Cake pops made lighter by using a box cake mix, egg whites and fat free Greek yogurt – no oil, no butter required!

Today is my daughter Madison’s 3rd birthday!

She is having a little birthday party in school and I was asked to bring something that wasn’t too messy, so I thought cake pops would be perfect! But then I remembered lollipop sticks and 3 yr olds aren’t such a great idea, so after thumbing though the Bakerella Cake Pops book for ideas we decided on cake balls that look like little cupcakes.

Cake pops are all the rave thanks to the very talented Bakerella^[1], but using the traditional method of crumbling the cake with frosting adds a lot of calories to each pop. The only way to make them lighter is by using a cake pop pan, rather than the original method; it’s quicker and easier too! I tested out my lighter cake box recipe to see how they would turn out, and it worked like a charm!

I played around with a few cake pop pans and machines out there and realized they are not all created equal. After testing out a bunch of them, I had huge success with the Nordicware cake pop pan^[2], which is only about $16 at Target.

So today, in honor of my daughter’s birthday I am giving away the Nordicware Cake Pop Pan, and Bakerella’s Cake Pop Book on Skinny Bits^[3] (courtesy of Target). Giveaway ends Wednesday evening, so hurry!

Now be warned, these are FAR lighter than traditional cake pops, but they are dipped in chocolate, which will add up if you eat a lot, so you’ll still need some self control! Dark chocolate, of course is the healthiest option, but for color purposes today I went with white chocolate. Candy melts (available at Michael’s) were used for my daughter’s cake balls.

Skinny Cake Pops
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 48 • Size: 1 cake pop • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 3 pt
Calories: 102.5 • Fat: 4 g • Carb: 15 g • Fiber: 0 g • Protein: 1.4 g • Sugar: 7 g
Sodium: 68 mg

Ingredients:

• 16.5 oz package yellow cake mix
• 6 oz plain fat-free Greek yogurt (Chobani)
• 1 cup water
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• baking spray
• 48 oz Baker’s white chocolate (20 oz calculated in n.i)*
• sprinkles (optional)
• 48-50 lollipop sticks
• styrofoam block

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a the cake pop pan with baking spray.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat until combined. Place the batter into a pastry bag or large ziplock bag with the tip cut off.


Pipe the batter into the prepared cake pop pan and bake about 18 minutes (I rotated the pan after 10 minutes to be sure they baked evenly). Let it rest 5 minutes before opening the pan.

Place cake balls on a wire rack and repeat with remaining batter. Using a scissor, cut the seam off the balls.

Refrigerate the cake balls for about 45 minutes, this helps the chocolate stick to the cake.

Melt some of the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions, careful not to burn the chocolate. Insert the tip of the stick into the melted chocolate, then into the cake ball (this helps hold the stick in place).

In batches, melt remaining chocolate. Dip the cake pops into the chocolate, let the excess drip off then place stick on a styrofoam block about a minute, then add sprinkles on top if using.

Makes 48-50 balls.

*I weighed the chocolate on each ball to calculate the nutritional info. Although the recipe calls for 48 oz of chocolate, not all of it will be used, but you will still need to buy extra so you have enough to coat the cake balls. I calculated 0.4 oz of chocolate on each cake ball.

References

1. ^{^} Bakerella (www.bakerella.com)
2. ^{^} Nordicware cake pop pan (www.target.com)
3. ^{^} Skinny Bits (www.skinny-bits.com)