My blogger friend, Lauren, (http://zenmasterlauren.blogspot.com/), mentioned that she made cake balls over the holidays. I had no idea what cake balls were, so I did a bit of google-ing. It seems that cake balls are quite the craze, and they are actually really simple to make. All the recipes I saw were pretty much the same. You bake 1 boxed cake mix, and when it is cool crumble the cake up, and mix it with one 16 ounce can of store bought frosting. Cover the cake-frosting mixture and refrigerate it for a couple hours. Roll the chilled mixture into small balls, and then freeze for several hours, or overnight. Melt about 24 ounces of almond bark, or confectionary coating over a double boiler. You can use the white chocolate or the dark chocolate coating. Let the coating cool a bit so that it won't immediately melt the cake balls. Using a toothpick, or something similar, dip each cake ball in the melted coating, and set it on parchment paper to harden. You should be able to get about 30-40 cake balls out of one box of cake mix.You can mix and match cake mix and frosting flavors. I used a yellow cake mix with a white chocolate coating. You can use food dye to color the coating, and you can use sprinkles, colored sugar, nuts, and coconut to decorate each cake ball.
These really turned out to be quite adorable. They were good, but a bit on the sweet side for me. I love the idea of cake balls, but next time I make them I'll use a homemade cake and frosting.
You can buy the confectionary coating at most craft stores such as Michael's.
****After getting a few questions about these, I have some additional suggestions. To dip the cake balls, I used a fondue fork, and it worked really well. It is long, and with the two prongs, it holds the cake securely.
****Before you dip the balls, let them warm up just a bit, so they are semi-frozen. If they are too cold the coating will crack. I worked in batches, keeping the majority of the cake balls in the freezer until I was ready to work with them. Though this is an easy recipe, the dipping part is a bit time consuming.
****Use an oil-based candy dye to color the chocolate.
****Store these at room temperature, they should last for a few days.
****I used "Guittard Couverture White Chocolate" as the coating, and it was lovely, with a real white chocolate taste. I ordered it online, but you may find it at cake decorating type stores.
These look great. I'll have to try them...maybe for Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeletelook at you!!!!!!! omg...yours turned out absolutely adorable!!!! (and don't they taste awesome too????) I love the idea of homemade cake and frosting---also did you see the website that is a company that does fancy little cake balls in gift boxes and such??? I think that would be such a cool gift over the holidays----you make me want to go make them again---problem is I will eat them all!! beautiful job-
ReplyDeleteoh and what did you use to dip the actual balls in chocolate? I had read different things like a toothpick or something like that but I ended up just using my fingers...it went ok but would love to find something to actually dip them in the chocolate----too fun!
ReplyDeleteCheryl- The whole time I was making these, I was thinking of you! I thought you would like them.
ReplyDeleteLauren- I added some extra suggestions to the post. I used a fondue fork and it worked really well! You can also buy official dipping forks at candy supply stores.
I just made red velvet cake balls around Christmas time! Yours look so great with the sprinkles - yum!
ReplyDeleteMelissa- Thanks for the comment! I really like your blog, and you red velvet cake balls look really good! I like red velvet cake and it's such a neat color.
ReplyDelete