Ultimate Gourmet Vanilla and Honeycomb Cheesecake

Vanilla and honeycomb cheesecake with an oreo layer drizzled with toffee fudge sauce wrapped in chocolate - come to Mummy.

This cheesecake was a creation of mine one Saturday afternoon as I was so excited to finally get my new moulds in the post (click here for where I brought mine).  I wanted to create better than sex individual cheesecakes crammed full of creamy baked cheesecake, crunchy shards of honeycom with a hidden velvety dark rich Oreo biscuit crumb layer and of course the whole thing had to be cased inside chocolate so that no plate or spoon would be needed for upcoming party gatherings (or in front of the telly!).  If you omit the biscuit layer you also have a gluten free dessert (useful as my Mum is coeliac). 

That afternoon my take on a portable posh cheesecake dessert did take a little bit of effort but it is was so worth every second spent.  When my husband I tested these I said to him ‘I only want a spoonful’ ( I am a complete control freak) and he nodded returnig his gaze to the TV as usual.  The next time he looked the entire cheesecake had disappeared and I was sat innocently licking my fingers and if I was a cat I would be purring  I hadn’t even realised I had ate it all until I got a disgusted look from him – oops! The only thing in  my mind that made it better was that technically it was his portion that meant the calories were his too (bonus).

 

 

I drizzled toffee fudge sauce (shop brought I am afraid – Sainsburys) over the top and garnished with chocolate shavings for the photographs.

If you have made it this far without licking your screen – well done!  I guess you want to know how it was created?  Are you sure – take another look….

 Cheesecake

1 x baked cheesecake (I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe and omitted the biscuit base)

1 x silicon mould (I also made other shapes using different moulds)

 

For biscuit layer

70g  / 6 Oreo biscuits or use bourbon (biscuits not alcohol) if on a budget  ( you can eat the rest with a good cup of coffee)

15g (approx) melted butter

 

For coating

200g melted chocolate (I used milk but you could use plain or white)

Honeycomb approx 30g (or a crunchie bar with bits taken off for testing its quality)

 

Honeycomb Tips

Stop cooking when it gets to this colour!

I used Lorraine Pascale’s recipe for the honeycomb although I would not cook it for as long as she says I would use about 4 mins next time see the picure opposite for the ideal colour.  Final tip for bloggers don’t try to take a picture of honeycomb with flash when it is mixed with the bicarb as it kills it which is an amazing sight as what was once going upwards suddenly has the life sucked from it and it changes to a dark brown which means you have to make it again. Nobody tells you that in the baking books but then there are only a few sad people around like me that take pictures of their baking.  If you do make your own honeycomb it will store for a few weeks in an airtight container and can be sprinkled over ice cream or I added some to Rocky Road for a cake sale which was a divine addition and it never made it to the sale as it sold out before.

 

Instructions

1. Leave the baked cheesecake overnight to chill in the fridge (resisit tempatation to poke it).

2. Bash the honeycomb into pieces in a bag with a rolling pin (great stress reliever).

3. Melt 140g of the chocolate ( you will need approx 1/3 for the base)

4. Brush melted chocolate on the inside of the moulds until they are covered fully with chocolate  – examine them under the light as there should be no holes (or the cheesecake will ooze out later).

5. Sprinkle some of the honeycomb in the bottom of the mould and drizzle over a bit of chocolate to seal it in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Put mould in freezer or fridge for approx 5 – 10 mins until the chocolate has set

8. In a bowl add approx 14 tbsp (ish) of baked cheesecake then add honeycomb shards (leaving some to sprinkle at the base) and mix together to combine.

