Cake balls....the best ones ever!

I am so happy to introduce you to Melissa today!  Oh, this girl is my best buddy.  I love her.  And I love her cake balls.  She makes the best chocolate on chocolate ones ever...you know, they have warded off many a hormonal episode...and dried up some tears...and been the source of giggles and chocolate smudged khaki pants and fingers...and frosting bits in a teacher's keyboard...but oh, are they worth it.  Read (and try them!)for yourself!

Hello Friends of Momma Birdie! I am so very excited to guest blog on my best teacher friend's blog today! I am going to show you how I create my cake balls.  They are not near as pretty as Bakerella's cake pops, but they are still pretty tasty. It's easy to do if you have time. I usually give myself a few days to create a batch. Here is my recipe for red velvet cake balls.

I mix the cake according to the instruction on the box.

Then I bake it according to the box instructions also! Woo Wee!

After the cake cools (sometimes completely, sometimes not-depending on what is going on at my house at the time....Is Peyton (my 1 year old daughter) sleeping? Is she latched on to my leg? Is she tearing up the house?), I crumble/dump it into a large mixing bowl.

Then, I scoop a full tub of frosting into the crumbled cake in the mixing bowl. You can use whatever frosting you would use for that flavor of cake. For example chocolate and chocolate, strawberry and strawberry, red velvet and cream cheese frosting, etc. This day, I used cream cheese with  my red velvet.

(No, I do not prefer any specific brand-just whatever is on sale)

I mix it thoroughly.

Then I use my hands (using rubber or nitrile gloves for sanitary reasons) to grab a small bit of the mixture and I pack it and roll it into a ball. And, I apologize for not taking any pictures of me rolling the balls, but I was taking the pictures myself and really am not that talented.

I put all of the balls on a cookie sheet, pan, whatever I can find. And, I put them in the freezer. They can be put in the freezer overnight, but if I know I am going to be having a busy week, I will make them in advance and have kept them in the freezer for up to 3 or 4 days. 

I take them out of the freezer and I melt the chocolate, or white chocolate (actually, it's vanilla coating. I haven't found white chocolate to dip them in yet.) I must say, I think that milk chocolate coats and melts so much better than anything. I actually mix some candy coating from Walmart or Kroger with the melting chocolate ready for fountains from Hobby Lobby. That makes the coating not too thick and not too thin. And, I usually melt them in the microwave. One day, I created my own double broiler since I do not have one, but the microwave is usually just fine for me.

I dip them in the chocolate and put them on wax paper when I have it, or foil when I don't. Sometimes, if I dip them immediately out of the freezer, they tend to crack the chocolate shell, so I may have to re-dip them. You can also let them sit out of the freezer for a short while before dipping them to prevent the cracking, however, they tend to crumble more and that can be a problem with the smoothness of the ball, but is an even bigger problem if you are dipping red velvet in the vanilla. You end up with pink speckled cake balls instead of smooth white ones.

After they begin to dry, I use cookie decorating frosting to decorate the tops of them. Then, I let them sit out for at least 4 hours. I prefer to let them sit overnight, but that isn't always easy to do with my busy schedule. I then cut off the excess chocolate around the bottoms with small paring knife. And, I pack them in a box, ready to go to a happy customer-or usually a friend. :) These cakeballs were made for an engagement party and I tried to be crafty and put the couples' initials on them. Not as cute as I wanted them to be, but hey, live and learn.

 A mistake I have made.....do not put food coloring in the vanilla melting chocolate because this is what happens.

 Gross!

Just use the colored chips that they sell at Hobby Lobby. I used the red ones and this is how they turned out. These were the "Wipeout" cakeballs made for a birthday party.

They didn't turn out as smooth as I wanted, but once again, it was the vanilla coating and it just doesn't melt as well. I hope to one day be as talented as Bakerella. I will try cake pops someday soon. By the way, did you know that she is going to be doing a book signing October 28 at Northpark? Oh yes, Trina and I want to go so bad, but it is a school day. What shall we do????

Melissa...I say we buy the book and sneak off for a 1/2 day! :)