No-Bake Cake Batter Truffles

I am back :) It is now 12.26am. To some- this might be a normal time to be awake. For me--it is not. I like to sleep! Strike that- I LOVE TO SLEEP :) But as, I left off yesterday-- I ended up staying up, pretty much all night catching up on some reading and completing some assignments! And then still ended up working through the day to complete them. I was truly exhausted. So after, taking Ninja to the dog park, because the hubby had to work late-- I passed out! It felt so so good :) I ended sleeping and may have just woken up ;) Nothing wrong with that right?

Remember my goal of posting more dessert recipes or sweet related posts? Well- my new "thing" in trying to keep up with that-- is for every two non-dessert recipes, I would post a dessert recipe or cupcakery review.  Maybe I could convince the hubby to eat dessert for dinner? I mean, who would not love that-- and then I could post more dessert recipes! Well- I decided to make these No-Bake Cake Batter Truffles that I have seen flying around Pinterest and the internet. With all that- I was just so curious to try them! I mean- cake batter? sold! Truffles? double sold ;) That combination sounded awesome. 

For my birthday, one of the many things that I got was a My Little Cupcake Set. I was really excited to use the molds in the set: a cupcake mold along with a ball, heart and Christmas tree molds. When I have made cupcake shaped cake balls in the past (see: Carrot Cake Balls)- I have just used a mini-flower cookie cutter-- a technique I learned from Bakerella's Cake Pop book. They would come out alright- but a little bit flat on top and took quite a bit of time to shape. The My Little Cupcake- Cupcake Mold made these adorable little cupcakes in a jiffy! But I do have to say that after dipping them- some of the more detailed mold lines did show through the chocolate coating. But I did notice that on their own website (so I guess it's normal). But I can live with that, because these took no time at all to mold :) I cannot wait to try the other molds!

NO-BAKE CAKE BATTER TRUFFLES

Adapted very slightly from The Girl-Who-Ate-Everything and Chef-in-Training and Six-Sister's Stuff

INGREDIENTS

1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. yellow cake mix
2 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp. heavy cream (can substitute with milk)
3 tbsp. sprinkles
8 oz. chocolate candy melts*
8 oz. pink candy melts or chocolate bar*
1-2 tsp. vegetable oil
Mini M&Ms and Sprinkles for decoration**

* or other desired candy melt color
** optional (if you do not want to decorate)

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 6-8 minutes. Blend in vanilla. 

Sift flour and cake mix into a small bowl- then whisk together. Add dry ingredients to butter-sugar blend on low speed. Add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time to make a dough-like consistency (if, after 3 tbsp. of heavy cream- you still do not have a dough like consistency--add more cream--slowly). 

Once dough like consistency is achieved- mix in sprinkles by hand.The best way to do this is to take the dough out of the bowl, and place on a large baking mat. Add sprinkles to the top of the dough and kneed dough to spread out sprinkles. Continue to kneed dough until sprinkles are evenly distributed.

To shape Cake Batter Truffles: 
Use a cookie scoop to scoop out even sizes of dough. Then
1. Ball shape: Roll dough into balls and place on parchment paper, wax paper or aluminum foil. 

2. For cupcake shaped balls using a mini-flower cookie cutter: Roll balls into logs. Fit logs into a 1 1/4-by-3/4-inch flower-shaped cookie cutter. Push truffle mixture into the cutter halfway so that some of the cake-batter mixture extends beyond the top of the cutter. Shape extended cake-batter mixture into a cupcake-shaped top. Push cake from cutter to remove. 

3. My Little Cupcake Set mold: take dough and place into mold. Close mold (do not squeeze it shut- as it will be hard to remove the dough from mold. Instead, gently close it and let the mold do all the work :) Wipe off excess dough before opening the mold. Then open the mold, gently take the dough out and you should have a cute little cupcake shape!

*Refrigerate the truffles for 15 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the refrigerator. 

To Dip Cake Batter Truffles:

In the meantime, melt either chocolate bark or candy melts according to package directions. This is my secret, once the chocolate is melted I stir in the vegetable oil. This makes the chocolate have a smoother and shinier coating :)

For truffle balls

While holding the top of the truffle, dip the bottom portion into the candy melt. Then dip a cake pop stick into the candy melt (about 1/2 inch) and push into the center of cake truffle until, no more, than 1/2 way through. Let cool. This will make it much easier to dip the rest of the truffle- otherwise I have found that the truffles either gets stuck in the candy melt or falls off the stick. Once cool, dip the top part of the truffle and a little bit of the portion already coated into the candy melt. Cover with sprinkles. Allow to cool. Once cool, in a gentle twisting-pulling down motion, remove stick. This prevents a pool of chocolate from forming at the bottom and keeps a nice round shape to the truffle ball. 

For the cupcake shaped truffle

Dip the bottom of each cupcake into the chocolate candy melt; then dip a cake pop stick into the candy melt (about 1/2 inch) and push into the center of cake truffle until 1/2 way through. Let cool. This will make it much easier to dip the rest of the truffle (the top of the cupcake). Once cool, dip the tops of the cupcakes into the pink (or white) candy melt. Top with a mini-M&M and cover with sprinkles. Allow to cool. 

Keep refrigerated. 

Enjoy,

Chika