Peanut Butter & Jam (filled) Cake Pops (shh, there’s greek yogurt involved)
Can I tell you the truth about my relationship with peanut butter!? I love peanut butter on apples. However, I’m not the biggest fan of peanut butter cookies (I know, I’m crazy). Plus, I’m totally picky about the brand of peanut butter I use - if it’s with apples, has to be Mara Natha. But please, if you make these, use Skippy. It’s just sooo peanut-buttery and has a strong enough punch of flavor for this cake, am I making sense?! Also, use jam or preserves (please), not jelly preferably.
I have had this vision of peanut butter cake bites filled with raspberry jam for quite some time. I finally fulfilled my vision and it exceeded my expectations, by far!
It is not only a great back to school treat for the kiddos, but I could scarf down more than my share of these.
I will forewarn you though: the aroma of this creamy, peanut buttery goodness seeping out of your kitchen will have you picking at this cake before it is in cake pop form. For your own sanity, you may as well cut a fresh piece to nibble on while transforming the rest into pops. The cake tastes similar to a peanut butter cookie, but 10x better in my opinion. It is a dense, smooth, moist and creamy cake that melts in your mouth.
This peanut butter recipe (originally for cupcakes) was a version created by Martha Stewart. I used the {slightly} adapted version by Brown Eyed Baker and then I ever so slightly adapted it, again. My secret ingredient? Greek yogurt. I was just being health conscious, substituting naughty stuff for good stuff.
Peanut Butter and Jam (filled) Cake Pops
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup salted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
8 oz. cream cheese cake frosting
bamboo fork toothpicks (here, or any wide toothpick/lollipop stick)
wooden dowel (to create indent for adding jam)
2 (16 oz) packages Vanilla CANDIQUIK Coating
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
raspberry jam or preserves (or your choice of flavor)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and peanut butter together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is well incorporated. Reduce speed to low and mix in greek yogurt and vanilla extract.
Gradually add the flour mixture; beat until just combined.
Pour batter into a greased 13×9″ pan.
Bake approximately 28 minutes or until the center comes out clean and edges are golden brown. Let cool.
Once cool, crumble cake into a large bowl. Add frosting and mix thoroughly.
Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place in the refrigerator until firm (approximately 30 minutes).
Remove mixture and use a wooden dowel to create a deep hole in the center of each cake ball; reserving 5 cake balls.
Using a toothpick or small measuring spoon, spoon a small amount of jam into each hole.
Using the reserved cake balls, pinch a small amount off and use your fingers to smooth it over and seal the hole that you filled with jam.
Place the jam-filled cake balls in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Melt CANDIQUIK according to package directions. Once melted, stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of peanut butter into each package of coating. Transfer the CANDIQUIK into a deep bowl (I used a large measuring cup or a deep, wide coffee mug works great, too).
Remove cake balls from freezer (*remove a dozen or so to work with at a time and keep remaining cake balls in the freezer until ready to use – please see tips at the bottom of this post), dip the tip of the bamboo toothpick into the CANDIQUIK and insert about 1/3 of the way into the cake ball. Dip cake pop immediately in the CANDIQUIK, removing promptly. Allow excess coating to drip off and set on wax paper to dry completely.
*I typically don’t FREEZE cake pops, but I did with these because of the jam filling. Again, with any cake pops, be careful not to store in the freezer too long – otherwise they may crack after you dip them in the candy coating. These however, I did not have any problems with cracking because they were upright cake pops (sitting on the bottom) and that allows them to expand (through the bottom) without cracking. I do not recommend keeping them in the freezer longer than 20 minutes, prior to dipping.
Oh, you probably want that printable cake pop tag, too?! Click and print the jpeg image below or save the pdf. Simply print on cardstock, cut out and you’re ready to go!
Printable PB&J Cake Pop Tags
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dededos
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
prguitarman