9. Melt the butter for the biscuit layer in the microwave or in a saucepan.

10.  Use a food processor to blitz the biscuits until they are a breadcrumb consistency (or you can bash them in a bag).

11. Add the melted butter to the biscuits and stir to combine (it should be like wet sand that is black – think Weston Super Mud Mare)

12.  Time to layer the fillings.  Add 1 generous tsp of cheesecake and pat it down gently (having a deja vu moment)  to level it out with the end of a damp wooden spoon (measurements are only rough as it will depend on the size of the mold you use) aim to have filled it 1/3 of the way with cheesecake.  Follow this by 1 generous tsp of biscuit mixture (pat it down) and 1 tsp of cheesecake (yes you guessed it – pat it down) leaving room for about 3 mm of chocolate to seal the base.  At this stage you could add a little bit of toffee fudge sauce but then the easy to eat portable cheesecake will become a finger licking and caramel dribbling down your chin experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Sprinkle some honeycomb shards to each mould before melting the rest of the chocolate and with a spoon pour in about 3mm of chocolate on the bottom taking care to ensure the chocolate covers the entire base of the mold – don’t worry if you go over and around the mould as you can break off these bits and eat them later.

  

14.  Place the moulds in the fridge to set the chocolate and once the chocolate is set (approx 15 mins) you can pop each one out carefully onto a plate and serve. Personally I put mine in the freezer so I can use them at Christmas and New Year and once frozen I placed them in a tupperware box to keep them from being knocked.  I went round the edges with a knife to neaten them as well. 

15. To defrost take them out of the freezer and place in the fridge as this helps stop the chocolate from cracking from too quick a temperature change do this a few hours before they are needed.  If desperate or for emergency purposes break the tupperware open and eat them straight from the freezer as they are like a cheesecake ice-cream (yum) just make sure to wipe that chin of tell tale signs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can create endless variations and I also made some raspberry cheesecake truffles (post to follow) and some chocolate covered cheesecake hearts (post to follow) for a certain day in February as I am all for plan ahead.  Finally eat any left overs (as if you needed to be told that) and put your feet up knowing that this posh portable dessert is just sat there smugly in the freezer waiting to come to Mummy

 

Enjoy x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Inspired Ultimate Pimms Cake Pop / Truffles

Pimms Cake Pops / Truffles

Because summer has now gone and in the UK we are destined for dreary weather pretty much all year round I crave the feeling of summer. Summer time traditionally brings it with it Pimms and weddings. The two combined set the scene for a marriage made in heaven. There is nothing more refreshing than an ice cold glass of pimms after watching nuptials out on a sunny lawn with sweet scent of freshly cut grass in the air. The chance to relax, chat with old friends and sip the summery nectar. Imagine the elegant silver platter being offered to guests piled high with white chocolate encased strawberry and vanilla cream cake pop / truffles with a hint of sunshine pimms, lushious strawberries and white chocolate – simply divine!

Even if you choose not to have a summer wedding these tiny balls of chocolate and strawberry pimms heaven would be a classy petit four where the sweetness would balance perfectly with champagne.

I want to take a step back into summer – so I am going to turn up the heating and will be baking these and then pulling on a posh frock and pouring a glass of bubbly before devouring them. Roll on the weekend.

The Taste Test – moist and packed full of summer flavours – like eating a strawberry milkshake with a hint of sunny pimms.

Ingredients:

1 x vanilla cake

1 x pimms buttercream

White chocolate cake covering or white belgian couverture cake covering drops ( if wanting to really impress)

Instructions for the Cake

1. Bake a basic vanilla cake / victoria sponge and leave to cool

Making Strawberry Pimms Buttercream

You could use a ready made strawberry sauce or make your own from scratch to add to the basic buttercream recipe.

Strawberry Sauce

250g Strawberries

1 tbsp vanilla sugar or sugar

Summery strawberries

1. Cut the strawberries into quarters and place in small saucepan

2. Add 1 tbsp of sugar – I used my own homemade vanilla sugar but normal sugar will work just fine

3. Cook on a medium heat , stirring the mixture for approx 5 mins so that the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries have softened

Cooking Strawberry Sauce

4. Remove the strawberries from the heat and mash the strawberries with a masher

5. Return to the heat for 2 – 3 minutes

6. Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve into a bowl so that you can capture of all of the strawberry goodness. You can keep the pulp if you wish to add real strawberry pieces to the cake pop/ truffle mixture later.

