Food Friday- Cake Balls

I was introduced to cake balls earlier this year, and I have to say that I'm not really sure that my life will ever be the same.  Forget cupcakes, cake balls are where it's at.  Of course, I'm pretty sure that eating more than one could possible put you into a diabetic coma.  Just make sure you have plenty of milk nearby.

Ingredients

A cake (whatever flavor your heart desires)

One tub of frosting (again, whatever flavor you want)

Almond Bark or any kind of chocolate for candy-making/melting

Sprinkles if desired 

First, bake a cake.  If you're fancy, you can bake it from scratch, but there's really no need to.  Just make it in an 8 x 13" pan and make sure it cools enough for you to do the next step.

 

Next, crumble it up.  I know, it's hard to destroy such a pretty cake, but it must be done.

 

Now dump your desecrated cake into a large bowl.  Mix in your tub of frosting until you get an almost cake batter consistency.  (Of course, my pictures of these first 2 steps magically disappeared when my SD card messed up.  But you get the point)

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and roll the mixture into bit size balls, about an inch in diameter.  This can be a little tricky considering how sticky and moist the mixture is, but just do your best.  They don't have to be perfect.  Once you've filled up your tray, stick them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  You may need more than one tray to fit all of the balls on.  If you want to make cake pops, you can stick a popsicle stick or actual lollipop stick into the ball.  You'll want to do that before you freeze them.

After the 30 minutes are up, you'll want to start melting your chocolate.  Leave the balls in the freezer until you are done.  Now, I suppose using Almond Bark is kinda cheating, but not really.  You can temper your own chocolate, but to me that's just way too much work.  You can just stick the Almond Bark in the microwave using the instructions on the package and that's it!  It also comes in white chocolate that can be dyed with food coloring.  I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate, so I've only made the brownie-esqe type cake balls.

 

Now, here's the tricky part- to get the balls coated evenly.  Once you've melted your chocolate, take the balls out of the freezer.  The method I use to get them as even as possible is to put them in your chocolate one at a time, roll them around with a fork, and then lift them out with the fork and let the chocolate drain off of them.  Then place them back onto your baking sheet with wax paper.  I don't think you can get them to look perfect, but that totally doesn't matter. 

 

Your chocolate will start to harden pretty quickly.  If you want to add sprinkles, you'll want to do it immediately after you dip each one so they will stick.

 

Now put these babies back in the freezer.  I let them harden for about an hour, but just test one to make sure it's not still soft (yes that means you can "eat one to test them".  I give you permission).

 

That's it!  They are a little messy to make, but they are so worth it.  You can really get creative too with different cake mixes and frosting.  I want to try some red velvet ones next!  

What goodies have you all baked lately?  I'm always on the lookout for interesting things to make!