Cake bites
I had some cake scraps from the wedding cake so I decided to make some pretty cake bites to indulge with my afternoon tea. Cake bites is made out of cake scraps (I used chocolate cake) and is mixed with either buttercream, cream cheese frosting or chocolate ganache until it looks likes a sticky “dough” that you can mould. You can add flavours like sugar syrup or liqueur if you like.
Roll the “dough” into small bite sizes and chill them in the refrigerator for about 1 hour. Then decorate them as you desire with melted chocolate, poured fondant or sprinkles. If you are planning to roll the cake bites in sugar sprinkles, then do it the moment that you have rolled the cake bites while they are still soft and sticky. Otherwise it can be hard for the sugar sprinkles to attach the cake bite.
I decorated some of my cake bites with “home-colored” pink sprinkles and covered the rest with poured fondant and decorated them with green vines and some small pink gum paste sugar flowers. Placed in paper cups these small cake bites would be a perfect treat for a tea party.
Happy Caking!
Louise
1. Small cookie
April 4th, 2008 9:08 am
Wow this is a great idea. I usually throw mine away as I didn’t know what to do with it. Brilliant!
2. Paola Lazzari
April 4th, 2008 11:06 am
Ciao, Louise!!! I’m writing from Rome, Italy. I look at your blog every day from last year. It is so interesting!! Here in Italy we don’t find cakes as yours, so I want know news about decorated cakes. If you need some italians recipes let me know!! Thank you for all. (Sorry for my terrible English)
Paola
3. Sarah S
April 4th, 2008 12:00 pm
These are beautiful. I’ve been wanting to make cake bites for ages, but all the American recipes I’ve seen use ‘coffee creamer’, which sounded a bit artificial for my liking. Pleased to see you can do it with buttercream.
One question – if you use poured chocolate on the cake bites do you need to temper it first? I’ve had problems with chocolate going ‘bloomy’ and brittle when I’ve used it in poured projects.
Thanks for a fantastic blog by the way!
4. DivaLicious Cakes
April 4th, 2008 12:07 pm
Hi Louise, wow that is a great idea. Whenever i have off cuts left from a cake i’v made my poor family get them as they are, but this is great, they will feel special with these. What a fab idea. well done.
rx
PS: made my cupcake stand yesterday, it looks great, even my husband was impressed. will email pic once i’v done the cakes to go on them!
5. Linda
April 4th, 2008 12:12 pm
wow! theese look truly gorgeous! you could actuallt serve them as a treat/petit four on a wedding! really beautiful photography also!
that got me so inspired! I want to bake!!!!
hugs!
6. Hendria
April 4th, 2008 12:43 pm
wow… amazing…
7. Amanda
April 4th, 2008 12:57 pm
Wow! I am absolutely amazed that you can turn left overs in complete works of art! These are amazing!
8. Amy from NY~USA
April 4th, 2008 2:22 pm
Wow! What a wonderful idea! I can’t wait to try this. And i like the idea that I can flavor them! Thanks again! hugs!
9. Holly
April 4th, 2008 2:44 pm
These look so adorable and sound like a wonderful idea!
10. Suzanne
April 4th, 2008 3:17 pm
Wow! You made them sound so simple, “cake bites” these are gorgeous creations! You are sooooo talented, thanks for sharing with us on you blog. I’ve learned so much
Suzanne
11. angela
April 4th, 2008 3:28 pm
do you have an actuall recipe for the cake balls? Yours looks so yummy and pretty
12. Kathleen
April 4th, 2008 3:31 pm
Beautiful treats and would be good for tastings, I bet. Could you give me your poured fondant recipe?
13. Yolanda
April 4th, 2008 4:12 pm
Your web site is wonderful. I dont know if you can teach us some recipe about cake, not sponge cake another cake a bit strong to cover with foundant paste.Thank you .
Yolanda
Rome-Italy
14. My Sweet & Saucy
April 4th, 2008 4:41 pm
Those have to be the most beautiful cake balls I’ve ever seen!