7. Leave to cool.

Making Strawberry Pimms Buttercream

1 quantity of basic buttercream

2-3 tbsp of strawberry sauce (to taste)

2-3 tbsp of of pimms (to taste)

Beat together well

1. Add this mixture to the cake crumbs to create cake pops / truffles – see how here

2. Dip in chocolate!

Pimms Cake Pops / Truffles

Ready to Roll your cake balls / truffles? See the guide here

Idea: you could do half the balls in white chocolate and th eother in milk choclate – perfect for those situations when you can not decide which to dip it in!

Getting ready to roll Cake Pops

Rolled Cake Pops / Truffles

Ready to roll cake pops?

Is your cake baked, cooled and ready to go?  Then lets begin…

Equipment

Mixer with chopping blade or hand mixer

Baking tray lined with baking paper

Cookie scoop or table spoon

Large bowl for mixing

1 x cake

1 x serving of butter cream or cream cheese frosting

1 x spoon for stirring mixture

Making Cake Crumbs

 

 

 

1. Put the cake once cooled into a mixer and reduce it to crumbs.  Make sure it is fine in texture and there are no big lumps left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake Crumbs Ready

 

2. Aim for fine breadcrumb consistency

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake Pop Mixture

 

 

3. Add buttercream to the mixture (buttercream recipe) – don’t add all of it yet.  Add half of your buttercream mixture and mix it together well with a spoon or even better your hands.  Keep adding  tablespoons of buttercream until you have enough to make a firm dough with your cake batter not too mushy as you don’t want it to be really sticky and gooey. 

 

4.For better results put the mixture in the fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight to make sure the mixture is firm for rolling.   

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

Measuring the cake truffle mixture

 

4. Use a small cookie scoop which holds approx 1 tbsp of mixture or if you do not have one use 1 tbsp of mixture and try to keep measuring the sme amount.  Scoop one level  amount and then release it onto a tray lined with baking parchment / paper. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Pick up the ball and roll it between your hands until it forms a smooth round ball of cake mix. 

 

6. Once you have done this for as many of the cake pop / truffles as you want filled then – pop them in the freezer until you are ready to dip them.  Instructions for this will be shown at a later date. 

7. Place cake pops / truffles in the freezer to harden

8. When you want to use the cake pops / truffles transfer them from freezer to fridge .  Leave them for at least 15 mins to start defrosting before dipping. 

9. Don’t let the cake pops / truffles fully defrost as they become a little slippery and you risk getting pieces of mixture in the chocolate later

10. Post to follow on how to dip cake truffles…

 

Dipped sticky tofee cake truffles

This is what they looked like dipped.  Why not try an idea for caramel centred sticky toffee cake pops / balls recipe.

Recipe for Rich Chocolate Cake for Pops / Truffles

This is the recipe used for the chocolate cake pops base . This recipe comes from Peggy Porshen’s book Cake Chic (buy it here). We slightly adapted it as the original recipe is for a smaller cake – not that we found that out the first time we tried it! The cake is very moist and works wonderfully and this will do a big enough cake to do 48 cake boules. 

150g Chocolate

200ml milk

450g brown sugar ( we used light muscavado)

150g salted butter softened

4 eggs lightly beaten

300g plain flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 160 C (or 150 if using a fan oven like we are)

Line your baking tin – we used about a 20×13 inch

Put chocolate , milk and half the sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil until all is melted

Beat butter and remaining sugar

Slowly add the eggs

Add sifted flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to the mixture whilst beating

Start to add the hot mixture slowly into the batter

Once combined – pour into baking tin and place in the oven until cooked (approx 45 mins for us)

Leave to cool then cut into 4 sections

Making Cake Boules

Each section will make approx 12 cake boules – you can freeze the rest until it is needed – saving you precious time in the future.

