My Adventure in Cake Balls

Like I said Friday, I decided that this weekend I was going to attempt to make cake balls. They didn't seem that difficult....but they kinda were. After 2 tries, I did come up with an excellent cake ball, but so that you can avoid the same mistakes I made, I figured I'd write a blog post with some detailed directions.

Step 1: Bake the cake. Ok this is the easy part. You can make it from scratch (if you feel adventurous) or grab a box and follow the simple directions; it's up to you. Once cooked, allow it to cool completely (yes I said completely..no bit of warm allowed!).

Step 2: Tear apart the cake. I used a spoon to break it into chunks and then threw the chunks in a large bowl. From there simply break down the bigger pieces into small ones. DO NOT USE A MIXER FOR THIS STEP OR THE NEXT! This is something I learned the hard way the first time, as you'll see my pics go from a chocolate cake to a funfetti cake....big disaster.

Step 3: Spoon in about half a can of frosting (any flavor, you can get creative) to the mixture and mix it together with your hands until it's pretty evenly distributed throughout the broken cake. You can add more if it's not enough, but I used a whole can the first time and it was too much. Also (esp since it's summer) make sure that your frosting has been sitting in the fridge. It works much better cold.

Step 4: Create cake balls of the cake/frosting by grabbing a chunk and then rolling it between the palms of your hands. Note: this is a messy job! Place the rolled balls onto a cookie sheet (I used one covered in a silpat). Depending on how big you want yours the mix will make more or less cake balls.

Step 5: Place the rolled cake balls (on cookie sheets) into your fridge for several hours (or a freezer for less). Once they are pretty cool and hardened you can take them out. Easiest way to do this is probably to roll the balls and let them sit overnight.

Step 6: Remove the cake balls from the fridge or freezer. Prepare an area covered with wax paper for you to place the balls once they are covered in chocolate.

Step 7: Melt your chocolate. I used vanilla chocolate melts (you know the chips that you can  use to melt for chocolate molds. I got mine from a local bakery supply store, but a place like Michael's should have them too). Never burn your chocolate, so cook it in 20 second increments in your microwave (in a microwave safe bowl). If your chocolate looks almost all the way done and the bowl is warm to the touch, just stir to get them melted versus cooking them any longer.

Step 8: Drop one of your cookie balls in the melted chocolate and roll it with a spoon until covered completely (this works best when the chocolate is thin and high enough to cover the ball). Once it's covered, use the spoon to take it out and drop it on the wax paper.

Step 9 (Optional): The balls look really cool with a smooth chocolate finish, but I spooned a bit of chocolate in strings over the top, and for some of the cake balls then added sprinkles. It gave them a more fun and playful look. Here is where you can get creative.

Step 10: Once the chocolate surrounding the balls has hardened, feel free to take them off the wax paper and serve or place in a storage container and stick them back in the fridge. You can leave them out too, but I figure they'll last longer if kept in a fridge.

I hope these directions help, and if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below! My second attempt at cake balls looked great and tasted amazing!