One thing that I make every year at Christmas-time for many of my pals is cake truffles.
There's a couple of reasons for this. One, I love to bake cakes, and Two, there is something so satisfying about baking a perfect cake, cooling it, and then crumbling the entire thing. Super satisfying.
Anyway, cake truffles are pretty simple, and as I have a plethora of pumpkin from the garden this year, I thought it would be fun to craft a cake truffle using a couple of my favorite flavors, pumpkin and cream cheese.
So, to start with, I whipped up a very simple, yet tasty pumpkin cake. Wait, I lied, the first thing I did was whip up a batch of pumpkin pie spice because I had used all mine. Yes, like most other things around here, I make my own pumpkin pie spice. The interwebs is loaded with recipes to make your own, and I really like doing that because I am lazy and hate running to town and more than a bit frugal. Why buy something when I can make it out of things I already have in my cupboard?
Homesteading assertion aside, I whipped up a respectable amount of pumpkin pie spice and then whipped up the cake. It only took two bowls to do so, and before an hour had elapsed I had a pumpkin cake cooling on the counter.
Since my brain actually functioned yesterday, I also had some room temperature cream cheese and butter on the counter too. It was a Christmas miracle! I remembered to take them out! Can you tell it is a rare event that I remember to do so?
Anyway, I then whipped up a full batch of cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting is one of those things I am never sorry to have a surplus of around. Seriously, I would love to sit and just eat a bowl full of it like it was top shelf curds and whey or something. Curse you sugar for making me feel like garbage!
Rant aside, after whipping up the frosting, I measured out a bit for the truffle composition part. To make cake truffles, you crumble an entire cake (9X13) into a mixing bowl and add frosting. Then you beat it all together until it's a nice moldable mixture. Then you roll tablespoon sized balls and place them onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined tray.
Next, you chill the balls, I usually place mine in the freezer for about 30-45 minutes (or until I remember them) and then I dip the truffles into melted almond bark or chocolate. Since they are already pre-chilled, the truffles set up nicely and voila! Holiday candy for the masses!
That said, it is really, really hard to not eat about thirty-six of them while you are making them, so I recommend weighing yourself before you start baking or chewing some really, really minty gum. It helps.
And on that note, I shall leave you with my Pumpkin Cake Truffles recipe, because they are super yum!
Pumpkin Cake Truffles
Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2-2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
3 large eggs (room temp is best)
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of pumpkin puree (canned from the store is fine, I used frozen and thawed from my own pumpkin roasting stock).Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9X13 inch pan.
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, add eggs, pumpkin, and vegetable oil. Mix until very well-combined.
Next, add in dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into greased baking pan and bake for 32-40 minutes (metal pans bake faster than glass). You want to engage the toothpick test for this one because different types of pumpkin change the moisture content in this recipe, so just start checking your cake for doneness at the 30 minute mark.
Set cake aside to cool completely
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) room temperature
4 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 TBSP whole milkCream butter and cream cheese together, add vanilla extract, beat, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Slowly add milk 1 TBSP at a time, beating the frosting after each addition. Once you get the consistency to your liking, beat the frosting for a few more minutes with your mixer to make it super light and fluffy.
Truffle Assembly
Crumble cooled pumpkin cake into a stand mixer bowl (or mixing bowl if you have a regular mixer), add 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of the cream cheese frosting and beat to combine. You want to thoroughly combine the cake and frosting to a texture that lets you roll the truffles out. But don't beat it to a pulp either!
Next, roll out Tablespoon sized balls and place them onto a wax or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. One cake usually makes around 4-5 dozen truffles.
Chill the truffles for at least 30-45 minutes in the freezer.
Once the truffles are chilled, melt almond bark according to the manufacturer's instructions. You can also use melted chocolate. I do this in the microwave, heating for thirty seconds at a time and stirring until my dipping coating is silky smooth.
Dip truffles into the melted coating, one at a time, repeating the process until they are all covered. I use a fork for this as it allows the excess coating to drip away.
If the truffles are to be a gift, I recommend hiding them in a hidden recess in your fridge so that they actually survive long enough to be delivered. They are that good! They keep well in the refrigerator, probably for at least a week, but to be honest I have never had any last that long!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's slightly coated in almond bark iPhone.