See the guide to rolling cake pops here. Why not make some choc toffee cake pops?

Cake pop art or chocolate heaven?

Cake pop art or chocolate heaven?

 

Artistic cake pops

Whenever I search for cake pops I am usually inundated with images of cute bees, popcorn bags, scary ghosts or shoal of lollipop up their bottoms versions of Finding Nemos (how uncomfortable – that’s got to be worse than a thong!).  You name it you can cake pop art it if you are artistic enough.   Cake pops are wonderful and they do make me smile as they are cute.  Sadly my artistic talents are lacking and if I were to make a cake pop bunny in real life this would end up looking more like a deformed dog.  This would cause me the most amazing amount of frustration in my unrealistic quest for treat size perfectionism and definite tendencies towards OCD.  Those that can weave their candy cake pop magic are very talented individuals to be sure – I hold my glass up to them but I accept that I am not truly worthy!  If you want candy magic then look no further than the Queen of Cake Pops aka Bakerella.  I even noticed that on the Junior Bake Off 2011 when a contestants cake went horribly wrong she though to herself – sod it cake pop it; what a smart girl she thought on her feet there. 

Bakerella Cake Pops

 

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Knowing my own artistic boundaries and my families and friends unadulterated interest and glutenous need for chocolate  (so much I hide it in the cleaning cupboard – nobody looks in there).  I decided to create cake pops with a grown up indulgent air.  The challenge was to create the little treat that is just too damn good for little fingers to touch.  As for ‘if you love them, give them your last one’ –  I don’t think so buster.  I want cake pops that makes the taster go ‘oooh’ and ‘aahhhh’ as their mouthes fill with salty anticipative water while their eyes scan which chunk of chocolate to crack seductively first.   I want my cake pops to have the same effect as Herbal Essence shampoo leaving its taster shouting yes! yes! yes! without any hesitation who is watching.   This idea appeals to me far more than ‘ ooh doesn’t it look cute’  comment that I might get with a rather manky (well if it’s mine it would be)  snowman during the melting process cake pop. 

 

This is when I realise it’s not cake pops I am striving for its cake truffles.  Yes, that’s sounds much more sophisticated and grown up.  So what is a cake truffle?  Well it’s a mash up between a tasty cake packed full of beautifully flavoured buttercream or cream cheese frosting.  Then teh cake truffles are lovingly dipped in chocolate and decorated with more chocolate.  So they are not just the rubbish bits you cut off a cake or a way to cover up your disaster in the kitchen (although you can do this and why not – waste not want not I always say) these cake truffles are little mini taste explosions.  The best thing about them is that you can freeze them and they take 10 minutes to defrost quickly before friends come round.   I have a freezer full of different flavours but nobody come round – hmmm I guess I will have to eat them then!

 

If the World ends tomorrow – why I would grab a Cake Truffle…

So if I have not convinced you yet to have a go at cake truffles then these are my parting words on the matter.  If the world was about to end in true amarageddon fashion and you could grab one last thing from the fridge to eat before you go.  Imagine you look inside the fridge and see it’s a toss-up between a swash buckling pirate cake pop and a double chocolate fudge cake truffle.  I’d take the chocolate fudge truffle – hands down, no contest.  In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s a real no brainer!  I would rather my last mortal seconds end on Earth with sweet chocolate heaven exploding in my mouth and guilty smears across my face ready to meet my maker.  Lets just hope my maker brings wet wipes…

Try a recipe for vanilla and fudge truffles dipped in white chocolate.

Vanilla Fudge

Candy V Chocolate

Ultimate Sticky Toffee Cake Pops / Truffles (caramel centre)

 

Sticky toffee cake truffle heaven!

