Malted Chocolate Cake Truffles

Feeling inspired after watching the new season of Chef’s Table – more pastry chefs, please! # 69: Malted Chocolate Cake Truffles

I don’t know about you, but I’m all about instant gratification. After watching the first episode of the newest season of Chef’s Table, I immediately started wondering how I could get a piece of the Birthday Cake or Crack Pie as soon as possible. Just as I resigned myself to having to wait til the next time I happen to be on the East Coast, I made a discovery. There is a Las Vegas outpost of Milk Bar, and my company was having their annual conference in Vegas at the end of April. The stars aligned. It was the first place I went after dropping my bags off at the hotel. No shame.

Of course, I wanted more when I got home and wasn’t willing to fly back to Vegas to stock up. So here I am, with chocolate cake sand all over my hands, rolling cake truffles to my heart’s content.

I have to admit, truffles have never been high on my list of favorite desserts. They’re always a bit too decadent in my opinion. But these babies are much closer to their cake pop cousins, with a lighter, fluffier center under their chocolate coating.

They have three elements: an ovaltine & chocolate cake center, a dark chocolate coating, and a cake sand exterior. Christina Tosi’s recipe introduced me to the idea of “cake sand.” It’s got a lot elements from cake batter, but only has a fraction of the normal liquid content. Once baked, it becomes slightly crunchy, and it adds a fun texture to the outside of these velvety bombs.

Let me introduce my new marble lazy susan! The official reason I got it is to help frost layer cakes, but it’s also just really cool looking.

Who needs to buy buttermilk when you can just make it with lemon juice and milk? Gotta love kitchen hacks.

Getting ready for chocolate. In 5, 4, 3, 2, . . .

One! I’m loving the 32 oz bars of chocolate from Trader Joe’s. It makes so much more sense than powering through little 4 oz bars every week.

It started to separate after mixing in the “buttermilk” and chocolate, but if it happens to you, remember that it doesn’t matter once the cake is baked. It all magically evens out again in the oven! It has to do with working too quickly and not letting the temperatures of the different ingredients level out. I’m usually in a rush when I bake because I’ve misunderstood how long certain steps will take. Hence, the separated batter. Remember no one’s paying attention to what your batter looks like – they only want to eat the end result!

Sur Le Table was having a sale on Nordic Ware baking pans so I treated myself to a new quarter sheet pan. *happy dance* I’m making a promise to myself that I will always line it with parchment paper to avoid the eventual staining that occurs with heavy use.

Oooo, aaaaahh.

It’s got personality, I’ll give it that. While it’s got a delicious flavor, this cake is not the prettiest of them all. What’s interesting is that I would assume that this cake was under-baked (from the indentations in the middle where I tested for spring-back and it sunk instead.) However, it was fully cooked and nearly completely evenly too!