Makes about 50 truffles
February 16 is a special day in my family. Why you ask? Well that day is my dad’s birthday. This year wasn’t just another birthday though, it was a special one. February 16, 2019 my dad turned 65. Yep one of those milestone ages.
Normally I get my dad a gift card from his favorite store for his birthdays, but I wanted to do something special this year. I decided to send my dad a box with a few diy gifts. Of course, as a chocolatier I had to bake him something. Cakes aren’t my specialty, so I wanted to try something different.
This year I sent my dad Happy Birthday Cake Truffles. They are very easy to make and festive for the occasion. Oh, and they are great for all ages.
It’s time to forget about the cake and make these birthday bite size treats!
Ingredients:
· 1 box Funfetti cake mix (ok to use yellow or white cake and sprinkles as an alternative)
· Vegetable oil and eggs as directed on the cake mix box
· 1 container of funfetti icing (ok to use white icing as an alternative)
· 36 oz white chocolate chips (about 3- 12 oz packages)
· 4.5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Other Supplies:
· Parchment paper/wax paper
· 9 x 9 cake pan (or similar)
· Microwave safe bowl
· Truffle dipper or spoon
· Sprinkles of your choosing for decorating
Directions:
1. Mix and bake the cake as directed on the box. If you are using plain yellow or white cake, mix a couple of handfuls of sprinkles in the batter before baking. Your cake doesn’t have to be pretty. You will be mashing it up later.
2. Let the cake cool.
3. Once the cake is cool, crumble the cake in a large bowl and mix with the container of icing until well combined.
4. Put the cake mixture in the freezer and let set for a couple of hours. You just want the mixture to get hard.
5. After the mixture is done chilling, roll 1-inch balls of cake mixture. This will be the inside of your truffles.
6. Melt the white chocolate chips and shortening together in the microwave. Melt the chocolate for one minute and then mix. If your chocolate needs more melting time, melt in 20 second bursts and mix after each melting time. Be cautious not to over melt because you can burn the chocolate and it will get clumpy. Also, the chips may not look melted when you first take the out of the microwave, but as you mix and melt they will become more viscous. As you mix, it is ok to have a few small clumps of unmelted chocolate in your melted chocolate. You can leave it as is or strain your chocolate. You can melt all 36 ounces at once or you can melt 12 ounces at a time. You can use about 1.5 tablespoons of shortening for each 12 ounces of chocolate.
7. Dip your cake balls in the white chocolate with a spoon or truffle dipper and let them set on parchment/wax paper.
8. If you want to decorate the truffles, make sure you decorate them right away, so the sprinkles will stick.
9. Let the truffles set the remainder of the way until hard. You can put them in the refrigerator to help with this process.
Note: Keep truffles in the refrigerator until ready to serve. They have tendency to expand when warming and could crack the chocolate shell.
You have now created an easy, alternative to the traditional birthday cake. Happy celebrating and enjoy!
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