Raspberry Cupcake Bites

Oh, how I wish I could claim the to be the reason for the popularity of cupcake bites! That honored distinction, however, goes to the ever adorable Bakerella. Her lovely little treats are incredibly inspiring, so when I made the Bavarian Winter cupcakes for the Super Bowl this past weekend and had quite a bit of raspberry puree leftover, I decided to attempt something new with her classic treats.

Cupcake bites are made with cake and frosting mixed together. You just bake a 9×13 cake in the flavor of your choice and let it cool. Once cooled, break and crumble the cake up over a large bowl until it’s pretty fine. Stir in 16 ounces of frosting until the mixture is thoroughly combined and has a texture similar to truffle filling. At this point, you would normally roll these, chill them, and dip them in melted chocolate or candy melts, but that process is slightly different here.

I’ve made cupcake bites a few times in the past.

These little green monsters and purple people eaters that I made for Halloween are my favorites, but I wondered how they would be with a little raspberry added. Having all this extra puree on hand presented me with the perfect opportunity to find out.

The puree is very simple, with only three ingredients: frozen raspberries (thawed), sugar, and a little water. This isn’t a very sweet puree. With so little sugar, it is quite tart, but that works well with cupcake bites because of how sweet they are.

It’s also very easy to make, although it is a bit time consuming. Just puree all of the ingredients in the blender until liquified.

Pour the raspberry mixture into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl or large measuring cup. Using a rubber spatula stir and press the puree through it to strain the seeds out. This takes a while, but it’s easy to do, you just have to be patient…it’s pretty boring. You should end up with about one cup of puree in the end. This keeps well, covered, in the refrigerator for about a week.

After all of the liquified raspberries have been pushed through, this is what you’ll be left with. It’s tempting to just keep working it until there’s only seeds, but you can’t. There is also pulp and skins mixed in, so when it’s down to a paste-like consistency, you’re done.

For the raspberry cupcake bites, I decided to go with dark chocolate cake and frosting.

Once the cake and frosting are mixed together, roll it into roughly one inch sized balls, place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil, and chill for a few hours or freeze for at least one hour.

After they’ve chilled, roll the cake balls in the puree until the are completely coated.

Place them back on the cookie sheet, then chill them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to set the puree.

While they are chilling, melt chocolate or candy melts for coating.

 

I used a candy mold for the bottoms of the cupcake bites, but you could just coat them as is and keep the ball shape. Fill each mold a little over a quarter of the way full; place a cake ball in each of the molds, pressing down gently to push the melted chocolate up the sides, filling the mold. Allow the chocolate to harden at room temperature, then place the mold in the freezer to firm up the raspberry again. When the puree has set up, remove the molds from the freezer and pop the candies out of the molds. Holding them by the chocolate bases, dip the tops into more melted candy. And, of course, sprinkles make everything better.

These are a perfect combination of sweet and tart! And they make an adorable gift.

 

Just set them into mini cupcake wrappers and fill an empty heart shaped box with them and you have a beautiful Valentine’s gift that’s worth far more than store bought candy…and just might taste better too! Enjoy!

Raspberry Cupcake Bites

Ingredients

FOR THE PUREE:
12 ounces (1 bag) frozen raspberries, thawed, plus their juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

FOR THE CUPCAKE BITES:
1 9×13 cake, flavor of your choice (homemade or store bought)
16 ounces of frosting (homemade or store bought)

FOR THE COATING:
1 bag chocolate chips or candy melts

Sprinkles (optional)

To make the puree: Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and puree until liquified. Pour into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl or large measuring cup. Using a rubber spatula stir and press the puree through it to strain the seeds out.

To make the cupcake bites: Bake the cake as directed by the recipe. Let it cool completely.

Once cooled, crumble the cake over a large bowl. Stir in the frosting until the mixture is thoroughly combined, roll into 1″ balls, place on a lined cookie sheet, and chill well.

Roll the chilled cake balls in raspberry puree until the are completely coated and place them back on the cookie sheet. Chill in the freezer until the puree sets up, 20-30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate or candy melts.

If using a candy mold for the bottoms of the cupcake bites, fill each mold a little over a quarter of the way full; place a cake ball in each of the molds, pressing down gently to push the melted chocolate up the sides, filling the mold.

Allow the chocolate to harden at room temperature, then place the mold in the freezer to firm up the raspberry again. When the puree has set up, remove the molds from the freezer and pop the candies out of the molds. Holding the candies by the chocolate bases, dip the tops into more melted candy.

Decorate with sprinkles. Allow to harden completely before serving.