St Clement’s Cake Truffles: Sweet And Zingy
If you ever have any sort of leftover lemon or orange cake which is starting to go stale, make these St Clement’s cake truffles. They are fantastic. Sweet and zingy with dark chocolate acting as a welcome foil. They transform stale cake into delicious and potentially elegant chocolate truffles. Perfect for gifting on Mother’s Day or any other occasion.
What Are Cake Truffles?
Cake truffles are a mix of crumbled cake and buttercream. They’re a great way to use up any leftover bits of cake. You form them into balls then dip them in chocolate. What’s not to love? Like any other chocolate truffles you can leave them plain or decorate as you like.
They’re actually pretty similar to cake pops. The only real difference is that cake pops are on sticks to mimic mini lollypops. These chocolate covered bites are great for parties. Kids and adults alike will love them.
Why St Clement?
St Clement is mostly known from the nursery rhyme, Oranges and Lemons. The first line “Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clement’s” is the most famous. It refers to St. Clement church in Eastcheap, London. It was here in the nearby wharves that citrus fruits used to be unloaded to delight the gentry and any others who could afford them.
So, in case you haven’t guess it already, a St Clement’s cake is one flavoured with oranges and lemons. It’s usually, though not always, in the form of a drizzle cake.
St Clement’s Cake Truffles
For Mother’s Day this year, I decided to make some cake truffles. I had some left over lemon & poppy seed cake from the book swap event which, I thought, mixed with orange, would make some nice tangy St Clements cake truffles.
Oh my, these were delicious. It may not say much for the sophistication of my palate, but I’m becoming a real fan of cake truffles. They are a lot nicer than I would ever have believed. And they’re set off ever so well when covered with a nice dark chocolate.
I was a little concerned at how well the lemon flavour would go with chocolate. But I needn’t have been. Sweet and sharp is a well known and winning combination. The box found its way back to me empty, so I have to assume my mother quite liked them too.
Mother’s Day
A walk along the lovely Lerryn river following an early lunch at Duchy Nursery was the treat of the day. My mother is particularly enamoured of the leaf that appears in the froth on the top of their coffees. You can sort of see this in the picture below.
Although the weather was showery, we didn’t get rained on. This was most fortuitous as, due to an oversight on the restaurant’s part, we had to sit outside for lunch. Luckily, my mother is a hardy soul and she really enjoyed her day.
Other Mother’s Day Recipes You Might Like
- Chocolate almond cake
- Chocolate coconut cannellini cake
- Lavender chocolate goose egg cake
- Lavender honey cake with lemon & honey cream cheese icing
- Marmalade runeberg cakes
- Simnel cake
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these St Clement’s cake truffles, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
St Clement’s Cake Truffles. PIN IT.
St Clement’s Cake Truffles – The Recipe
St Clement’s Cake Truffles
Ingredients
- 15 g unsalted butter (½ oz) softened
- 30 g icing sugar (1 oz)
- 90 g leftover lemon, orange or St Clement's sponge cake (3 oz (I used one square of my lemon poppy seed cake))
- 2 tsp orange liqueur or lemon liqueur
- 60 g dark chocolate (2 oz (I used Green & Black's 72% cook's chocolate))
Instructions
- Cream the butter and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl until very soft and pale in colour.15 g unsalted butter, 30 g icing sugar
- Crumble the cake in with your hands.90 g leftover lemon, orange or St Clement's sponge cake
- Beat it well until everything’s fully incorporated and smooth.
- Depending if the cake is lemon or orange, add a couple of teaspoons of either contrasting orange or lemon liqueur. Beat the mixture some more.2 tsp orange liqueur
- Roll the mixture into small balls and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden.
- Roughly chop the chocolate and melt it in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water.60 g dark chocolate
- Dip the cake balls into the chocolate and place on a sheet of greaseproof paper to set.
- If you’re going to cover or decorate them, do it before the chocolate has set. I placed a sugar flower on top of each of mine.
- Once set, transfer to a pretty box and tie with a ribbon.
I am a new convert to cake truffles (discovered after a baking disaster) Much less hassle than cake pops and just as good if not better! Yours look lovely and sophisticated.
They look lovely! Must try them one day 🙂
You make this look and sound so simple, but I can guarantee mine would not turn out looking this good. Anything that requires careful piping or fussing ends in misery for me 😉
What a lovely recipe and I like the instructions, make it look easy.
They look fabulous, I would love to make truffles – great for giving away as gifts!
They sound great and an excellent way of using up leftover cake. Not that I’m suggesting that leftover cake is very common – well, it’s not in my experience, anyway.
I would love a few of cake truffles! They look gorgeous.
I have never made cake truffles but you make them sound very tempting!
making your own chocolate gift for your mother for mother’s day was a very special thing to do..i’ve never heard of cake truffles but i know i’d like them especially with the orange liqueur..yum..:)
Haven’t had a cake truffle for years, used to be the only kind we knew of! Yours sound good.
These sound wonderful! I have never tried making cake truffles but they sound very inviting indeed. I love the addition of orange liqueur. Citrus and dark chocolate is a very winning combination. Great recipe, Choclette! 🙂
Oh so pretty, the little sugar flower against the dark chocolate is lovely, I can almost smell that orange chocolate combo!
I have to agree with you on this. I tried out various cake truffles for a cookery class and found that lemon sponge works extremely well just as much as orange cake did. I love how easy they are to make in comparison to regular choc truffles too. And as they gift they are always so well received.
Bet your mum thoroughly enjoyed herself too!
Oranges and lemons these look good! I’ve made a similar mix for cake pops but I much prefer this idea x
If you fancy venturing further down into Cornwall, try taking your mother to Relish in Wadebridge or 108 Coffee in Truro – both do very fancy things with the froth on their coffees!
cake balls, a lovely cafe and a walk in wonderful surrounds – sounds like a great mother’s day – I am quite enamoured of the cake balls or truffles – keep eyeing off old cake in the freezer and wondering if it is the day for it!
so pretty! and a little like cake pops but just more sophisticated!… love them!… sounds like a wonderful day… proper April showers eh?
They look so lovely. I keep meaning to try cake truffles – my mum loves them too!
I do love the look of these. They are very elegant and pretty and perfect for Mother’s Day. xx
Oh I could eat one of those now with my mid-morning cup of coffee!!
They are so pretty! I am not generally a fan of fruit and chocolate together (I don’t count prunes or cherries because they almost ARE chocolate) but there is something about citrus that just works.