RED VELVET & CHEESECAKE CAKE TRUFFLES
The truth is that Red velvet cake never really caught my eye. Am I right? I know I know, It’s good but I really think there are better cakes. That’s only my opinion though. What I do love about red velvet cake is the color. Such a beautiful red colored cake with cream cheese frosting grabs attention. So, because of the color, I end up ordering this cake sometimes. I’ve loved cake truffles ever since I saw the episode of Chef’s Table were Christina Tosi tells her story and talks about Milk Bar. I liked it so so much that I decided right then and there that I had to make my own. One of these experiments with the concepto of the cake truffle was this Red velvet cake truffle with a cheesecake center.
I love when desserts have names like this. It’s like you read the name and you can already feel the dessert is going to be amazing.
This red velvet cake truffle with cheesecake filling is one of my favorite desserts to date. The original cake truffles that Christin invented, were a combination of some kind of cake with vanilla milk and covered in white chocolate and crumbs. To make tihs concept my own, I played with some different flavors, added fillings and gave them my personal touch. Trying these kind of recipes made me love them even more. Cake truffles, I don’t know, the concept on its own is so amazing for me. All the flavor of a cake in a bite. I love it.
Parts of this Red velvet cake truffle:
We can start talking about the base for the truffle, the cake. To make this red velvet cake truffle the first thing you have to make is a red velvet cake. For these types of desserts with so so many steps and elements going into it I recommend looking for a really good cake mix. Just follow the instructions and bake it like it says on the box. This way you can save so much time and ingredients. Plus, because these truffles have so many elements that go into it, its not absolutely necessary to make the cake from scratch. IF you want to, I’ll leave the recipe I use linked here. You have to double that recipe to make this recipe.
On the other hand, most of the time, when you see cake truffles or cake pop recipes, what everyone mixes into the cake is frosting. I find this too sweet. Too much sugar and butter. Let’s go back to the amazing Cristina Tosi and her recipe. She add vanilla milk to the cake to make it into dough. That is what I did as well. The end result is just perfect. To make chocolate truffles for example you can use chocolate milk for example.
Now, the filling. In this case the filling is also from Cristina’s book. I made her liquid cheesecake. amazind combination right? Instead of the classic sugary cream cheese frosting, a cheesecake filling for these red velvet truffles. Why the name Liquid cheesecake? It has a couple of less ingredients than a regular cheesecake and once its done, it’s as creamy as frosting.
Finally, topping. Cover the truffle with a thin layer of white chocolate and some vanilla crumbs that you will dye red.
Tips for perfect truffles:
The cake: As I mentioned before, for this recipe I even recommend getting a cake mix. So easy, really good and the flavor is not going to be too different.
Putting everything together: To put these truffles together, I use a cookie scoop. A cookie scoop is just like an ice cream scoop but smaller. I full the cookie scoop with cake (already mixed with the vanilla milk) and with my finger I make a hole in the middle. When I do that, the sides come up and out of the scoop a little bit. Cut those sides out and save it to cover the filling. Add the filling and with the sides you saved cover it. You need to press those sides into a thin layer of cake and then cover the ball just like a lid. Carefully scoop out the cake truffle and use your fingers to make sure everything is closed.
Chilling: Leave the truffles in the fridge for about an hour before covering them in white chocolate and crumbs. This extra step will make finishing the truffles easier because they will be a bit harder. Don’t freeze them though. If they are frozen, as soon as you add the melted chocolate it will harden and you wont be able to add the crumbs.
Covering them in chocolate: Now, this is a mess. Even at Milk Bar, they do it by hand. If you want to wear gloves you can. At Milk Bar, they have a huge bowl of melted chocolate but since you are making these at home let me give some tips. Melt small amounts of chocolate at a time. Place the truffle on top of a fork and using a spoon pour the melted chocolate over the truffle. Using your fingers spread a thin layer of that white chocolate to cover the whole truffle. Immediately cover it with the crumbs also covering completely. Why your fingers? Because the chocolate layer has to be as thin as possible.
Melting chocolate: You can melt chocolate in two different ways. You can do it with a water bath or in a microwave. For the water bath method, you need to heat water until it boils. Once it boils, turn the heat off and place a bowl with the chocolate on top. The bowl does not have to touch the water, the heat of it will slowly melt the chocolate. The microwave method is pretty simple too. Place some chocolate on a bowl and melt it in 20 second intervals. After each interval take it out and stir a bit.
Topping: To bake the crumb topping, spread the mixture on the baking sheet a bit. Don’t spread it too thin or it may overbake.
Equipment:
Bowls: A medium or large one for the cake batter, one for the crumbs, another for the cheesecake, one for the cake with milk already and a couple of small ones for the chocolate and crumbs when covering the truffles. In total, 4 medium or large bowls and 2 smaller ones.
Cake pan: In this case the shape does not matter at all since you will be breaking the cake to completely to make the crumble. You will need a smaller one as well, for the cheesecake.
Baking sheet: This is for the crumbs. They need to bake for a couple of minutes to be crunchy and ready for the truffles.
Stand mixer: This is not absolutely necessary, the mixer you have works perfectly. I find my stand mixer so comfortable, Specially for the red velvet cake in this case. I do recommend making the liquid cheesecake by hand to avoid adding to much air to the mixture.
Silicone Spatula: Use this to pour the cake batter to the pan, to mix the cheesecake and crumbs.
Measures: Cups, teaspoon and tablespoon measures as well as a kitchen scale.
Fork: Yo help when covering in melted chocolate.
I’ll link a couple of more cake truffles in this post in case you want to try them!
RED VELVET & CHEESECAKE CAKE TRUFFLES
Ingredients
- 1 Red velvet cake mix box (plus the ingredients listed in the box)
- 1/4 Cup whole milk
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
- 300 gr White chocolate
- CRUMB
- 1 tsp red food coloring
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- FILLING
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 ox cream cheese
- 2 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- Make the cake according to instructions on box. Bake completely.
- For the crumble, add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. It has to look like sand. Place in the baking sheet.
- Once the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. Place the crumble in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Once that is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool before breaking it apart.
- For the filling, add cream cheese and sugar to a bowl. Mix it for about 3 to 4 minutes until it dissolves into the cheese.
- In another bowl, mix cornstarch and salt. Slowly and steadily add the milk while mixing.
- Add egg to the cornstarch mixture and mix well.
- While mixing, slowly add the egg mixture to the cream cheese until completely mixed in.
- Place the cheesecake batter in a cake pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes. After that shake the pan a bit. It should jiggle a bit in the center. If it still jiggles too much, leave it in for an extra 5 minutes.
- Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.
- Creak the cake into crumbs using your hands or a couple of forks. Add the 1/4 cup of milk with vanilla extract and mix in.
- Using the cookie scoop, scoop out some dough. Use your finger to make a hole in the middle and add cheesecake.
- Cover with some extra cake.
- Scoop out carefully and using your hands make sure everything is closed and neat.
- Chill the truffles in the fridge for an hour.
- Melt the white chocolate and cover the truffles with a thin layer. Right away transfer to the crumbs and cover completely.