15. marielba
April 4th, 2008 6:42 pm
HI Louise,
You are so good doing all this beauty. I make something called trufas in Venezuela, made with cake scraps mixed with condensed milk, some liqueur and rolled into small bite sizes, decorated with chocolate sprinkles, peanuts, almond or sugar. Placed in paper cups.
I so happy when I see your notes in my mail. I can´t wait to see what´s new. Greetings, Marielba Anzola
16. Landa
April 4th, 2008 8:01 pm
They are so cute! How did you do the sprinkles?
Yolanda
17. Louise
April 4th, 2008 10:44 pm
Small cookie & Paola Lazzari: Thank you:-)
Sarah S: Do try to make them with buttercream they taste so good. I used some vanilla sugar syrup as well and that made them really moist.
Have you tried candy melts? if you want to use “real” chocolate then temper it. Try and see this little video I found online: http://video.about.com/candy/How-to-Temper-Chocolate.htm
DivaLicious Cakes: I will look forward to see your cake stand….
Linda: Thank you:D I wonder what you will make next….
Hendria, Amanda, Amy, Holly, Suzanne: thank you all for the lovely comments.
Angela: Hmm no I am sorry I dont have an excact recipe for these. But I would say that if you use a 6″ cake and about 1/2 cup of buttercream (maybe more-maybe less) would give you around 25-30 cake bites depending on the size.
Kathleen: You can find the recipe for poured fondant icing here: http://www.cakejournal.com/?p=59
Yolanda: Thank you. I use most of my recipes from the cake books that I have or I often Google for one.
My Sweet & Saucy & marielba: I am glad that you liked them:-)
Landa: I used this great tip that I found on MS.com: http://www.cakejournal.com/?p=53
18. Jess
April 5th, 2008 1:22 am
Louise … I just love the look and concept (and of course, the taste!!) of cake balls, and yours are some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen! So delicate and feminine. As you said, perfect for a tea party! Love your creativity!
19. melissa
April 5th, 2008 8:56 am
Those Cake bites are so adorable! I just had one question…i went and checked out that recipe for the sprinkles and i couldnt tell what kind of sprinkles they were using…Jimmies or non-pareils. I know yours looks like non-pareils, but i wasnt sure if this recipe works with both kinds of sprinkles or not. Either way, i cant wait to try some! You’ve inspired me! Soo pretty!!
20. Louise
April 5th, 2008 11:19 am
Jess: Glad you liked them & Thank you.
melissa: In the link from MS.com they use non-pareils, but I have also tried it with sprinkles/jimmies and sugar crystals it works just as good. As long as you use clear or white ones. I think yhis is so cool because it gives you a chance to co-ordinate with the design/color you are using.
21. Heather
April 5th, 2008 3:47 pm
They truly are beautiful. Just found your website this week, it is spectacular. So many great ideas! I can’t wait to try making the sprinkles. Thanks for the inspiration.
22. melissa
April 5th, 2008 11:23 pm
Ohh wow, thats good to know! Thanks so much. Yeah it really is a great idea. You can match things soo perfectly together. But i really love your pink color!! Im definitely trying these soon!! Thanks again!!
23. Tash Jeffery
April 6th, 2008 1:57 am
These are beautiful! What a clever idea too! I can’t wait to try making some of these…..
24. Jenny
April 6th, 2008 6:34 pm
Hey Louise! You always have such beautiful creations! I hate it! It makes me so jealous because all of your things look absolutely perfect! I’m so jealous! Is that buttercream or royal icing that you decorated the leaves with? Because whenever I use either of them, my leaves never have that beautiful solid point that you get with your leaves.. They always break off towards the end so I’m stuck with this odd looking leaf that looks half eaten by bugs!
25. Louise
April 7th, 2008 11:36 am
Jenny:
I have had the same problem once with my leaves (royal icing) But I learned that the RI needs to be soft peak, without beeing to soft. When you pipe your leaves pay attention to first pipe with pressure to make the “heart” then loosen up and softly pull back. That should ive you the pointed tip with out it breaking off.
