Cherry Chocolate Cakesicles

Cherry Almond Cake:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease one 8-inch round cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix together milk and cherry juice. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy.
5. Add sour cream, almond extract, and salt; mix to combine.
6. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg whites, then mix to combine.
7. Starting and ending with the flour mixture, add dry ingredients and milk/cherry juice to butter mixture alternately. With mixer on low speed, mix until combined, being careful to not overmix. Scrape down bowl as necessary after each addition.
8. Fold in chopped cherries. Spread batter into prepared pan.
9. Bake for 22–26 minutes. Cake is done when a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean with only a few fluffy crumbs attached.
10. Let cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. While your cake is cooling, let’s make the cherry cream cheese frosting.
2. In a medium bowl with a handheld mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
3. Sift confectioners’ sugar into dairy mixture, then add cherry juice, almond extract, and salt. Mix until combined, scraping down bowl as necessary.

Cakesicle Assembly:

1. After your cake is totally cool, crumble it into tiny pieces into a large bowl. You’re wanting to turn the cake into very fine crumbs.
2. Add quartered cherries and chopped chocolate, mix throughout cake crumbs with your hands.
   NOTE: We didn’t add all of these cherries before we baked the cake because we didn’t want to add the extra moisture to the cake.
3. Add frosting one tablespoon at a time, mixing throughout with your hands. The texture should be moist but not overly wet—kinda like a fudgy brownie. Stop once you reach this consistency.
   NOTE: You may need more or less frosting depending on how moist your cake is. If you made your cake in advance, it will be drier and may require more frosting. If your cake is very fresh, you may need less frosting. On a humid Atlanta summer day, we used between 2–3 tablespoons with a very fresh cake for our cakesicles.
4. Fill cakesicle wells halfway with cake mixture. Insert stick and dab some melted chocolate over the stick to help it stay in place. Fill wells the rest of the way.
5. Place cakesicle mold onto a large plate or baking sheet, then freeze for 15 minutes.
6. While cakesicles are chillin’, it’s time to make the dipping chocolate. In a heatproof bowl, melt chocolate in microwave in 30-second increments until it’s mostly melted. Add coconut oil, mixing to combine and melt the rest of the chocolate. Mixture needs to cool down some but remain pourable.
   NOTE: If you dip really cold cakesicles into really warm chocolate, there’s a high likelihood that your chocolate coating will crack.
7. Take cakesicles out of freezer. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Pour dipping chocolate into a glass.
8. Hold glass at a slight angle, then dip one cakesicle into chocolate front first. Rotate and coat entire cakesicle, making sure that the very top of stick is coated as well.
9. Hold cakesicle above glass and allow excess chocolate to drip off. Gently scrape back of cakesicle across edge of glass to remove any other excess. Place on lined baking sheet.
10. Once all cakesicles have been dipped, put them in the fridge for 15 minutes for coating to harden.
    NOTE: Depending on how you want to decorate your cakesicles, you could decorate them right after dipping before putting them in the fridge.
11. If you want to add a drizzle or additional decor, remove cakesicles from fridge after 15 minutes. Drizzle chocolate on and add sprinkles.
12. Put cakesicles in fridge for an additional 15 minutes to allow drizzle to harden, then have at ‘em!