Heart Shaped Cake Truffles
" All this week we are posting different heart shaped foods for you to make your loved ones for Valentines Day. Below is a recipe that comes to us from Kathy Z. at Gables Vinings in Atlanta, GA.
Cake truffles a/k/a âCake Ballsâ have become all the rage across the country over the last year or two. Even Starbucks has them now, served as little treats on a stick. I donât care for the name, however, along with many others, so I came up with my own name for them; âBaby Bites.â I stumbled upon a basic recipe for these tasty morsels about two years ago, when I was looking for alternative recipes for chocolate truffles and thought they would be a great alternative to the traditional candy truffles. Based on the recipe, they would certainly be easier to make.
1 boxed cake mix, any brand, any flavor
1 can of prepared frosting, any brand, any flavor (16 oz.) Melted chocolate, pick your favorite
1. Bake the cake, according to the box, and let cool.
2. In a large bowl, destroy the cake! What? Thatâs right. This is the great part about baking the cake. You donât have to worry about how it looks. Simply crumble the cake into the bowl into fine crumbs.
3. Add the entire can of frosting and mix together until a dough forms. You might have to use your hands for this after a few strokes with a spoon. No need for a mixer here, although I suppose you could use a food process, if you have one large enough.
4. Begin to pinch off or scoop the dough out and roll into balls. Here you can just decide what size you want to make. Iâve seen them as small as one inch and as large as two inches, depending on where you get them.
5. If youâd like to use lollipop sticks, you should add them at this point and place on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet. If not, just leave the sticks out. Theyâre really not necessary.
6. Place in the freezer overnight, if thereâs time. If not, at least for several hours. This makes it easier to dip them.
7. Dip them into the chocolate. This is the only tricky part, and thereâs really no perfect way to do this, unless youâre a pro, which Iâm not. See the tips below.
8. Place dipped Baby Bites on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet and put in the freezer for one minute. This helps the chocolate set. There will be pools of chocolate around the bottom, unless you use a round, plastic chocolate mold. If you use a mold, the wax paper and cookie sheet are not necessary.
9. Cut any remaining chocolate from around the bottom and decorate, if desired. (See tips)
10. Enjoy them while they last!
11. Store at room temperature or in the fridge for a week. If you store them in the fridge, however, they will have condensation on them if they sit on the counter long enough. Theyâre still yummy, though!
Tip 1: Chocolate â you can use any brand you want, even chocolate chips. Iâve bought the expensive dipping chocolate, chocolate wafers, chocolate bricks and chocolate chips. If you use chocolate chips, though, be sure to add 1 tbsp. vegetable oil per bag of chocolate before you melt them. This makes the chocolate smoother for dipping.
Tip 2: Be sure to follow the manufacturerâs instructions for melting. I use the microwave, but I use 50% power for 1 minute, stir, then microwave at 30-second intervals at 50% power, stirring between, until the chocolate is smooth.(WHITE CHOCOLATE can be very difficult to melt, because of the milk solids that are in it. If youâre going to use white chocolate, itâs best to buy either the bark or the chocolate especially made for dipping. If itâs lumpy, itâs burned. And no matter what you do to it, it stays that way.)
Tip 3: Dipping â Iâve tried spoon, fork, candy fork, toothpicks, wooden skewers, you name it. The toothpicks leave a smaller hole than the wooden skewers, but theyâre also flimsy and they usually wonât hold onto the Baby Bites very long. What works best for me is a spoon, but you may have to experiment to find what works best for you. Whichever utensil you use, be sure to dip and place on wax paper quickly, as the chocolate will cool and be difficult to work with.
Tip 4: If youâve used the lollipop sticks, they wonât come out, and admittedly, theyâre easier to dip completely in the chocolate. Theyâre just harder to store, and thatâs why I donât prefer them.
Tip 6: Work in small batches. I normally take 12 out of the freezer at a time.
Tip 6: Place the bowl of chocolate on a heating pad set to low to keep the chocolate from cooling too quickly.
Tip 7: You can double wrap these in wax paper and place in a dated freezer bag before you dip them and simply take them out whenever you want a quick treat. You donât have to make them all at once. They should last in the freezer for at least three months.
Tip 8: If you have leftover melted chocolate, donât throw it away. Spoon it into a plastic container and put it in the freezer for a few minutes. Then break it up and place it into a baggie for later use. It can be melted again for another batch.
At one point, I thought I might make a business out of this; however, in Tennessee, Health Department regulations require a separate kitchen, so it wasnât in the cards. Dang! At the time, no one in town was offering these anywhere. Why is it that great ideas and money never seem to be in the same decade in my life? Oh, well, on to the recipe of the day, along with a photo and some ideas for other combinations and shapes.
After I began making these, one to always think out of the box, I experimented with different flavors combinations. The first one Iâll give you is the latest Iâve done, at my daughterâs suggestion. I made a chocolate cake from scratch, but feel free to use a boxed mix instead. I used half the cake mixed with blueberry and strawberry jam and dipped in dark chocolate. The other half of the cake was used for the following:
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BABY BITES (Variation)
1/2 Chocolate sheet cake (9X13)
3/4 Cup Hersheyâs Caramel Syrup
Wiltonâs Dark Chocolate Wafers (1 bag) (Follow the instructions above)
Carrot cake/cream cheese frosting/white chocolate Red Velvet cake/strawberry jam/milk chocolate Cinnamon break/cream cheese frosting/white chocolate Fudge cake/dark chocolate frosting/dark chocolate, mint flavoring Yellow cake/lemon frosting/white chocolate
These donât have to be round either. You can flatten the mixture and cut them out with cookie cutters and then dip them. You can also put them in ice cube trays, to make cube shapes. One other option is a plastic 3d mold for cookies or soap. You get the idea. Have fun, think out of the box, and make it your own! If all else fails, eat them without the chocolate. Theyâre really good that way too.
LAST TIPS: Donât want to try an entire cake? Buy a slice or two off cake from the bakery section of the grocery store, mix it all up and dip in chocolate. The frosting is already there, right? You can also decorate these with melted chocolate drizzled over the top, dip in candy sprinkles before the chocolate melts, or just about anything else you can think of. If you want to be inspired with decoration, check out Austin Cake Balls online. They do amazing work!
Questions? Comments? Ideas to share? We'd love to read them, as always. If you decide to try them, share you own photos.
