Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Pops
Decadently rich, smooth and creamy cheesecake covered in luscious milk chocolate then drizzled with caramel and white chocolate. These Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Pops have become legendary at my house.
The Daring Bakers challenge for April 2008 was cheesecake pops chosen by Elle of Feeding my Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell. It is a rich, delicious, creamy cheesecake recipe.
The recipe makes a 10-inch cheesecake and it makes a lot of pops! I used a #30 scoop, and made about 40 delicious pops. Decorated caramel apples were my inspiration and I drizzled them with caramel and white chocolate.
These cheesecake pops were a big hit with my family and neighbors. In fact, my neighbor requested them for her birthday the following year, and ever year since that first year in 2008.
Since it was her birthday month again, I decided it was time to update the post with some better photos and share them again.
If hope you’ll give them a try. They would be a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert.
Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Pops
Ingredients
- 5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature (40-ounces total)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Boiling water as needed
- Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
- 2 pounds chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional
Instructions
- Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
- In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
- Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 45 - 55 minutes.
- Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
- When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
- Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
- Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.
- Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.
Notes
Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible
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Will these be stable enough to stand right side up on cake pop sticks after being frozen overnight and last through a wedding reception without thawing and falling off the sticks?
Hi Jaz – I haven’t tried them in a cake pop stand and would recommend you do a test run. However, if you do a good sturdy layer of chocolate the chocolate does not break when it gets warm, it holds its shape. If you’re serving them in a cake pop stand, you’ll want to decorate the bottom of the cheesecake pop instead of the stick side. Also, I wouldn’t put too many out at a time at the reception so that the cheesecake stays chilled.
I will be making these for a friend, can the be frozen once dipped in chocolate??
Hi Laura – yes, you can freeze them once they’re dipped in chocolate. I make some for a friend for her birthday and she hides them away in the freezer and just eats one occasionally.
These cheesecakes look awesome, and your photos are gorgeous, Barbara.
I absolutely love them and want one now 🙂
Oh Barbara…these cheesecake pops look awesome…I love the chocolate cover and the caramel drizzle…awesome!
Have a great week 🙂
Thanks so much Juliana! They’re fun to make too.
These are amazing cheesecake pops- probably the best I’ve ever seen! Love the caramel drizzle on top. Your photos are gorgeous Barbara!!
That’s so nice – thank you!