Guest Sweet: Cake Bites for a Wedding

One of my mom's friends was recently married and asked my mom to make the cake, along with some cake bites. The cake looked beautiful, and I love the vibrant colors of the ribbon and the butterflies!

The butterflies are made from gum paste, and they were carefully cut out by hand. My mom then used food coloring mixed with almond extract to paint the beautiful colors onto the butterflies.

Here is the cake set up with just some of the 650+ cake bites she made for the wedding reception. If you look at the flower arrangement behind the cake, you will see how perfectly she matched the fondant ribbon and butterflies to the wedding decor.

If you've ever made cake pops or cake bites, you know it's no easy task. Candy melts and melted chocolate can be finicky and difficult to get perfectly smooth when dipping those fragile rounds of cake. For this project, my mom tried using Paramount Crystals in the candy melts, and she said they made a HUGE difference. Adding the Paramount Crystals to the melted chocolate produces a more fluid product, making the overall process much easier and faster.

Tips for making cake bites:

- Use only half a can of frosting (about 1 cup or 8 oz.) for one baked cake mix. If you use more, the mixture will be too soggy.

- Use a Tbsp. to measure and scoop the cake ball mixture. Make sure to level it, and you've got the perfect amount for a cake ball.

- The Tbsp. will make the perfect size to fit inside 1 1/4" mini cupcake liners.

- If you don't own a chocolate dipping fork http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=8306&categoryid=336#.UA_-zPUn2So, you can make do with a disposable plastic fork. Just break off the two middle fork tines, and it'll work just fine.

STATS:

Cake Ball Tutorial
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/cake-pop-lesson-1-the-cake-ball/

Candy Melts
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=pg_candymelts

Paramount Crystals
http://www.confectioneryhouse.com/paramount-crystals

Mini Cupcake Liners
http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Mini-Muffin-Cups-Count/dp/B0000AE61X

Happy Caking, Everyone!

Peanut Butter Bites

I made these for a friend at church. They're peanut butter balls coated in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. The peanut butter center is the same as the peanut butter mixture in Buckeye candies. I just used white chocolate instead of regular chocolate to dip them.



I found a cute box at the store and lined it with plastic wrap before adding the peanut butter bites. Pretty and delicious!



STATS:

Buckeye Recipe
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buckeye-balls-ii/

A good chocolate dipping tutorial:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/cake-pop-lesson-1-the-cake-ball/

Cake Bites

Here are a couple different cake bites I've made recently. I like them because they're a lot faster to make than cake pops. (They're the same thing, just without the lollipop stick.)

Anatomy of a Vanilla Cake Bite



White Cake Bites with Rainbow Sprinkles



Decorated with marbleized blue fondant flowers



Here's a great Cake Bite tutorial:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/cake-pop-lesson-1-the-cake-ball/