Rum truffle cake balls - a delicious treat made from leftovers

I was really struggling to give today's recipe an appropriate name but I hope rum truffle cake balls describes roughly what they are :-)  These are actually quite popular in Germany (they are called "Rumkugeln" there) and I first came across these in my uncle's bakery when I was a little girl.  Traditionally made from leftover cake, they are the perfect way to avoid food waste whilst making something delicious. 

Rum truffle cake balls

When my cake went dry very quickly the other day, I knew immediately what to do with it - turn it into these little treats!  You can use just rum flavouring if you want to keep the alcohol content down (and serve to kids) but with just 2 tablespoons of rum for the whole lot, you are not going to get drunk eating these :-)

They remind me of my uncle and of sleepovers at the bakery - happy times!



Rum truffle cake balls (makes 8 balls - each rougly the size of a satsuma)

Ingredients:
250g leftover cake (loaf cake, sponge, pound cake - nothing creamy though)
2 tbsp rum
2 tbsp rum flavouring
60 ml hot water
30g icing sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
25g coconut oil, melted (optional - these will also stick together without the addition of the extra fat)
chocolate sprinkles for decoration
paper muffin cases

Method:

1. Crumble the leftover cake into a bowl.
2. Mix the hot water, rum and rum flavouring and pour over the cake crumbs.  Mix to distribute evenly and leave to soak in for a little while.  The flavour will continue to develop, so don't be tempted to add more rum at this stage.
3. Melt the coconut oil (if using), leave to cool slightly and then mix together with the icing sugar and cocoa powder into the cake crumbs.
4. Stir everything and form the mix into 8 balls (approx. 50g each).  Roll in chocolate sprinkles, place in a paper muffin case and leave to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5. Remove from the fridge an hour before serving to allow to get to room temperature.  Enjoy!