I have not blogged for so long as I have been tied up with marking and schoolwork (yawn!) then came the mad frenzy of summer holiday cleaning and decorating followed by you guessed it a spot of baking while my son is away on camp.  This week I was asked to make cakes for my husbands work colleagues.  It seems the husbands have been encouraging a bit of a bake off between wives.   I resisted the competition as long as I could, grumbling as I went about how wrong it was for the men to be making their poor wives bake them cakes, sausage rolls etc – it’s not like we don’t all have enough to do!!  But once I had chilled enough from work I set my sights high and made them sticky toffee cupcakes.  Firstly to shut my husband up and secondly I had the express intention of baking enough sticky toffee cake to make some cake pops / truffles.  Toffee and chocolate – oh how I love you.  

 

 

 

Inspiration

I based these cake pops / truffles on my memory of sweet, sticky chocolate bars that when you bit into to you reached the caramel heaven centre and it dribbled unceremoniously down your chin (or is that just me?).  This was the inspiration for my newest gourmet cake  pop / truffle and just for the hell of it why not use both a milk and white chocolate as I am fairy indecisive you know!  But the main aim was to get the chin dribbling sauce in the centre of the cake pop with no special tools.  Challenge on! 

1. Bake a sticky toffee cake (try this good recipe) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Follow the insturctions for rolling cake pops / truffles  here

 

3. Make a buttercream and either add a caramel (ready made) sauce to it – to your taste or you could have a go at making a caramel from scratch

 

To add a caramel centre

4. Before you add a filling – take off a pinch of cake batter from the ball before you roll it (this will be used later – flatten it to about 1.5 cm round – see picture below and put to one side)  To add a caramel filling to the cake truffles. You can use a shop brought toffee / caramel sauce  or you can make your own caramel from scratch.  I did try the latter but this will need some perfecting! 

  

5.  I didn’t have any special tools or filling instruments that I know you can get for cakes. To get the filling into the truffle push a lollipop stick halfway into the ball and then move it in a circular motion to make the hole bigger.  Pour a little bit of sauce in to fill the hole almost up to the top as you can see in the picture below. 

 

Filling the cake truffle with toffee sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. To seal the sauce in take your extra  piece of the cake mixture that you set aside in step 6  (see this next to the lollipop stick).   Stick the extra piece of mixture over the top of the hole. Roll the ball gently between your hands – this will seal the sauce in – if you find you get a little more oozing out – just add-on an other small piece.  Voila – toffee centre cake pop / truffles!

 

 

Sticky toffee cake truffles ready to go

7. Once you have done this for as many of the cake truffles as you want filled then – pop them in the freezer until you are ready to dip them.  Instructions for this will be shown at a later date.  I always freeze my cake balls and then transfer them from freezer to fridge when I want to use them.  Leave them for at least 15 mins to start defrosting before dipping.  I don;t let mine fully defrost as I find that they become a little slippery and you risk getting pieces of mixture in the chocolate.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dipped sticky tofee cake truffles

8. This is what they looked like dipped.  Stay tuned for more instructions. Yummy – I even tried double dipping – which is half milk chocolate and half white chocolate perfect for those situations when you can not decide which to dip it in!

Ultimate Sticky Toffee Cake Pops / Truffles (caramel centre)

Sticky toffee cake truffle heaven!

I have not blogged for so long as I have been tied up with marking and schoolwork (yawn!) then came the mad frenzy of summer holiday cleaning and decorating followed by you guessed it a spot of baking while my son is away on camp. This week I was asked to make cakes for my husbands work colleagues. It seems the husbands have been encouraging a bit of a bake off between wives. I resisted the competition as long as I could, grumbling as I went about how wrong it was for the men to be making their poor wives bake them cakes, sausage rolls etc – it’s not like we don’t all have enough to do!! But once I had chilled enough from work I set my sights high and made them sticky toffee cupcakes. Firstly to shut my husband up and secondly I had the express intention of baking enough sticky toffee cake to make some cake pops / truffles. Toffee and chocolate – oh how I love you.

