This Nanaimo Cake Pops tutorial is courtesy of our contributor Karen of Cake Bites by Karen…This July 1st, Canada celebrated its 150th birthday and Canada, you look pretty darn good for your age! I embarked on a bit of a Canadian baking experiment where I challenged myself to create Canada-themed treats for the week leading up to Canada Day – check out my Instagram page (Cake Bites By Karen linked above) to see how I did – shameless plug.
One dessert I featured was the Nanaimo Cake Pops.
Nanaimo bars are a Canadian dessert named after a city in British Columbia. If you’re a Canadian and have ever been to a potluck or picnic, you’ve seen or eaten a Nanaimo bar. I thought I’d try something different by turning this no-bake treat into a pop!
I based the recipe from the Kraft Canada’s Nanaimo Bars recipe but you can use what Nanaimo Bar recipe you’re familiar with.
Nanaimo Cake Pops – What You’ll Need:
- ¾ cup plus 1 Tbsp. butter, softened, divided
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups graham crumbs
- 1 cup flaked coconuts
- 2 Tbsp. Bird’s Custard Powder
- 3 Tbsp. milk
- 2 cups icing sugar
- Wilton Melting Chocolate for decorating
- Cake pop sticks
- Saran wrap
- Wax paper
Step One:
Prepare the custard and chocolate coconut crumble mixtures as directed by the Kraft recipe. Keep mixtures separated into two bowls and refrigerate both mixtures until firm.
Step Two:
Tear off several pieces of saran wrap and set aside. Take your custard mixture and spoon a portion of it onto one of the pieces of saran wrap. This will be the surprise section of your pop, so if you’ve always loved the custard section of a Nanaimo bar, then make them big but if you’re a bit more reserved, make them smaller. Gather the ends of the saran wrap and twist – using the wrap to form the custard into a ball. Repeat to make as many custard balls, as desired. Place the custard balls in the freezer to solidify.
Step Three:
Take your chocolate coconut crumble mixture and roll into a ball and then flatten to resemble a patty.
Step Four:
Remove your solid custard balls and place into the centre of the flattened chocolate coconut “patties.” Wrap the patties around the custard balls. Refrigerate the combined balls until ready to dip into chocolate.
Step Five:
Now at this point you can decide whether to make Nanaimo pops (with sticks) are just make Nanaimo truffles (without sticks).
Nanaimo Truffles: If you prefer to make truffles, simply drop the combined balls into melted chocolate and roll the ball until it is fully covered. Remove the ball with a fork, tapping on the bowl’s edge to remove any excess chocolate and place on wax paper to dry. You can then decorate it with coconut or Canadian flag – whatever you want!
Nanaimo Pops: If you want to go the Nanaimo pop route, make sure the combine custard/chocolate coconut ball is firm and not soft. You don’t want the ball to shatter and crack when you push in your treat stick. You can place the ball in the freezer for a very short time – not too long as you don’t want it frozen (you’ll never be able to put your treat stick in the frozen ball). Once firm (and this takes practice to know when it’s ready), treat your Nanaimo ball like a cake pop. Dip your treat stick into the chocolate and poke it into the custard/chocolate coconut ball. Let the stick and ball set up so they fused together. Once attached, dip the ball into chocolate and decorate as you like.
So there you have it – a new take on a Canadian classic. Hope you try it and enjoy it!
Happy 150th everyone!
Thank you to our contributor Karen for this fun ice cream stuffed cake pops tutorial! Check out more of her cake pop creations on her Cake Bites by Karen Instagram page.
