I usually make these at Christmas but they are good any time of year.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Truffles - Crisp Chocolate Truffles
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1 jar 7 oz marshmallow cream

2 T butter

1 C semi sweet chocolate chips

2 C Rice Krispies

14 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 Tablespoons vegetable shortening

white chocolate chips.

In heavy saucepan combine marshmallow creme, butter and chocolate
chips. Cook over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is
smooth, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Stir rice Krispies into hot mixture, mixing until thoroughly combined.
Drop mixture by rounded measuring teaspoons onto waxed paper lined
cookie sheet. Shape into round balls and Refrigerate about 1 hour or
until firm.

Melt bittersweet chocolate with shortening and dip each chocolate ball
in melted chocolate and place on waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Melt
white chocolate and place in zip lock bag. Cut tiny hole in corner of
bag and drizzle white chocolate over truffles. Refrigerate until firm.

Place in small candy paper cups.

I make truffles by mixing cake crumbs with suitable alcohol (though you could use juice), just enough to make the crumbs mouldable into balls. Freeze the balls then dip in melted chocolate. For a fruit flavoured cake you could use white chocolate.
As for the shower cake, just don't make one like one of THESE!!!

Well, these do have chocolate, but I love the combo of chocolate and raspberries. They're a bit time consuming and fresh raspberries are expensive, but strawberries could be used instead if that's what's available. I've also made chocolate truffles and stirred in raspberry jam for a raspberry chocolate truffle and I've wrapped maraschino cherries with the stems still on in chocolate truffle filling and dipped them into chocolate, a double chocolate hit with a cherry in the middle!

Anyway, the raspberry truffle recipe, from an old Gourmet magazine, and it would be nice dipped in white chocolate too:

Chocolate-Covered Raspberry Truffles
Gourmet : December 2004

Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate with no more than 60 percent cacao for this recipe.

Yield: Makes about 50
Active Time: 50 min
Total Time: 2 hr (includes chilling)

1/4 cup heavy cream
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not extra-bitter or unsweetened), finely chopped in a food processor
1 1/2 tablespoons framboise or brandy(I used raspberry vodka but extract would work too, added to taste)
6 oz fresh raspberries (1 cup)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Line a tray with wax paper.

Bring cream just to a simmer in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Remove from heat, then add chocolate and stir gently with a heatproof rubber spatula until ganache is smooth. Stir in framboise.

Pat raspberries dry if necessary. Add 6 to 8 raspberries to ganache and gently fold in to coat using rubber spatula. Remove each chocolate-covered raspberry with 2 forks, shifting it from one fork to the other to let excess ganache drip off, then transfer to tray. Coat remaining raspberries in same manner, working in batches of 6 to 8.

Chill truffles on tray until firm, at least 1 hour, then loosen from wax paper.

Put cocoa in a sealable bag and add all of truffles. Seal bag, leaving some air in, and shake to coat. Empty bag into a shallow bowl. Transfer coated truffles to a platter with your fingers, shaking off excess cocoa. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Truffles can be chilled, covered after 1 hour, up to 2 days. Coat with cocoa powder up to 1 hour before serving.
If you're having truffles, you probably don't want chocolate cake and if you're having lemon cake pops, you won't want lemon or other citrus. Carrot cake is good, but a little "heavy" and people either like it or they don't.

How about a coconut cake, or maybe red velvet? I don't care much for red velvet, I think it's pretty much just a chocolate cake wannabe and I can't imagine eating that much red dye, but some others love it.

If you're not opposed to using liquor, someone here posted this recipe, maybe Stacy? I copied it back in the olden days before I had enough good sense to note where I got it! Actually, almond extract would probably work fine in these if you don't have the Amaretto.

Amaretto Dream Cupcakes with Amaretto Butter Frosting

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt-
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Amaretto
1/3 cup slivered almonds

In a medium bowl; sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Alternately add 1/3 of flour and all of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of flour and the Amaretto, beating well after each addition. Add remaining flour; mix until smooth. Stir in almonds.

Line regular or mini muffin cups with baking papers. Fill each 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool In pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely before frosting.

Yield: 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes.

Amaretto Butter Frosting

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine; melted
3 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream
2 to 3 tablespoons Amaretto

In a small mixing bowl, beat confectioners' sugar and butter. Add whipping cream and Amaretto; beat until smooth. Add remaining cream and Amaretto if needed to achieve spreading consistency.

Yield: frosts 24 regular cupcakes

good luck on that job, I know they'll love it all. Be sure to come back and let us know what you decided and how it went!

Annie

Colleen, those are just disturbing! Funny, but disturbing...

So, chi, are you gonna DECORATE that cake? (grin)

Annie

Thanks for all of the ideas so far.

I'd love to decorate the cake. My experience is somewhat limited but I have made and used homemade fondant and I have a lot of supplies. They don't know the gender of the baby, but the mother-to-be prefers modern over frilly.

Here's a link to the style of the invitation, I thought it might be neat to do a cupcake tower with a small, teal cake and then cupcakes decorated in buttercream in the soft yellow, orange and blue of the invitation. Maybe something like this http://www.picaboocakes.com/Cakes/baby-shower-cupcake-tower.jpg from Picaboo Cakes but with different colors.

Please re think that teal cake and the blue on the cupcakes....certain colors were never meant to appear on food.

Yeah I'm not sure about a big teal cake but maybe something like the design below but adapted. I like that it's gender-neutral but not super intense. It's also similar colors to the invitation and I could build out cupcakes in those colors. I like the white base.

I agree, I wouldn't go for an intense teal cake, but I like that white with the colors. So you're thinking a white cake for a base, with decorations in those colors, and then cupcakes with frosting in the colors as an accent? That sounds much more understated than a teal cake, LOL.

Annie

That cake and color scheme are beautiful, keep us posted with pictures when you're done !!

The cake shows have really opened up all colors for fondant and frosting,
I don't there are any rules about that.

I made a cake with turquoise icing (and brown polka dots) when I was nine, and I loved it. So did my cousin, who helped me make it, but the adults were a bit put off by it. I still don't have a problem with a blue or aqua cake - at least for the icing.

Lars