Happy Cakes Bakes: Hippity, Hoppity Easter's On It's Way!

I'm gearing up to go away for the holiday weekend... I'll be away from the internet, no cell service, almost like a vacation! But before I left I wanted to leave you with a fun Easter project!

Cake balls, truffles and pops are the new "it" dessert! They started out as a way for bakers to use their cake scraps (check out Bakerella to see all the fun things she's done with them!), and now you can buy them at your local Starbucks! I've made cake pops a few times before (a great last-minute "mom, I need to bring something for a party tomorrow at school" idea!)... So after I made some amazingly delicious cupcakes (OMG! Cupcakes) to test a recipe, I decided to make some Easter Egg Cake Truffles with the leftovers (even my little family cannot eat an entire batch of cupcakse!).

The great thing about cake truffles, is you don't have to bake a cake to make them (you can, but don't have to...). Just save your cake scraps in the freezer! Have left over cupcakes? Scrape the frosting off and freeze the cake, pull it out and thaw when you're ready to use them!

So here's what you do if you want to make these delicious treats for your family!

Add your cake scraps to a bowl (I used leftover cupcakes- scrape off the frosting first!)

Mash up your cake crumbs! My cupcakes were filled and very moist, I did not need to add extra frosting... However, if your cake crumbs don't stick together, add about 1/4 C frosting at a time, you want them to just stick together, not be a mushy mess....

Roll your "dough" into egg shapes, mine are a little big, I made them actual egg size... this is probably 4 truffles in one! Next time I would go with about 1" or 1-1/2" balls...

Lay your cake-crumb-eggs out on a parchment lined baking sheet, and pop them in the freezer for about 30min to an hour (you want them nice and chilled so they don't fall apart when you coat them with the candy melts)

Melt 1 package of white candy melts (I used Wilton brand) in a double boiler... you can add a tbsp at a time of vegetable shortening until you get a good consistency for coating

Using a fork (or two) roll the frozen or semi-frozen truffles in the candy melts to coat. Lift the cake truffle with a fork and gently tap with another fork to remove the excess candy coating...

After your candy coating has set up it's time to decorate! I am using Wilton Candy Colors, thinned with a bit of vodka... next time I will try my regular gel colors... (I found the oil-based candy colors sticky and messy!)