Have you heard of cake balls? I had the opportunity to help my daughter & her husband make these for Christmas, but I really didn't know what I was doing so I decided to research it. Then I found this book on
Amazon last week.
I ordered the book from Amazon on Wednesday and it came on Thursday! And best of all, because I joined Amazon Mom, the shipping was free! After all, I have a ton of cake scraps and this just seemed to make sense. Finally a way to use those scraps that I have from sculpting cakes. So here we go:
This recipe is from "Cake Pops" by
Bakerella. (I used cake from my freezer, so I didn't quite go by her directions.)
Basic Cake Balls
YOU WILL NEED
1 9x13 cake made from an 18.25oz box cake mix, cooled
16 oz ready made frosting
Large mixing bowl
Large metal or sturdy spoon
Wax paper
2 baking sheets
Plastic Wrap
32 ounces (2 pounds) candy coating
Deep, microwave-safe bowl
Toothpicks
Plastic bag or squeeze bottle
You will need to crumble your cooled cake into a large bowl. Make sure you do not have any large cake pieces.
I took my scraps out of the freezer and once they were thawed, I crumbled them.
And added 3/4 can frosting. If you used the whole can the balls will be too moist. (I did this because I was so excited I didn't read all the way through the directions. If they are too moist to work with just put them in the fridge for a while to stiffen up.) I made 3 different flavors, chocolate, German chocolate and lemon. For the lemon I used white cake with lemon frosting.
I used my hand to mix them (of course I had gloves on). Or you can use a large sturdy spoon. Once the mixture was complete, I used a really small scoop to make them all uniform in size and rolled them by hand into balls. Place the balls on a baking sheet and put into the freezer. (I left mine overnight. I like to prep and start fresh in the morning)
Bakerella leaves them in the freezer for 15 minutes. She likes them firm but not frozen.
I found these silicone ice cube trays at Target in the dollar isle. (They weren't $1 though, they cost $2.50 which makes my husband question the whole dollar isle name) So I had a great idea! Valentines cake balls!! You can use a small cookie cutter, but to be honest I am lazy and this is just too easy!
Melt you candy coating, following the directions on the package. Microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time (if you use higher power or longer length of time, the candy will burn). Stir in between heating cycles. You can also use a double boiler. I prefer this method. Don't have one? No problem. I really don't use mine, well not the top anyway! I take the bottom pan, add 1- 1 1/2 inches of water and heat, but not to boiling. Then I put my candy into a deep glass bowl that will easily fit into the pan. I set the bowl in the water and turn the heat to very low. When using white or light colored candy coating, I had about a tablespoon of Crisco (I don't use generic vegetable shortening for any of my baking), to help thin the coating enough for dipping. This takes several minutes. Be sure not to get ANY water into the candy coating or it will ruin it. Once it is melted, it's time to dip the balls. At this point I take the coating off the stove but keep it in the pan of water to help keep it melted.
One at a time, place a ball in the coating. Cover completely with coating.
Set on wax paper or foil lined baking sheet. (My baking sheets were so cold from being left in the freezer overnight that they actually helped to set the coating fast.) If you are going to use sprinkles, this would be the time to do it. I actually dipped two, sprinkled two. I tried to go to three but they set too fast.
If you don't use sprinkles, you will want to drizzle some chocolate on them at this point to make them pretty. Remember, you want them to look as good as they taste!
Don't they look yummy? I took them to Bible Study and they were a hit. In fact, they ate them all! I'm so glad that I have such wonderful friends to let me use them try new cooking projects on.
I also tried to make some Heart Cake Pops, but that is another post!
