A Paleo Party, with a Cake Pop Demo!

Last night I went to a paleo party that my trainer Jay put together for his peeps at CrossFit All In.  We are doing a food challenge at the gym and people were getting bored with eating the same salad and chicken breast day in and day out.  So he asked a few people to demo how to make something, and everyone else to bring a delicious paleo dish or drink and to bring copies of the recipe for everyone to take one home.  It was a HUGE success!  The food dishes were all amazing, and we had a great time learning about new food and enjoying the company of fellow CrossFitters.  Jay asked me to demo a dessert, and so....enter cake pops.

I let everyone create their own.  I made a chocolate cake and a coconut cake, and brought chopped up almonds, pecans and unsweetened shredded coconut to adorn the outside of the chocolate coated cake. The coconut cake was everyone's favorite, it was like eating a cake "Mounds" bar!  Drooling yet?! 

Cake Pops

1 chocolate and/or coconut cake, recipes follow
6 bars dark chocolate, I use Trader Joe's Organic Super Dark Chocolate it is 73% cacao and does NOT contain soy lecithin.
Bamboo skewers, sharp ends trimmed off and cut the skewers in half
Chopped almonds
Chopped pecans
Unsweetened shredded coconut

Pull chunks off of the cake and roll into 1"-2" balls.  You may need to just eat the edges of the cakes because they may be too dry to hold the shape of the balls :) Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 15 minutes.   In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over medium heat.  Take one skewer and dip it into the chocolate, about 1/2" down on the stick.  Immediately put a ball on the skewer.

  Dip the ball into the melted chocolate, coating it completely (but not leaving it in the hot chocolate too long because it WILL fall off).  Gently tap the skewer on the side of the pan to allow the excess chocolate to drizzle back into the pan.

Roll the cake pop into your desired topping.

Allow the cake pop to cool, and enjoy!  When making large batches of these, I stick the finished cake pops into a piece of styrofoam so they can cool and I can continue the process.

Chocolate Cake (makes about 24 balls)
(From "the Gluten-free Almond Flour cookbook")

2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup raw honey
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease (with coconut oil!) and flour (with almond flour!) an 8 inch cake pan.
Combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine the honey, eggs and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.Cool the cake completely. Pull chunks off of the cake and roll into 1-2" balls.  Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 15 minutes.

Coconut Cake (makes about 24 balls)

4 eggs
3/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
3/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease (with coconut oil) and flour (with coconut flour) an 8 inch cake pan.  Combine the eggs, oil, honey and milk in a bowl with a whisk..  Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and shredded coconut and blend well.  Spoon into prepared cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Pull off chunks of the cake (excluding the thicker outer layers of this cake, it is NOT moist enough to hold it's shape) and roll into 1-2" balls.  Place balls onto a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 15 minutes.