This post is also available in（こちらの言語版もある）: Japanese
Christmas is finally this week so naturally it’s time for the last Christmas-y recipe of the year. Eggnog cupcakes would be the obvious seasonally-appropriate “cocktail cupcake” so I was originally all set to make a batch of those as my last Christmas baking endeavor of the year and even had the ingredients stockpiled away. However, last week one of my Japanese coworkers brought some cupcakes she made to work and while they didn’t taste like anything terribly special, the attention to detail she put into to decorating them adorably was impressive. I’m usually the sort to put taste above looks when I bake (mostly because I am too impatient to start eating!), but upon seeing those cute little cupcakes I realized I needed to start putting a little more effort into how my baked goods looked lest I lose to people like my coworker (yes, this is cupcake war). As such, I decided that instead of making normal eggnog cupcakes, I would challenge myself to make these snowman-shaped eggnog cake pops and then call them “drunken snowmen” due to the rum content in the eggnog recipe I use (if that doesn’t kill any germs in the raw egg then I don’t know what will!).
Frankly, I could really take or leave eggnog as a beverage due to it being so sweet and thick of an alcoholic beverage, but I do like baked goods, coffee drinks, and other things that are meant to be sweet anyway that are flavored like eggnog, and these fit the bill, so if you don’t really like drinking eggnog you may still like the cake and frosting used in these as they really just taste like rich vanilla and nutmeg.
Making the eggnog cake and frosting was the easy part and I would definitely consider making those again for normal cupcakes, but of course assembling the snowman cake pops was more time consuming and a bit of challenge for someone like me who gets bored easily. I made the cake balls ahead of time and froze them so I could just concentrate on coating them in one evening, but the snowmen are pretty heavy so you have to be careful and go slowly while coating them or they will break. Speaking of coating, I ordered some candymelts this time and while I admittedly still don’t really have the dipping technique down well, using those worked better than the normal melted candy bars and looked a lot better. Unfortunately, I ran out and had to use some normal chocolate bars too, so if I ever do this again I will buy two bags.
To be honest though, I am not sure I will make something like this again any time soon. Decorating the coated snowmen by drawing their little (drunk) faces and making the Oreo hats was fun, but the cakepops are so fragile that you have to be very careful when moving them around or something will break. Probably a hat. Or a head. Or a stick. Three of them broke before I could pack them up to bring to my friend’s party, and then when I tried to carry them on the packed train with me I found many more cracked. People at the party still said they were cute, but I was still disappointed. I may be too much of a perfectionist for this.
At any rate, it was a good experience trying to make something a little more complicated than usual and I definitely have a renewed appreciation for people who make cakepops all the time. If you have a lot of free time and like cute things give these a try! And if you are impatient and get bored easily, just double the frosting recipe below and make some cupcakes ；）
- For eggnog cake:
- 1 cup (255 g) granulated sugar
- 1¾ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (75 g) Greek yogurt (or strained normal yogurt)
- ¼ cup (50 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp rum
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) eggnog (see "Notes" for an easy way to make your own)
- Eggnog frosting:
- 2 Tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (400 g) powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ounces (85 g) cream cheese
- 1-1½ Tbsp dark rum
- Nutmeg to taste
- Coating:
- 1-2 bags of candy melts (or about 320-400 g white chocolate)
- Canola oil for thinning
- Decorating:
- Lollipop sticks
- Decorator icing pens
- Oreos
- Mini Oreos
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and prepare a square cake pan.
- In a small bowl whisk together eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla, and rum until smooth.
- In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with an electric mixer. Add the butter and mix on medium low speed for three minutes.
- Add the egg mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- Slowly add the eggnog and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool.
- In the meantime, make the frosting. Beat together butter, cream cheese, rum, and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add nutmeg to taste and beat until combined.
- When the cake has cooled, break it into pieces and finely crumble it in the food processor (or by hand if you don't have a food processor).
- Put the finely crumbled cake and frosting in a bowl and incorporate it together with your hands.
- Roll the mixture into 2 tbsp and 1 tbsp sized balls (about 8 each) and refrigerate 2 hours-overnight (if you don't have time you can freeze them for about 15 minutes instead).
- Melt candy melts or white chocolate bars in the microwave. Add canola oil to thin it out if it's too thick.
- One at a time dip the end of the lollipop sticks in the chocolate and insert them halfway through the big cake balls. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until the chocolate dries.
- One at a time, dip the big cake balls in chocolate and coat them fully. Stand them upright in a box with holes or similar while they dry.
- One at a time dip just the end of the small cake balls in chocolate and put them on top of the big cake balls to make the snowman's head. Let dry.
- One at time dip the heads in the chocolate to coat them completely.
- Use remaining chocolate or icing pens to to stick two mini Oreos on top of a big Oreo and then affix it to each snowman's head to make top hats.
- Use icing pens to draw faces, scarves, and buttons on the snowmen to your liking.
- Let dry completely before transporting.
★Here is the eggnog recipe I use (found here originally), but feel free to use your own or just purchase some: beat one egg with an electric mixer until frothy. Beat in 1½ tbsp granulated sugar, ⅛ tsp vanilla, a pinch of nutmeg, and 3 tbsp dark rum. While mixing with the mixer slowly add ⅓ cup (80 ml) cream and ⅓ cup (80 ml) low-fat milk and continue mixing until thoroughly combined.
★If you have leftover eggnog you do not want to drink, dip bread slices in it and fry it in a frying pan to make decadent Christmas french toast!
Eggnog cake recipe adapted from http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2013/12/eggnog-cupcakes-with-rum-infused-frosting-100-holiday-baking-giveaway/#V5eD9q3wuqQoc8Zs.32
A lot of work — yes — but due diligence will separate the (snow) men from the boys.