Valentine’s Day. That fun day to bake some sweet treats for the ones you love. And if you’re like me, you always want to try something new. As a completely last-minute idea – I had no intentions of baking this year, I decided to scour the web for something to make. I found a few recipes from Bakerella for Oreo truffle kisses and red velvet cake balls. I combined the ideas into red velvet cake kisses which was perfect since I just happened to have a box of red velvet cake mix on hand. So, I decided to go for it.

As a disclaimer to all you food snobs out there (hehe!), yes, I used a box mix! Oh the horror! I actually usually turn my nose up at boxs, however, I found this in the “New Orleans” section of Cost Plus. The brand is Mam Papaul from the south. Since red velvet is a traditional southern cake, I figured I’d give it a go. Plus, I’ve heard horror stories of people trying to make their own red velvet cake and the taste came out awful because of how much red die is required. But feel free to make a homemade batch on your own if you want to try these.



I wasn’t sure if any of these ideas were actually going to work, so I decided to make half a batch of cupcakes and the other half half red velvet cake ball kisses in dark Ghirardelli chocolate. So, half the batter went into cupcake pans/papers and half into cake pans.

To make the kisses, after the cakes came out and cooled, I took the blocks of cake and crumbled them in a big bowl. I used a pastry cutter and it worked perfectly. Once the cake was nothing but crumbs, I added a big glob of cream cheese frosting (also from the red velvet box mix, but I doctored it with a little extra cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla to get it the right texture and flavor).

With the pastry cutter, I blended the frosting with the cake crumbs until goopy and workable. With my fingers, I formed little kiss shaped cake balls (about 2 inches tall) and placed them in the freezer to prep for the chocolate. Once they were cool and firm, I melted dark chocolate in a double boiler with just a touch of canola oil to keep it smooth. I then poured the chocolate over each kiss, let the access drip off before setting it on waxed paper to set.

After the chocolate was completely set, I wrapped each in a square of foil (about 6″ squares) with strips of paper printed off from my computer. They were adorable and tasted amazing! I gave them to a bunch of my friends, and of course, my husband. Everyone raved. The kisses were better than the cupcakes (though the cupcakes were cute). I sort of wished I had made the whole batch into kisses. They were a lot more work though so it probably would have taken me a couple more hours.

The kisses were moist, flavorful, and the touch of dark chocolate worked to keep the moisture in as well as add a level of decadence to the kiss. There’s only one left. I hope I can get to it before my husband does!