Black Velvet Creme Cakes

I really wanted to call these little beauties, Black Velvet Ding Dongs. But since that name was taken...Creme Cakes they became. My goal was to Halloween-ify the Creme Cake.  I'd hoped to enrobe the whole cake with three different colored chocolate coatings with each cake filled with a contrasting colored frosting center. Imagine...a lime green Ding Dong..oops, Creme Cake, with brilliant purple filling next to the deep Black Velvet Chocolate Cake. An orange Creme Cake with bright green filling and a white Creme Cake with blood red filling...you get the picture. At least that's what I was going for originally, but Candy Melts had other plans for me. 

Candy Melts were very tricky to use and created tears of frustration. However, I must say it was user error. My first mistake was thinking I could enrobe the Creme Cakes with them. You can't. The white chocolate in melting chocolate is too thick, even with addition of shortening or oil. It will not pour out into a beautiful curtain of colored white chocolate like regular chocolate does. (At least I couldn't get it to that consistency) And, if you try to heat it higher to get it more liquid, it will do the opposite and seize up on you and turn into a globby thick mess. It took me three tries to figure this out and after the third failed attempt at melting these buggers, I realized I needed help!

I hit up the Internet. I read all kinds of to do's and what not to do's but the single most important advice I read, and what worked for me (by accident) was...MELTING CAN NOT BE RUSHED. Take your time and it wouldn't hurt to buy an extra bag as your practice round.

Here are some things I learned when melting white chocolate:

-New melting chocolate melts better than older candy melts. Yes, this is absolutely true.  I had some left over from last Halloween and they did not melt very well at all. I ended up tossing the whole lot out.

-Use rectangular flat trays for melting white chocolate. Melting candy melts in rectangular plastic trays helped melt them more evenly. I used my three breading trays, I got from Pampered Chef.  I'd been heating them up in the microwave, in bowls, and heating was uneven. I got hot spots which seized up the chocolate.

-Heat the chocolate for only the recommended time at half power. One minute for the initial heating, and two more 30 second intervals. That it! Stir well and let it sit between all heatings. If you absolutely need to add more time, add it in 10 second intervals and stir well and let sit before adding any more time.

-Stirring is critical. Stir well after the first one minute heating. Stir well between the next two 30 second intervals. Stir a lot. Don't worry about rushing it back into the microwave thinking it is cooling down and will harden up again. No, the truth is, once these begin to melt, they stay melted for a long while. In fact, this leads me to my next lesson learned. 

-Let the chocolate sit. After the third seize up of my chocolate and trying to save it with adding shortening, I hopped on the Internet and did my investigating. I left the thick mess sitting there on the counter. After 10 minutes of education, I went back over to the chocolate mess I'd abandoned...and what do you know? The chocolate had in fact thinned out. Letting the chocolate sit and continue to melt and cool, did the trick. See...MELTING CANNOT BE RUSHED.

Anyway, like all mistakes, you learn something from them and then usually it leads you into new beautiful territory called, Plan B.  

Plan B was to use the candy melts I had left without having to run up to Michael's again. In this case, I had Black and white remaining. Instead of coating each of these cakes, I decided to coat the bottom and top of them, and it was just enough. The candy coating really gives you the texture reminiscent of those foil wrapped desserts we grew up with. All in all, the effort was so worth it because I learned a lot and most importantly they turned out beautiful and delicious!

Black Velvet Creme Cakes
Makes 30 creme cakes

1 box of Devil's Food cake mix
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
gel food coloring in (black and colors of your choice)
1 container of prepared Vanilla frosting
1 bag each of Candy Melts in Black and White
Halloween Sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Add 1/2 t black gel food coloring and 1 T of unsweetened cocoa powder. Stir well. Generously spray cupcake pan with non-stick cooking spray. Using a medium cookie scoop, fill cupcake pan with one scoopful (about 2 T) of cake mix. Cupcake batter will only fill the bottom 1/4 of the pan. You want the cakes to be small. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

 While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare your different colored creme fillings. Add gel food coloring until desired color is reached. Put frosting into piping bags with a piping tip. I only had a star tip and it worked just fine.

 On the underside of the cupcake, pipe a small amount of frosting into the middle of the cupcake. Take care not to pipe to quickly or your frosting will blow out the other side of the cupcake. Set aside while you prepare your candy melting chocolate.

Melt white chocolate according to package instructions and be mindful of the lessons learned listed above. Using a knife, remove excess piped frosting from the bottom of the cupcake before you dip them into chocolate. You'll want to seal the bottom of the cakes first so you don't lose your creme filling. Dip carefully and then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet to allow for chocolate to set.


Prepare your black candy melting chocolate. Dip the tops of each cake, slightly twisting them as you remove them from the chocolate. You will need to use the back of a spoon to smooth over some spots.

Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles (optional) and allow for chocolate to set. (I added the sprinkles after the chocolate had set, by using my hair dryer to slightly melt the tops of the cupcakes and then sprinkled them on.) Pour yourself a tall glass of milk and Enjoy!

Other Halloween Desserts to try:
Candy Corn Sugar Cookies                             Candy Corn Peppermint Patties