MandiCrocker

Blogspot has a tendency to screw up my spacing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've tried html, etc. If you're reading this & it happens to be a jumbled mess, I apologize. I try!!

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GINGERBREAD

CAKE TRUFFLES

Yo, yo, yo, Martha Fockers!!! It's Father's Day !!!! YAY!!! Props to all you dads out there!!! YAHOOEY!!!! :) :) :)

Okay, so Father's Day was about 12 years ago... but alas, here I am STILL having not sent my Father (The Popskies) anything. I'm the worst!!! :( I DID send him an e-mail telling him something was coming and hopefully sooner than later. So I'm makin' it right! (I'm gonna do it right here & now. It means everything).

Dads are so hard to shop for and my dad isn't a big sweets guy. But I do remember once upon a time that he said his favorite cake was gingerbread cake with homemade whipped cream. So! I've decided to make some gingerbread cake truffles (aka: cakeballs) and ship them off to Florida asap.

Would you like to come along on this cake truffle adventure!!??

Your answer: "Would I!!?? OH BOY!!!!"

This is wildly exciting. Hold on to your knickers...

INGREDIENTS:

I'm using the Gingerbread Cupcakes recipe in Shelly Kaldunski's book "Cupcakes." It rules. It uses FRESHLY GRATED GINGER. That's fancy for me which is probably pathetic to you. But seriously, ginger root is scary lookin'. I's was scared. But now, I'm rockin' the microplane like a vandal. Bring it, ginger root.

GINGERBREAD:

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup light molasses

4 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 large egg (room temperature)

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/3 cup whole milk

FROSTING:

4 cups powdered sugar

4 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/8 cup milk

CHOCOLATE:

14 ounce bag of white melting chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.

I didn't have fresh nutmeg so I used a pinch of already ground nutmeg.
It was fine. Not one fairy died in all of Neverland!

I truly enjoy whisking!
*whisk, whisk*

Next, beat together the brown sugar, molasses, and butter for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light & fluffy.

And THIS... is fresh ginger root. The stuff Halloween nightmares are made of:

TWISTED.

To grate ginger, first peel away the outside layer with a paring knife. I found it easier to chop it into chunks first.

Now they're nekked... hee hee!

And microplane away!
*grate, grate, grate*

And vway-oh-lay... fresh ginger!

If you have leftovers, feel free to put them in the freezer well wrapped. They like it. They hang out with Lean Cuisines. Ginger & Lean Cuisines are like peas & carrots.

Except they're ginger & Lean Cuisines.

So add the fresh ginger & egg and beat until well combined.

Now we're gonna add the flour & milk alternately with each other- starting & ending with flour.

Flour. Milk. Flour. Milk. Flour.

On the final flour addition, only mix until JUST combined.

Dump the batter into a greased 8x8 pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until it looks like this (minus the nibble in the middle).

Gingerbread... Mmmm.... :)

While the cake is cooling, mix up all the ingredients to the frosting.

Crumble up the cake into itty bitty baby bits.

Add the cream cheese frosting.

Mix well so there are no dry crumbs left.

Roll the dough into balls & have way too much fun with it...

...until all of the dough is rolled into small balls.

Put the truffles in the fridge for an hour to solidify.

Next is the tricky part- dipping the balls into chocolate. I've tried toothpicks, I've tried spoons, I've tried dipping forks and they've never turned out smooth- especially while using white chocolate. So I double dip. A suggestion by one of my culinary chef friends. Bakerella uses spoons & hers come out fairly smooth. I can't even tell you how many times I've tried this to know avail. It drives me BONKERS!!! I'm sure it has something to do with the quality of the chocolate & the tempering.

This is the best way I know how to do it although keep in mind, white chocolate is a thicker substance & different texture than standard milk chocolate. It's trickier so these still clump.

Here it goes! :)

Melt the chocolate in a double broiler. Keep the heat on low and stir every minute or two. Once most of the chocolate has melted and there are only hints of chunks still waiting to melt, remove the broiler from the heat. Stir with a spoon to smooth out the remaining chunks. Any longer and your chocolate could burn, become too hot and not temper properly.

Spoon a small bit of chocolate into your hand and roll the truffle around until the ball is just coated. With your fingers, set the truffles on parchement or waxed paper. Let the truffles solidify.

This time, using a round dipping spoon (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of this- LAME!), drop the already coated ball into the chocolate. Scoop up the truffle with the spoon, shake off the excess & flip the ball over "facedown" onto the parchment paper.

Let them solidify in the fridge for a few minutes or in a cool place away from heat for about 1/2 an hour. For fun, I drizzled half of them with white chocolate and the other I coated with luster dust.

THESE ARE AWESOME!!! My roommate who doesn't like gingerbread thought they were great! I LOVE when that happens!

Then I put them in a purty box for me Pops. I'm gonna send it out tomorrow! YAHOOEY!!

So Happy Father's Day, Dad!!! I LOVE YOU!!! :) :) :) :) :)

Also, I want to give a shout out to my sweetie cause today is his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET LOVIN' MAN!!! :) :) :)