Valentines Day Candy Box Cake

Today I wanted to share a cake idea that my roommate and I borrowed from another blogger, bakerella. This cake was so fun to make and was very appropriate since we made it on valentines day. In the end, it was beautiful and delicious!
We made our own fondant by melting marshmallows with just a touch of water in the microwave. We added red food coloring (made especially for icing) for that candy-box red effect. If you add just a little almond or vanilla extract to the mixture, it makes the fondant taste even better. After adding a box of confectioners sugar and kneading for a (very) long time, you have fondant! Roll it out to your desired thickness and lay it over the cake covered with just a bit of icing and it will adhere nicely. Make sure that when you are working with the fondant that you have a nice non-stick surface to work on. We layed down some wax paper and covered it (and our hands) with crisco. It feels gross, but if you don't do it you'll be picking marshmallow goop off of your hands all day.
To make the "truffles" we actually made what bakerella calls "cake balls". In order to make these, we crumbled up the extra cake we had left over from the main base and added a bit of cream cheese icing. After doing this, you should roll the mixture in to balls and then form them in to the desired shapes of your truffles. We did balls, squares, hearts...but there are more shapes you could try out. Be creative!
After setting the cake balls on some parchment papers and putting them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, you're ready to dip them in chocolate. Melt down some chocolate pieces in the microwave, cover the cake balls and then let them cool and harden on parchment paper.
Now comes the fun part of decorating! We used colored melt-able candy in tubes to make the designs on the truffles. We also used heart-shaped sprinkles, coconut, and colored sugar. Place the completed truffles in fluted cups and TA-DAAA! You have your delicious candy box cake. Enjoy, and share!

Be sure to visit bakerella's blog to see her version of the candy box cake, and all the other sweet treats she creates!
www.bakerella.com