Cake Balls

A long, long time ago (way before Pinterest) I heard about delicious morsels called cake balls. So I did what everyone did back then, it Googled it. I came across Bakerella and there was a recipe for red velvet ones. So, after reading it and considering I don’t have a decent baking bone in my body I realized how easy it sounded and tried it using chocolate and yellow cake mix. The first time they came out great, this time…not so much.

After much nagging from the kids, I made cake balls. I haven’t made them in a couple of years. They are very easy, yet time consuming. They can be made for any occasion, but because they can be such a pain in the ass, I save these special treats for Christmas time (and I’m not that successful when it comes to cookies).

Let’s get started. Here’s what you need. (For more precise and professional directions, go right to the source Bakerella) It’s quite simple really, cake mix (and whatever goes into that cake), frosting, melting chocolate and sprinkles.

The ingredients (I remembered to take the picture before I started)

My sous chefs

This is how I do it (I’ll leave out the swearing, although I do sound very much like Brandi from RHWOBH on a daily basis.)

First you make the cake. Nothing fancy about that.

Making the cake

Adding more ingredients

FYI All the Sous chef pictures were staged

Baked cake

Now here is some auxiliary equipment.  A giant bowl (I mean industrial size) can be your best friend in this project. Too bad I didn’t think to use the giant bowl the first time I made cake balls, there would have been a lot less swearing. A regular mixing bowl works fine, just be careful or you’ll end up swearing too. A scoop makes getting it out of the bowl easier as well, but spoons work fine too.

Auxiliary equipment

Use this to break up the cake, so much easier

Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes. Then dump it into a giant bowl. Yup, tear up that cake into crumbs. Then dump a container of frosting into it and mix it all together. I suggest using a rubber or silicone spatula for this because it sticks to the sides of the bowl and you want it mixed well. By the way, your arm is going to hurt doing this.

Crumbled cake, added frosting

Cake and frosting blended

Once you have it all blended, scoop teaspoon amounts (or whatever amount you’d like) and roll them like meatballs then place on cookie sheet covered in wax paper.

Naked cake balls

Pop them in the fridge or freezer while you start to melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Be careful with the steam. If any sort of water gets into the chocolate it messes up the whole shebang (I think that’s what happened this time).

Double boiler

Dressing the balls

Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and roll them around to coat them. I found it’s easiest to use a fork. Then set on wax paper and sprinkle with colored sugar or let cool or drizzle with a different color chocolate.

Removing the excess

The kids' dinner

Once they are cool, watch your kids gorge themselves with cake balls and then not eat dinner.

Once again, I am not a baker. I would like to thank Bakerella for having such an easy recipe.