Pumpkin Cake Truffles

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pumpkin cupcakes
• 1 1/4 cups spiced cream cheese frosting
• 2 1/2 lbs chocolate of your choice
• Assorted toppings: chopped pecans, crushed oreos, toffee bits, crumbled graham cracker pie crust, crushed butterfingers, or sprinkles

Directions

1. Set your oven to 350 degrees. Make the pumpkin cupcake batter as directed, then divide it between 2 buttered and floured 9" round baking pans. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Take the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool and settle for about 3 hours or overnight.
2. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper and set it aside. In a large mixing bowl, break up the cooled cake. Add 1 1/4 cups spiced cream cheese frosting and stir until the mixture is even, with no visible streaks of frosting. Wet your hands with water, then shape the cake mixture into balls using 1 even tbsp for each one. Arrange the cake balls on a parchment lined baking dish and chill them in the refrigerator or freezer until firm.
3. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof mixing bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Pull about 8 firm cake balls from the fridge at a time. Coat the cake balls in the melted chocolate, then transfer them to the parchment lined baking sheet. Add the assorted toppings before the chocolate cools and hardens. Refrigerate until firm. Store in the refrigerator.