Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cake Truffles

Ever develop a new recipe that you know will be a success, and then something goes terribly, horribly wrong? These truffles are the spiteful result of just that – though honestly, the only thing that was truly a disaster was the Italian buttercream frosting that I completely flubbed to top the chocolate peppermint cupcakes I had made. The cupcakes themselves were divine, the perfect mix of deep dark fudgey chocolate and crisp, winter peppermint that feels like candy canes and hot chocolate and everything lovely about the holidays. You’re more than welcome to make a dozen cupcakes out of the cake recipe below (or double it for a normal, two-dozen cupcakes), but this recipe will make you heaps of cake truffles with all of the minty winteriness mentioned above.

One of the key revelations I’ve made this holiday season is that when a baking disaster occurs, you might just find a perfect fix for it that turns into something even more exciting and impressive for that family+friends crowd. That’s certainly what happened with the other cake truffles I made (see: Birthday Cake Truffles), when the fourth layer of a 4-tiered chocolate birthday cake toppled out of the pan onto the cooling rack in the fluffiest but most crumbly bits ever. When in doubt, smush the cake back together with a bit of buttercream and roll it into balls. Who doesn’t like chocolate covered spheres of sugar?

In this case, with one frosting calamity down, I peeled the paper cups off of the 12 remaining cupcakes and dumped the dark chocolate peppermint bombs into a giant bowl to smush into a million bits. I then added the aforementioned frosting and smushed away until it was one giant lump of wintry goodness. As this was a hurried operation (we had an engagement party to get us, and the cake truffles, to in under 30 minutes), we flew through the rolling stage, practically throwing balls of cake onto the cookie sheet and cutting freezing time down to about ten minutes. All in all, the assembly line of cake truffles was a success, dunking each one into the bowl of melted dark and milk chocolate as fast as our fingers could and then tossing on sprinkles of heavily crushed peppermints (tools for this recipe may include a hammer).  If you’re looking for an easy, perfectly wintry treat to add to the platters of Christmas cookies or other festive goodies, you’ve come to the right place. Happy holidays, everyone, and do what tastes good!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cake Truffles

Source: Sisters Sans Gluten

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: cake, chocolate, peppermint, truffles

Servings: 36 truffles

Calories: 100kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Microwave
• 9-inch round pan

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 Cup gluten free flour 1-1 mix
• 3/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/3 Cup plus 2 Tbsp Dutched cocoa powder – good quality
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1/3 Cup plus 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/2 Cup piping hot coffee
• 1 Cup chopped peppermint bark

For the frosting to stir in:

• 7 Tbsp good quality salted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

For the coating:

• 40 oz good quality milk or dark chocolate
• 12 crushed peppermints or candy canes for decoration

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 300° F and grease one 9-inch round cake pan with either butter or cooking spray. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry cake ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt), and whisk to combine.
• In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, canola oil, and vanilla extract until fully blended and creamy. Once combined, add in the dry ingredients and use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix – it will be very dry. Poor in the piping hot coffee and stir until fully combined (it’ll look muddy and take some working). Add in the peppermint extract and chopped peppermint bark and stir to combine. Pour cake batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool completely before crumbling it into a large bowl. While the cake is cooling, take your now-room-temperature butter and blend it the powdered sugar using an electric mixer. The mixture should be light and fluffy, give it a couple of minutes. Use a spatula to scrape all of the frosting into the bowl of cooled, crumbled cake, and use that same spatula to mix together the cake crumbles and the frosting until completely mixed into a squishy, solid mixture.
• Cover a cookie sheet in parchment paper, and, using a tablespoon, measure out level scoops of the cake mixture and roll them into balls, placing them close together on the cookie sheet. Once all of the balls have been made, freeze them for at least 20 minutes before coating them in the chocolate.
• While the cake balls are chilling, chop the chocolate into small chunks. In a heat-safe glass bowl microwave the chopped chocolate in 45 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted (usually 1:30 will do it). Using a fork, lower the cake balls into the melted chocolate until coated, then replace on a wire rack (over a tray to catch drips), continuing until all the cake balls are coated. If you want to add crushed peppermints to the top of the truffles, do so right after coating them in chocolate before the coating hardens.
• Once complete, serve! Or store in the fridge or freezer for up to a week!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your truffles!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber