RECIPE: St. Patrick’s Day Cake Truffles

So confession: I’ve never actually been in San Francisco for St. Patrick’s Day.

Which is sad because from what I hear, it’s a pretty crazy day, although from what I also hear, it’s not as big as Chicago’s version of the “holiday.” If anyone is reading from Chicago, can you confirm this?

This year, the fateful day is on Monday, which gives us the weekend before to get our green and whiskey on. While I’ll hopefully be sticking around the Bay this time around (last year I was waking up in a new Bugatti), I got some green thangs headed yo’ way.

Now, making green desserts isn’t exactly the easiest thing – unless it’s like kiwi, but how much kiwi are you planning to eat? I tend to stick to more natural desserts, but in the spirit of the Irish, I busted out some green food coloring to give you cake truffles. That are green. And roundish. And delicious.

One rule for covering truffles – never use just plain melted chocolate because then they get abnormally hard and crack easily, which makes them look ugly and you look sad. Opt for a ganache that glides easily over everything and looks smooth, although if you’re me, you can somehow still manage to make them look ugly. Sigh. I swear I had no whiskey in me at the time of this truffle-making.

It’s not easy being green.

St. Patrick’s Day Cake Truffles

[ingredients]

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
2. Using your hands, take small pieces of cake and roll them into uniformly-sized balls. Your hands will get a little messy, but it’s all cake, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. Refrigerate the balls until ready to use.
3. Put the white chocolate in a large bowl and set aside.
4. In a heavy pan, bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Whisk until everything is well-combined and smooth. Whisk in the green food coloring, adding more if you like to get the shade of green you want.
5. Let the ganache cool slightly so that it is lukewarm.
6. Take the balls out of the fridge. Using your hands (carefully) or a spoon, dip the balls in the green ganache until well and evenly coated. Lay them back on the baking sheet and let sit at room temperature or in the fridge until the ganache is set (about 20 minutes if refrigerated). Store in the fridge if your kitchen is too hot so the chocolate doesn’t melt.