Inspiration

I based these cake pops / truffles on my memory of sweet, sticky chocolate bars that when you bit into to you reached the caramel heaven centre and it dribbled unceremoniously down your chin (or is that just me?). This was the inspiration for my newest gourmet cake pop / truffle and just for the hell of it why not use both a milk and white chocolate as I am fairy indecisive you know! But the main aim was to get the chin dribbling sauce in the centre of the cake pop with no special tools. Challenge on!

1. Bake a sticky toffee cake (try this good recipe)

2. Follow the insturctions for rolling cake pops / truffles here

3. Make a buttercream and either add a caramel (ready made) sauce to it – to your taste or you could have a go at making a caramel from scratch

To add a caramel centre

4. Before you add a filling – take off a pinch of cake batter from the ball before you roll it (this will be used later – flatten it to about 1.5 cm round – see picture below and put to one side) To add a caramel filling to the cake truffles. You can use a shop brought toffee / caramel sauce or you can make your own caramel from scratch. I did try the latter but this will need some perfecting!

5. I didn’t have any special tools or filling instruments that I know you can get for cakes. To get the filling into the truffle push a lollipop stick halfway into the ball and then move it in a circular motion to make the hole bigger. Pour a little bit of sauce in to fill the hole almost up to the top as you can see in the picture below.

Filling the cake truffle with toffee sauce

6. To seal the sauce in take your extra piece of the cake mixture that you set aside in step 6 (see this next to the lollipop stick). Stick the extra piece of mixture over the top of the hole. Roll the ball gently between your hands – this will seal the sauce in – if you find you get a little more oozing out – just add-on an other small piece. Voila – toffee centre cake pop / truffles!

Sticky toffee cake truffles ready to go

7. Once you have done this for as many of the cake truffles as you want filled then – pop them in the freezer until you are ready to dip them. Instructions for this will be shown at a later date. I always freeze my cake balls and then transfer them from freezer to fridge when I want to use them. Leave them for at least 15 mins to start defrosting before dipping. I don;t let mine fully defrost as I find that they become a little slippery and you risk getting pieces of mixture in the chocolate.

Dipped sticky tofee cake truffles

8. This is what they looked like dipped. Stay tuned for more instructions. Yummy – I even tried double dipping – which is half milk chocolate and half white chocolate perfect for those situations when you can not decide which to dip it in!

ChocToffee Cake Pop / Truffle

 

Yummy toffee pieces

Dipped in chocolate

Chocolate balls rolled

Yummy toffee and chocolate  – this works particularly well if you also add in small chunks of toffee as a chewy surprise.

Ingredients

1x rich dark chocolate sponge

3 tbsp x chocolate fudge frosting ( ready made – we cheated this time and used Betty Crockers)

Chocolate cake coating / bark

Toffee coated chocolate pieces cut into small pieces

Chocolate balls rolled

Toffee smashed into shards

Baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper

Instructions

 1. Put the cake once cooled into a mixer and reduce it to crumbs.  Make sure it is fine in texture and there are no big lumps left.

2. Mix cake crumbs with chocolate fudge frosting ( about 1/2 of the tin)  don’t add all of it yet.  It is better to add half the mixture  and mix it together well with a spoon or your hands.  Keep adding  more frosting until you have enough to make a firm dough with your cake batter not too mushy as you don’t want it to be really sticky and gooey. 

3. Add smashed toffee shards to this mixture.

4. Put the mixture in the fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight as I usually do to make sure the mixture is firm for rolling.       

5. To get your cake pops / truffles in a ball shape you will need to roll them.  I used a small cookie scoop which holds about 1 tbsp of mixture.  I scooped up one amount and then released it onto a tray lined with baking parchment / paper.  Pick up the ball and roll it between your hands until it forms a smooth round ball of cake mix. 

5. Cut up pieces of chocolate covered toffee into small chunks and insert these into the balls. 4 chunks each.

5. Place the cake pops / truffles on your lined baking sheet and transfer to the freezer.  I know lots of people say the fridge / freeze for only 10 mins or so but I have always put them in the freezer and left to freeze or until I am ready to dip them.  In fact my freezer is full of bagged pops ready to dipped whenever it takes my fancy!

