Cake Bites
This past week I have been baking birthday cakes and brownies. With birthday cakes, there is always excess cake that I trim off of the top to create a flat surface for decorating. With brownies, I always trim off the edges.
I decided to use these excess ingredients to make these fabulous cake bites.
Cake Bites
In a bowl crumble the vanilla cake (or any flavor you have been using). Add something to bind the crumbs together. In my recipe I had extra frosting so I just added a bit to the cake and mixed it in the bowl until it held its shape. Other delicious ingredients to try are sweetened whipping cream, sweetened cream cheese or pudding.I have also experimented with adding other ingredients to the crumbs, like mini chocolate chips, sugared nuts and pieces of maraschino cherries. It just depends on your mood and if it sounds good, then it is very likely that it will be delicious.
Once the cake crumbs are moistened with the added ingredients and they easily come together, form small bite-size balls and place them on a cookie sheet. When all of the crumbs have been used, place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes to allow the balls to get firm.
In the meantime, prepare various toppings for the cake bites. I used crushed toffee, crushed almonds, shredded coconut and candy sprinkles.
Melt about 2 cups chocolate chips. Remove the balls of cake from the freezer and dip one at a time into the melted chocolate. Immediately cover the chocolate ball with desired topping. Place the balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. When finished, move the cookie sheet to the refrigerator or the freezer to allow the bites to harden.
Brownie Bites
For brownie bites do exactly the same thing, but use the brownie crumbs instead of the cake crumbs. Some brownies are already moist and will not require additional ingredients to bind the crumbs.
For an extra special presentation, arrange all of the cake bites and brownie bites in a candy box to create a delicious gift to give to a very lucky person.