Doesn't chocolate just make life great? I love, absolutely LOVE, chocolate! I also love pumpkin cupcakes, so it's time to combine the two! So here it is, the Pumpkin Cake Truffle! A moist pumpkin cake, combined with spiced cream cheese frosting, dipped in rich decadent chocolate and sprinkled with assorted flavorful toppings! All that love in one bite size piece of joy! These are wonderful for gift giving, party favors or an IOMe (I owe me =). They make for a great festive treat with Halloween just around the corner. Keep in mind the recipe makes about 85 truffles, so if you don't have a need for that many feel free to cut the recipe in half. I got a two for one out of this by using the cake recipe to make two different recipes. I made the full cake recipe, poured half into a 9" round cake dish (for the Pumpkin Cake Truffles) and poured the other half into 24 muffin cups (to make Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting). Who doesn't love a two for one =)? Happy Halloween everyone! Enjoy!
Pumpkin Cake Truffles
Yields 85 truffles
1 recipe pumpkin cupcakes
1 1/4 cups spiced cream cheese frosting
2 1/2 lbs chocolate of your choice (milk, semi-sweet, white, or butterscotch chips)
Assorted toppings: chopped pecans, crushed oreos, toffee bits, crumbled graham cracker pie crust, crushed butterfingers, or sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pumpkin cupcake mixture according to directions. Pour cake mixture into 2 buttered and floured 9" round baking pans. Bake in preheated oven 35 - 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool and "ripen" about 3 hours or overnight.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper, set aside. Crumble cooled cake into a large mixing bowl. Stir in 1 1/4 cups spiced cream cheese frosting. Mix until you no longer see streaks of frosting. Dampen hands with water and form cake mixture into balls, 1 even tbsp at a time. Place cake balls on parchment lined baking dish and allow to chill in refrigerator or freezer until firm.
Melt chocolate in a heat proof mixing boil over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove about 8 firm cake balls from the fridge at a time. Dip cake balls into melted chocolate and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle cake truffles with assorted toppings before the chocolate cools and hardens. Refrigerate until firm. Store in refrigerator.
