I had the best time the other day baking with Leslie Durso, aka, Veggie Dream Girl. We thought we’d experiment together by making our first batches of Cake Pops (also known as Cake Balls or Truffles). The first time I had Cake Pops I about died on the spot. I was convinced that this dessert was going to be the new cupcakes. Hmmm. Let’s put a pin in that thought.
WHAT ARE CAKE POPS? Cake Pops sound so simple at first. You mash cake and icing together, roll the mixture into balls, and then coat them in chocolate!
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
We decided to make one batch Banana Bread with Butterscotch Frosting, dipped in Milk chocolate and one batch Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, dipped in White chocolate.
The process clearly revealed that the quality of ingredients and the proportions make a world of difference. We put too much frosting in the red velvet cake mix, which resulted in them tasting way too sweet. Leslie was also turned off by the brand of melting chocolate that we used, though I appreciated it’s ability to firm up as quickly as it did.
We also wondered if cake truffles really need normal, sugary icing. When you have such a sweet chocolate shell, something a bit sour, like plain cream cheese mixed in with the cake might help to temper the sugar. Or perhaps throw in benign ingredients like walnuts, pecans or pistachios, depending on your cake choices. Another option would simply be to use a less sweet chocolate to coat the balls.
While our first attempt didn’t yield 5-cherry Cake Pops, they sure looked tasty! 🙂
Partners in crime
Leslie Sarna & the Dessert Darling
Check out Leslie’s blog by clicking here!
you ladies (and your balls – er, truffles) are gorgeous!
Yum! that looks really delicious. Is that sea salt on top of the milk chocolate?
I think I sell this at my store any ways the chocolate looks delicious.
It can be sea salt! But in this case it’s decorative sugar 😉
Actually, one does have sea salt and one has sugar in that picture : )
My only experience making cake truffles was after I dropped three freshly baked cakes and needed to figure out what to do with all of the crumbs. I ended up mixing them with cream cheese frosting and dipping them in tempered bittersweet chocolate. I think the tartness of the cream cheese and the bitter coating helped keep the truffles from being too sweet. On the other hand, butterscotch frosting and banana bread sounds pretty amazing too.
this is such a cute blog! i love your apron. 🙂
Um…like the style of your writing.*_*
All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Do you think so?
How about striving for personal wellbeing and meaning?
I’ve never made a cake pop but I’ve eaten a few. I keep telling myself I’m going to make some and I have some great ideas but the day hasn’t happened yet. 🙂
Hi Dessert Darling,
One of my friends makes these on a regular basis and she adds a little dry champagne to both the frosting/cake batter portion and the final coating. This cuts the need to use lots of sweet sugary frosting for both parts and tastes amazing!!! I think that there are some recipes online that use champagne – though my friend has sort of come up with her own recipe after tweaking a few over time.