Apple Cinnamon Spice Cake Truffles!

Don't you hate when you hear someone say "That was my idea! I should have patented it when I thought of it!"  Well, I'm going to say it.  I have been making these "cake truffles", as I call them, for years.  Now it seems as if everyone is banking off of them.  :-P  Cake balls, cake pops, cake truffles, whatever you want to call them, are wonderful either way.  Personally, I love them because they are bite sized and the perfect amount of sweetness.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth.  If I go out for ice cream, I always get the 'kids size' because if I eat anything more than that, I feel sick.  Cake truffles are perfect because you have better control over how much you eat.  You can eat just one, or you can eat a few to equal what a normal piece of cake would be anyway.  Maybe I just have a weird thing for "bite sized" treats...  I tend to make all of my cupcakes and muffins in the mini size as well.

Anyway, I thought I would share my most recent baking success with you all.  They were a pretty big hit in my household, so maybe they will be in yours as well.  You can always change things around to fit your own taste or diet (peanut allergies, anyone?) so play around with it and see what happens.

You will need:
Spice Cake Mix (your own or a box is fine!)
Cream Cheese Frosting (1 can)
White (vanilla) Candy Melts (I used Wilton brand, purchased at Michael's craft store)
Apple Sauce / Dried Apples (to taste)
Cinnamon (to taste)
Walnut Pieces (to taste)
Shortening or Vegetable Oil to thin candy coating if needed


1.  To make these tasty treats, I started with my own spice cake recipe.  If you have a recipe of your own, use it, or you can even cheat and buy the boxed cake mix (no one will ever know). ;-)  With my spice cake recipe, I added about 1/2 cup apple sauce to the mix, and about 1/2 (or more) cup of dried apples cut into very very small pieces.  I also sprinkled about a teaspoon of extra cinnamon into the mix (loooove cinnamon!)  Bake it how you normally would, in a 13x9 pan.

2.  After letting the cake cool for a little, crumble it up into a bowl.  Any large pieces can be broken up as you go along.  You can work with the whole cake, or you can cut it into quarters and start there.  Using the whole cake will yield about 48 cake truffles I believe.  If you have the time and patience, go for it!  I do not however, and I usually end up only using a quarter of the cake and freezing the rest for later use.

3.  Add about half or slightly more of the icing to the cake mix and mix all together until it's blended and ready to roll into balls.  I like to mix in a little extra cinnamon in this step too (ok, so I may have a problem).  Remember that if you're using less cake, you have to use less icing too!  You want them to still have a "cakey" consistency.

4.  You can use a melon scoop or your hands to roll the mix into balls about the size of quarters or so.  Drop each ball onto some wax paper and place in the fridge for about an hour, or pop in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

5.  Melt the candies as directed and make sure you are using a bowl deep enough to drop the cake truffles in, and have them be covered by the coating.  Once the cake truffles are cooled enough, you can begin placing them, one at a time, into the candy coating and rolling them around to make sure the entire ball is covered.  (Tip:  I like to use tooth picks so that I don't have weird fork marks anywhere, and kind of roll them around in the candy coating.  I also only take a few of the balls out of the fridge/freezer at a time so that they don't start to warm up too much.  The cooler they are, the faster the coating will harden.  I'm all about saving some time...)

6.  Drop the covered cake pieces onto the wax paper again and have your walnuts ready to sprinkle on the top BEFORE the coating begins to harden.  If the cake pieces are still very cool, the coating will harden fast so you have to basically add the nuts immediately as you place them on the wax paper, and then continue on.  (Another tip:  If the coating begins to thicken in the bowl, add a small amount of shortening or vegetable oil to thin the coating out again.  Add and mix until it's back to the consistency you need... it should drizzle right off of a spoon)

7.  After this, you're done!  Let them sit so that the coating can fully harden, and then eat away.  I used the entire cake this time, and all of the cake truffles were gone in about 3 days.  I'm not sure if that says much since I live with men (hubby and son) and all food tends to go fast, but it seems pretty quick to me!

Enjoy!

YUM!