Cake Balls
Cake, Cupcakes, Cake Balls, Cookie Cakes, Cake Pops – we are pretty obsessed with cake. My question is – what is wrong with that!? You have the sweet softness, you have the super-sweet frosting, you have about a million different flavor combinations. I say: Let them Eat Cake!
Cake Balls are great when you need to feed a crowd, want to impress people with beautiful little balls of deliciousness, or even just mess up a cake (instead of throwing out those broken layers, crumble ’em up into cake pops)!
I recently made a huge cake and ended up with an extra layer (I was going to try to carve 3-D numbers on top of the layers and ran out of confidence in myself). Since I had this whole extra cake, I figured Cake Balls it was since I’m not a fan of dipping them on sticks, I usually have total failure at that – maybe I’ll attempt it again soon for all of you (don’t get your hopes up too high, I said maybe here people)!!
The hardest part of Cake Balls is getting them dipped in chocolate and making them look pretty. See those beautiful drizzles of chocolate… yeah, those help cover imperfections! Another key to this whole process is time, don’t rush it and be sure to let things chill when they should chill. I actually was not sure I would share this here, so I didn’t take step-by-step photos (figuring: Murphey’s Law – take photos = fail and no photos = success). So if you want step-by-step directions Bakerella can help you out! If you have questions, All Recipes & the comments are a great place to start.
Without further adieu – my Cake Balls & Directions 🙂
- 1 box cake mix + whatever else is needed for that box
- 1 tub frosting (<16 ounces)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 bag Melting Chocolate (+Crisco for a smoother melt)
- Optional: sprinkles or other chocolate colors or whatever toppings
- Bake cake as directed. Let the cake COOL for at least a half hour! Do not try to mix anything until it is nice and cool! Crumble your cooled cake into a large bowl.
- Drop about 1/2 of your frosting and your Peanut Butter in blobs into the crumbled cake. Take off all jewelry and roll up your sleeves – get in there and really mix it together (I like to smoosh it between my fingers/fists and get it all mixed together, its fun and feels great AND gets it well mixed)
- Put this mixture in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 3 hours.
- Using your hands, roll the balls into bite sized pieces – whatever size you are going for. Line a Cookie Sheet with Wax Paper and line them all up.
- Stick the balls in the freezer for an hour. Melt up whatever chocolate you prefer, melting chocolate – use about 1 Tablespoon of Crisco to every Cup-ish of Melting Chocolate. To melt – use a microwave safe bowl and do about 30 seconds on 50% power for a total of 2-ish minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.
- Drop a chilled ball into the chocolate, using two forks (or spoons or special dipping stuff or toothpicks), roll the ball around and then remove. Holding the ball securely with your chosen utensil, knock off the extra chocolate.
- Using your second utensil or toothpick, slide the ball onto the wax paper. If you want – put sprinkles on at this point OR repeat and then melt more chocolate to drizzle overtop (I did my contrast color right in a plastic bag and then snipped the corner off). Allow to set (on the counter for a while OR in the refrigerator.
- Warning – although these will last a week, I wouldn’t trust them to not get eaten!
p.s. do you notice how these guys are dressed up in their Spring Colors – they are all ready for your Easter Platter – use whatever color to accent whatever event you are bringing them to!
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… What is your favorite way to eat cake?