Mash and roll

Cake truffles

I resolved to bake more often until the new year, but I didn't have to do that with these confections. If these truffles had a subtitle, it would be Dessert Part II since their prequel was a chocolate cream cake - well, that's as far back in this cake's life as I can go because it's from a bakery chain and I don't know what kind of synthetic stuff goes into their cake mix.

These truffles are made from the leftover cake plus the last few pieces of pecan shortbread I had made a week ago. ("Real" chocolate truffles are made from chocolate ganache, a combination of chocolate and cream.) All it takes to make them is to crumble the cake and shortbread (can be done with forks, fingers or in a food processor), refrigerate the mixture for a bit, roll into balls and then coat them with either cocoa powder or dessicated coconut. Gussy them up by placing each one in a nice mini paper cup. Easy, right?

Here are some recipes for cake truffles from
group recipes
bakespace
and here's an interesting one from the popular site, The Kitchn.

As the binding agent - the thing that holds the crumbs together - some recipes use frosting, others use cream cheese. My cake already came with the cream between the layers so I didn't have to add anything else.

The most important thing to remember is to ensure that the texture of the cake crumbs isn't too wet or dry. Minced nuts or coconut add bulk, firmness and taste, or add more of the binding agent to moisten the truffles up. Whatever it is, you need to get your hands into the mix and feel it to know what to do to get the right texture. Then, even store-bought cake won't leave a bad taste in the mouth the second time around.