This post is also available in(こちらの言語版もある): Japanese
As those of you who have been following me on Instagram know, in the spring and summer I make a fair amount of varieties of sangria and even made some sangria cupcakes, which were surprisingly quite tasty. And since sangria is to summer as mulled wine is to winter, when I was making my last batch of mulled wine I got to wondering if it would be good in cupcakes as well. My friend had a birthday in late November and I figured that would be a good opportunity to put this idea to the test, but since someone else was already bringing a proper cake to the party I decided that cake bites (cake pops without the stick) would make for a better gift since they are easier to take home and keep. The final result was the perfect mix of spicy and sweet and fruity, plus I had enough cake and frosting ingredients left to make a batch of absinthe cake bites (with this recipe) so you’re getting two recipes for the price of one today.
Cake bites are really just cake pops without the sticks, which is to say they are just crumbled cake mixed with icing, rolled into balls, and then dipped into melted chocolate. Making the balls is more time-consuming than making normal cupcakes for sure, but thanks to the chocolate coating they stay moist much longer and are much easier to transport, so these are well-suited to gift giving as well as Christmas party nibbling.
Speaking of Christmas, in addition to 2/3 cup of mulled wine made with this recipe, the cake batter contains extra spice and orange zest so the cake smells just like Christmas while it’s in the oven. Plus, the 1/2 cup of mulled wine in the frosting doesn’t get cooked off so these will warm you up and get you in the happy holiday spirit for sure.
The cake and icing have all the richly sweet, spicy, and citrus-y flavor of the drink recipe so I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to do a very good job with the chocolate coating. The issue may have been that I couldn’t find any candy melts in time so I melted down normal white chocolate bars and thinned them out with vegetable oil. It worked ok, but it was kind of a pain and not all of the finished balls were that pretty, so next time I think I will try to use proper candy melts and see if they come out better.
These little red mulled wine cake bites are of course delicious by themselves, but nothing is more Christmas-y than red AND green so you could follow my absinthe cupcake recipe to make an absinthe cake and then use the same technique to assemble it into cake balls as the mulled wine cake bites. Truth be told, I was only thinking about using up ingredients and wasn’t really thinking of Christmas when I decided to make both as a gift for my friend, but once I had finished assembling them all I looked down on my finished work and though “It looks just like Christmas!” and absinthe and red wine-flavored baked goods are definitely my kind of Christmas.
- Mulled wine cake bites:
- For mulled wine cake:
- 2 cups (256 g) flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter or baking margarine at room temperature
- ⅔ cup (134 g) sugar
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup (190 g) of Greek yogurt (strain normal yogurt if that's all you have)
- ⅔ cup (150 ml) mulled wine (recipe here)
- Red food coloring
- For mulled wine frosting:
- ¼ cup (57 g) unsalted butter or baking margarine at room temperature
- 1½ cup (192 g) powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp mulled wine (recipe here)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of grated orange zest (optional)
- Red food coloring
- For coating:
- 180-225 g of white chocolate candy melts (or 180-225 g of white chocolate bars)
- A small amount of vegetable oil (if using regular chocolate bars)
- Powdered red food color
- Bonus absinthe cake bites:
- For absinthe cake:
- ½ cup (64 g) flour
- ½ cup (100g) sugar
- 3 Tbsp (42 g) butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup (50 ml) absinthe
- ¼ cup (50 ml) milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, room temperature
- For absinthe frosting:
- 2 cups (255 g) powdered sugar
- 113g (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
- 1½-2 Tbsp absinthe
- Green food coloring (if desired)
- For coating:
- 135-180 g of white chocolate candy melts (or 135-180 g of white chocolate bars)
- A small amount of vegetable oil (if using regular chocolate bars)
- Powdered green food color
- Make mulled wine cake bites: preheat over to 350F (180C) and prepare a square cake pan
- Put orange zest and sugar in a bowl and let sit for 30 min-2 hours to let the flavors infuse.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat butter, sugar, and orange zest with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and yogurt and beat until combined.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and wine in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix well after each addition.
- Add the food coloring and mix well (if using)
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan and back at 350F (180C) for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool completely.
- In the meantime, beat the butter for the frosting with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Slowly add the vanilla, wine, powdered sugar, orange zest (if using), and food coloring (if using) and beat until fluffy.
- When the cake has cooled, break it into pieces and finely crumble it in the food processor (or by hand if you don't have a food processor).
- Put the finely crumbled cake and frosting in a bowl and incorporate it together with your hands.
- Roll the mixture into ping pong ball-sized balls and refrigerate 2 hours-overnight (if you don't have time you can freeze them for about 15 minutes).
- Melt chocolate in the microwave and stir in food coloring if using. If it's too thick for dipping stir in a little vegetable oil to thin it out.
- One at a time, use a spoon to drop chilled cake balls in the melted chocolate and once they are fully coated transfer them to a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet to harden (f you don't have much time you can put them in the fridge until they harden).
- Enjoy!
- Make bonus absinthe cake bites: Follow the directions here to make absinthe cake and frosting, but bake the cake for 15-25 min (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean) in a loaf pan instead of a cupcake pan.
- Break the cooled cake into pieces and finely crumble it in the food processor (or by hand if you don't have a food processor).
- Put the finely crumbled cake and frosting in a bowl and incorporate it together with your hands.
- Roll the mixture into ping pong ball-sized balls and refrigerate 2 hours-overnight (if you don't have time you can freeze them for about 15 minutes).
- Melt chocolate in the microwave and stir in food coloring if using. If it's too thick for dipping stir in a little vegetable oil to thin it out.
- One at a time, use a spoon to drop chilled cake balls in the melted chocolate and once they are fully coated transfer them to a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet to harden (if you don't have much time you can put them in the fridge until they harden).
- Enjoy!
★ You can only use powdered food coloring not gel or liquid in the melted chocolate so be careful. You can use any type of food coloring in the cake and frosting.
★ Because these cake bites are covered in chocolate, they will stay fresh and moist longer than cupcakes. They will keep a week...if you can manage not to eat them all of course!
Mulled wine cake recipe adapted from: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/12/christmas-cupcakes-mulled-wine-cupcakes.html
Mulled wine frosting recipe adapted from: http://tideandthyme.com/chocolate-red-wine-cupcakes/
Absinthe cake adapted from: http://www.coconutandlime.com/2008/03/absinthe-makes-heart-grow-fonder.html?m=1
Lee Sundermeyer says
These look tasty!! Put a few on a stick and you could have super, ultra dango!
Xiomara Entropy says
Cake dangos–now there’s an idea! Just need to make some white ones as well and the look would be complete!