German Chocolate Cake Truffles

So, you’ve leveled and carved your cake.  What do you do with all the scraps?  It’s practically a crime to throw away perfectly good cake, right?  This is an idea I kept seeing on various websites and decided to give it a try.

Cake truffles are very easy to make, but I’ve had nothing but rave reviews from everyone who’s tried them. 

crumbled cake

1. Crumble cake scraps into a large bowl. For this batch, I had about 8 cups.

ready to shape into balls

2. Use your hands to mix in about ½ cup frosting. You want the mixture to be just moist enough to hold together.  If you add too much frosting, you’ll end up with soggy truffles.

chilled and ready to
dip in chocolate

3. Scoop up a heaping spoonful of the cake and frosting mixture and form into a ball with your hands. I line up the truffles on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

4. Chill truffles until firm, about 2-3 hours.

I use a toothpick to dip
the truffle in the melted
chocolate

5. Dip truffles into melted candy coating and place back on foil-lined cookie sheet.  Once firm, cover and store truffles in a cool, dry place.

This batch of truffles is German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting.  Before the candy coating set, I decorated the truffles with a sprinkle of coconut and chopped pecans.

This was my first time making the cooked coconut-pecan frosting.  The first recipe I tried, using 3 whole eggs, was less than successful.  Apparently, my stirring skills were somewhat lacking and I ended up with little bits of hard cooked egg whites in the frosting – not particularly appetizing.  My second attempt, using three egg yolks, was much better, thus saving my baking reputation.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

1 c sugar

1 c evaporated milk
1/2 c butter
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 t vanilla
1 1/3 c flaked coconut
1 c chopped pecans

In a saucepan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans.  Once frosting has cooled to room temperature, spread on cake (or mix with cake crumbs to make truffles).