Make a wish

Cake Batter Bites

How delicious do these look? Just looking at them makes me want to throw a party!

Cake Batter Truffle Bites

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-4 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons sprinkles

Truffle Coating:
16 ounces (8 squares) almond bark (or white candy melts)
4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix
sprinkles

1. Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined. Blend in vanilla.  Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

2. While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished. {Note: for smoother looking truffles, don't add cake mix to melted chocolate, just leave it by itself}

Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Enjoy!

Is it my birthday yet?

Now that's a birthday cake

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart

When I asked IKF what he wanted for his birthday cake he said chocolatey chocolate covered in chocolate.

So I found a recipe for Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart with Chocolate Crust. I was a little wary, having never tried something like this before. My track record with any recipe including whipping cream is sketchy at best, despite my mad baking skills. However,  this thing was easy enough for me to pull off and it turned out spectacular.

Therefore, in honor of my raging success at Chocolate Tart making, I give you..... the recipe (courtesy of epicurious.com).

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Farenheit.

The Crust
- 9 Chocolate Graham Crackers ground to dust (about 1 cup)
- 5 Tbps. unsalted butter, melted (not burned, like my first try)... my crust was a little dry, I might up the butter a tad next time.
- 1/4 c. sugar

Mix the ingredients together in a medium bowl, preferrable with a wooden spoon, then press into a pie pan along the bottom and up the sides. (The original recipe calls for a fluted tart tin, which I do not possess, so I used a 9" glass pyrex pie dish and it worked just fine.) Bake for 10 minutes, allow to cool for 15 minutes.

The Filling
- 9 oz. bittersweet backing chocolate, chopped up (I used 56% cacao, which was perfect)
- 1 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream

In a small sauce pan, bring the cream to a boil, then pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for 5 mins, softening and melting the chocolate. Meanwhile...

- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. salt

Whisk together eggs, vanilla and salt in a small bowl.

When the cream/chocolate mixture melting time is up, stir gently until it is smooth, then add the egg mixture and stir again until smooth. Pour into cooled crust. Bake for 20 - 25 mins until firm around the edges. If the middle is still jiggly that's ok, it will set on its own. Let it cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

The Glaze
 - 1 3/4 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped fine
- 2 Tbs heavy whipping cream

In a small sauce pan bring whipping cream to a boil then add the chocolate. Stir gently until smooth. Then add one at a time...

- 1 tsp. light corn syrup
- 1 Tbs warm water

Stir gently until smooth and pour over the cooled tart. Let cool on a rack for 1 hour.

I highly recommend it served with fresh raspberries and whipped cream.
{Original recipe, without my notes, available here.}