 😀

    BEAUTIFUL!

    xoxooxoxoxoxo

  32. Tartelette says:

    Just too cute! I love bees! I have a little bee magnet that I have kept since I was 6 from an old cartoon “Maya The Bee”. Gorgeous!

  37. Sheltie Girl says:

    Fabulous job on the pops! The bees are an inspired creation. Lemon drops for the wings…pretty cool.

    Natalie @ Gluten a Go Go

  38. Courtney says:

    I freely admit I’m so jealous because these are most beautiful pops I have ever seen. You have just blown me away! I feel as if I was fingerpainting and you were creating a masterpiece.

  41. Kim says:

    You get a five star buzz from me!!! They are out of this world, just plain cute and adorable. I love how you made the chocolate and I will defineatly go this route next time I make them.
    Outstanding!!!

  43. Amy J. says:

    OK – these are the most adorable pops! So creative to make them into bees…I am in awe of your creativity!

  48. kitty says:

    these are such a great idea. i’ve seen so many creative posts already, i fear i’m going to have to make these again and get my thinking cap on. well done!

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