 Dipping the Cake Pops / Truffles

 

Take the cake pops out of the freezer 10 minutes before you want to use them – transfer them to the fridge to keep them cold and firm

 

Melt chocolate in the microwave – we used just a cheap cake covering chocolate as these are for home consumption – but you could use a couverture Belgian chocolate covering.

 

Put the pop / truffle on a cocktail stick ready for dipping.

Dip the cake pop / truffle into the melted chocolate until it is covered fully –  gently twirl the pop/ truffle around to coat evenly with chocolate ( twirling it on the cocktail stick not stirring it round in the chocolate like a spoon)  if you tap your wrist gently on the side of the bowl it gets rid of any excess. Gently pull the pop / truffle out of the chocolate .  When it stops  dripping huge amounts of excess chocolate transfer to a prepared baking sheet  to dry / set.

Once all pops / truffles had been dipped and dried.  Decorate them with drizzle of melted milk chocolate and sprinkled toffee shards on top.

Tips:

To break up the toffee – put in a food processor (small hand-held one) but only do this when you are ready to use it  as it will stick itself back together as we found out.

Once the cake pops / truffles  are done – store them in the fridge but for the  best flavour – take them out of the fridge for 20 mins before serving / eating – they are worth the wait and taste different and are soft and moist – more cake like than truffle like.

Vanilla Fudge & White Chocolate Cake Truffle / Pop / Balls

Vanilla Fudge

The first flavoured boule we started with today is what we named the wheat free ‘Vanilla Fudge-it’.  It uses no wheat / gluten as my Mum and Friend are both coeliac and they get fed up with shop brought, expensive cakes that are bland and have no flavour – so we tried to make ours moist by soaking the sponge with a vanilla sugar syrup (recipe to follow).   Recipe for the vanilla sponge will follow shortly.

Here is what we used / did:

1/2 x vanilla sponge (20cm square) and soaked with a madagascan vanilla flavoured sugar syrup (makes 12 pops – simply double the recipe if needed for more).

3 tbsp x vanilla buttercream using real vanilla pod (see recipe pages)

Gluten free chocolate coating / bark

Fudge pieces (check ingredients)

Here is what we used / did:

Put the cake into food processor until breadcrumb consistency

Mixed cake crumbs with butter cream and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours before rolling into balls.

As the balls were rolled we inserted mini pieces of creamy vanilla fudge and then placed in the freezer to harden.

Cut up fudge into mini pieces for the topping

Melt chocolate in the microwave – we used just a cheap cake covering chocolate for our first go. 

Put the pop / boule on a cocktail stick ready for dipping.

Dip the boule into the melted choclate until it is covered fully (don’t twizzle the boule in the cholcate) – we gently pulled the boule out of the chocolate

Gently twirl the boule around to coat evenly with chocolate – we found if you tap your wrist gently on the side of the bowl it gets rid of any excess.  When it finally stopped dripping we transfered to a prepared baking sheet  to dry / set.

Once all boules had been dipped and dried.  We started decorating our boules with drizzle of melted white cholocate and then added three mini pieces of fudge to the top.

All are safely stored in the fridge!  They look too good to eat so we will have to force ourselves…

Tips:

Watch the chocolate does not start to cool as we ended up with one boule welding itself to the spoon and did not want to let go!

Disaster will strike if the cake balls have been out of the fridge too long.   One of our cake boules had got to soft so it immediately makes a run for it and dives into the bowl of chocolate with a good plop.  We solved this by putting them back in the fridge for a bit and taking a break! – coffee time!

Warning – Cake boules = Stressed! Our Kitchen looks like a scene from a explosion at the Willy Wonka Factory.

Be careful with the amount of frosting used – as if it is too moist the balls fall off the stick when dipping