Chocolate Cake Truffles

I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather or the fact that I have A LOT of idle time with my kids this winter vacation week but, we’ve loved making “No Bake” sweets in the kitchen.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been cooking a bit but, it’s more enjoyable constructing delectable treats that are simple to make. Today we made Chocolate Cake Truffles.

I’m not sure where I got this baking itch.  Mom was celebrated for her seemingly complicated desserts, save the Earthquake Cookies and Banana Chocolate Chip loaf.  She’d whip out the three-layer tortes or the hazelnut roles, but I don’t remember her ever being interested in the festive, kitschy no-bake treats.  Don’t get me wrong, she could resign herself to bake brownies-from-a-mix once in a while but then she’d always add her special twist.  I’m realizing that, in the 70’s-80’s without the benefit (or interest) in surfing the internet for some fun recipes ideas, Mom stuck to the basics and enhanced the recipes herself.  For us, with one click, we’re opened up to a world of baking possibilities, with pictures, videos and step-by-step instructions to boot.  That’s where I got the idea for the Cake Truffles, when I stumbled upon Kristen Knook’s blog.

Ok, there is a small part to this recipe that requires actually turning on the oven and baking (but, you only have to use pre-made cake mix, I promise). You can use any cake boxed mix you desire, we chose Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge Cake. The baking soon becomes a distant memory when you get to literally take the freshly-baked cake and rip it to tiny pieces.  Let me repeat.  You get to tell your kids to take the cake and RIP IT TO PIECES!

Chocolate cake post-tear session

Isn’t this every kids’ dream?  That was probably the highlight to this project.

Once the chocolate cake was completely unidentifiable, we scooped in some vanilla icing and mixed everything together to make a batter consistency. Again, you can use whatever flavor icing you desire.

We rolled out the cake into little balls and carefully placed them on a cookie sheet for some overnight freezing.

The next morning, it was time to experiment with different chocolates to determine the ideal consistency in which to roll the cold cake balls!  We tried melting and using semi-sweet Baker’s Chocolate which proved to be a bit too clumpy and it hardened fairly quickly (not to mention insanely messy).  It was difficult to roll the balls around in that chocolate without having them tear apart or stick to our fingers.

Next up, the Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.  They melted very quickly and spread easily because we became resourceful and used some s’mores campfire roasting sticks from the pantry.  We decided to poke the balls and roll them around in the chocolate so we wouldn’t have to use our fingers (although I’m certain my kids would have opted for fingers).

using sticks to cover balls with chocolate

For the topping, we crushed up the leftover peppermint sticks from the Peppermint Bark we made two weeks ago.

crushed peppermint

We sprinkled the balls with tiny pieces and, satisfied with our results, popped the completed balls back into the freezer to let the chocolate harden.

Only twenty minutes later, we celebrated our dazzling Chocolate Truffle Balls!

The texture variations between the hard peppermint and crusted chocolate outside against the spongy cake-like centers are quite pleasing.   But, beware, this is one insanely sweet treat.

Final truffles

Eat just one truffle and you’ll be bouncing off the walls…

Comments

  1. You cannot go wrong with a box mix, I tell you all my cake balls are that way:) Yours look great, I think the peppermint on it would be very tasty I will have to try it next year:)

  2. These are great 🙂

  3. Look how delicious those look too! Oh I’m loving your blog!!!

  4. These look fantastic! Can’t wait to try them! Thanks for sharing!

  5. these look like christmas to me and bet are tasty as well come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

  6. OMG! These look and sound fabulous! Thanks for linking up at Muffin Monday!

  7. Yum yum. And the look so pretty!

  8. Yummy treats! Just saw your blogpost on the blog hop for #welcome2012, check this page for more info, and let me know; http://litebite.in/event-wwc/

    cheers!!

  9. I love the fact that I can use a gluten free cake mix for this recipe! And aren’t truffles the stuff that dreams are made of?! Thanks for sharing!

  10. These look so yummy! My family and I are addicted to these sweet desserts and it seems I can never make enough of them often enough. I haven’t ever tried adding a sprinkle to the top, but I love the idea of using the peppermint. I am going to have to give that a go the next time I make some…maybe today? Dang, now you’ve got me craving them. (Is that a good thing at 8 in the morning?)

    Thanks for linking up at Shindig Saturday! Maybe next week you can send me a sample? (grin)

  11. YUM. Peppermint and chocolate is always a winning combo!

  12. Looks like you had fun, and those truffles look so yummy! What a great way to use up candy canes as well. Thank you for sharing this recipe with Let’s Do Brunch.

  13. Oh my goodness, these look SO yummy! Now I’m hungry… 😉

    Stopping by from WILW!

  14. WANT ONE NOW!!! Those look awesome. Thanks for linking them up to Sweets for a Saturday. Hope you’ll join in again.

  15. Yummy! I love cake balls. Thanks for sharing it with Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits. I hope you will come back this week.

  16. Tfhese looks so delicious. Can’t wait to try them and so perfect for Valentines day! Thank you so much for linking up to “Strut Your Stuff Saturday.” We hope you’ll be back to share more ideas with us next Saturday.
    -The Sisters

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