I haven’t known about this program for very long, but I think it’s a great program, especially because I know what it’s like to be young, to feel confused and alone. I won’t go into details, but like almost every teenager out there, I went through a tough time where I didn’t really know who I was, where I belonged, or what I was worth. Good mental health can be achieved through various ways: some people choose to run or play music as a catharsis, and then there are some like me who turn to food, cooking, and baking. (Should there be a semicolon there?)
So go to the Arts and Culture Night tonight to help raise money for a great cause, enjoy some music, and some delicious call balls 
These didn’t turn out as purple as I thought they would, but it’s still pretty purple. I used red velvet cake and replaced the red food colouring with purple, then coloured the cream cheese icing with a bit of food colouring too, to make the purple stronger. I highly recommend wearing gloves to make these cake balls, because food colour seeps into skin (and clothes… =( my white shirt…I really need to get an apron).
Let’s get a-baking!
Based on Buddy Valastro’s Red Velvet Cake recipe
Ingredients:
Sponge:
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp purple food colouring (I used the paste)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp distilled white vinegar (I dunno what the difference between distilled and undistilled was, so I just used the stuff my mom had in her cupboard)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 brick (250 g I think) cream cheese
- 1 1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp purple food colouring paste
- about a kilo of baking chocolate wafers (choose whichever colour you like. I couldn’t find purple so I added purple dye to the white wafers)
- To bake the cake, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing to incorporate before adding another.
- Add vanilla and food colouring, mix to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, and salt.
- Alternate adding the dry mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture until completely incorporated.
- In a bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Once baking soda is dissolved into the vinegar, add to mix and stir to combine.
- In a 9×13 inch greased and parchment-paper-lined pan, spread the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove from pan and let cool completely.
- To make the cream cheese icing, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla and whip until light. Add food colouring and mix.
- In a food processor, blitz the cooled cake sponge until you get crumbs of cake. Add that to the icing and mix to combine.
- Start rolling the mix to 1-inch balls. Layer them in a dish/bowl, with plastic wrap separating them. Let them firm up in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate wafers in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Once melted, transfer to a small, shallow bowl.
- Drop your cake balls into the chocolate and turn with a fork to coat. Pull out with the fork and let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Scrape the back of the fork against the bowl and transfer the coated cake balls onto a parchment-paper-lined plate. Let cool in the fridge for about 5 minutes (the coating should harden)
- Drop some purple chocolate coating in a parchment triangle, and drizzle over your cooled cake balls.
- OMITY NOMITY NOM.
Those look like truffles. You should make me some truffles.
Haha I can make some truffles some time and share with the class. We'll see if I want to buy the truffle molds =P
Sharing, shmaring. I said you should make ME some.
i want it Lisaaaaaa
You can make em =) They're pretty easy
These look amazing….
How many does this make? Would like to do these as favours for my wedding guests. X
It’s been a while since I made these so I’m not 100% sure. I think I made about 40-50 with one batch? You should probably make one batch to know for sure.
The cake recipe I use makes two 9″ rounds, and I use half of the recipe of the cream cheese icing recipe I use from the Red Velvet Cake recipe. I also recommend adding shortening to the candy melts so that they’re a little thinner when they coat the cake pops.
Let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear the actual number of balls and how it goes with your wedding. Congrats!