Try one day only to pipe leaves on a piece of parchment paper. It is a good learner:-)
26. Wanda Santana
April 8th, 2008 9:23 pm
Hi, Louise! I’m new to your website and I enjoy your pictures and tips very much. You are quite an artist. I would like to address Marielba from Venezuela. I am from Puerto Rico and I’m wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing your recipe for trupas?
27. Virginie
May 1st, 2008 2:33 pm
Finally I had enough scraps from a cake to make some cake bites
I’ve been wanting to try these for a while now, ’cause they really look charming.
I’ve been an ardent lurker on your site for some time now. Just wanted to give a big thumbs up and wish you succes in continuing it!
28. Louise
May 3rd, 2008 8:40 pm
Virginie: I would love to know how your cake bites turned out
29. Honey Cakes
May 4th, 2008 5:41 am
Hi Louise I made some of these on the weekend and they turned out great thanks to your great tutorial. But how did you get the sprinkles over the whole ball. I could only get mine on the top. Did you roll them in the sprinkles. I thought of doing that but thought it would get chocolate over the colour of the sprinkles. thank again for great website!
30. Louise
May 6th, 2008 8:38 am
Honey Cakes: It can be difficult to cover the cake bites in sprinkles when they are firm. Try use some sugar syrup on your hands and roll the bites so they get sticky and then roll them in the sprinkles.
31. be
May 7th, 2008 5:34 pm
Wanting to do small sunflower heads on cupcakes, any information on that? Pictures, what molds I would need & recipe for making them.
Thank you. Your work is amazing
32. Louise
May 8th, 2008 9:51 pm
be: I have found this for you: http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/sunflower.cfm
Try search for “push mold sunflower” on Google.
33. Janet
June 4th, 2008 3:00 pm
Hello Louise! Love your cake bites…way too cute. I tried making some last night…and covered them in melted chocolate (wilton chocolate melts) and found that they were VERY sweet. I used a red velvet cake mix and mixed it with a tub of cream cheese frosting… it was good…but very sweet.. any idea of what I can do to bring the sweetness down a bit? Thanks!
34. Louise
June 9th, 2008 9:58 am
Hi Janet,
My only idea is either to add some lemon flavour/lemon zest or use “real” chocolate instead of candy melts. I have not tried candy melts so I dont know how they taste.
35. Janet
June 9th, 2008 6:04 pm
Thanks Louise! I will give it another try.
36. ann
September 18th, 2009 12:52 am
Re: cake Bites I just want to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, you bake the cake first, then just grab the pieces and roll them up after wards, chill, decorate an dthen you’re finished? Is that right?
37. Louise
September 23rd, 2009 8:47 pm
ann: well normally I take the scraps from a cake, blend them with some chocolate ganache or buttercream and roll them into bite sizes, chill and decorate.
38. Phyllis
September 23rd, 2009 10:46 pm
Just beautiful! I usually use candy melts but I want to try the poured fondant – do you dip it the same or pour it over the cake balls? I’ve never used the poured fondant before.
Thanks you.
39. Louise
September 23rd, 2009 10:57 pm
Phyllish: Yes I pour it over the cake balls. I would love to try the candy melts thing but I dont know what I did wrong when I tried because I could not get it any liquid and that was with Wiltons.
40. tina
November 15th, 2009 5:56 pm
Hi Louise! I’m from Philippines & a great fan of yours. I love every idea, tips & everything that you shared. I’m new in baking (I only baked cakes for my relatives & friends)but by applying every thing that I’ve learned from you including recipes…gosh!..they think I’m expert! I made a cupcake tower for my 7yr.old daughter & they loved it. Thanks for your generosity. God Bless!
41. Louise
November 20th, 2009 12:31 am
Tina: Im happy to hear that you have learned a lot from my site.
Thanks.
42. Brooke
December 10th, 2009 8:37 pm
These are gorgeous and they will be a perfect accent dessert for my daughter’s 4th birthday party! We are doing a pastel Mad Hatter design decorated with pink and blue snowflakes for birthday cake (December baby!) and these will be great to serve alongside! I came upon your site purely by chance and I am so glad I did