Have you ever seen those Baby cakes baking machines? They are like easy bake ovens for adults and you can cook cupcakes, whoopee pies, doughnuts, and cake balls in them. Well, you would have to buy a different baby cake machine for each use but…you get the picture. Anyway, I am very bitter toward the cake ball machine. I have been making cake balls or as I call them “Cake Ball Bon-Bons” for years. The way I do it involves a lot of steps, its time consuming, and it is a lot of work. However, the ending product results in beautiful little cake treats that taste amazing. The Babycake machine took my cake ball and warped it into something different. All you do is pour cake batter into each of the rounded slots, close the lid and bake it. When it’s done, you are left with little balls of cake, they look like doughnut holes. Many people dip them in chocolate or put a design on them. I have seen them put on sticks as little cake lollipops also. Why am I so bitter toward this machine? Well, first of all, they don’t make balls that taste as good as mine and secondly, they make the process look to easy. (Plus, I feel like this was my idea and they stole it)
I have decided that the thing that would make me most happy would be to give away my secret recipe for my version of Cake Balls. Maybe by doing this, people will forgo wasting money on the adult easy bake ovens and do it the old-fashioned way. Although they are more work, you and everyone else will be much more satisfied. Read on to be enlightened….or at least for my recipe. J
To make cake balls, you will need a box cake mix, one container of frosting and either almond bark, candy coating, or chocolate chips. You can use any flavor combination you would like. Here are a few I have used…
· Chocolate cake, German chocolate frosting
· Carrot cake, cream cheese frosting
· Cherry cake, chocolate frosting
· Caramel cake, chocolate frosting
· Strawberry cake, chocolate frosting
There is a wide-open playing field of flavor combinations and colors. It all depends on what you want and what you want it to look like. So, have fun with your choice. Today I chose white cake mix with white frosting and white almond bark. I have a baby shower to go to and I’m bringing cake balls for dessert. The shower is for a baby girl so, I’m going to use food coloring to dye my cake pink.
What you do is mix up the cake as directed on the box and bake it just as it says. That’s pretty simple right? Now, right when the cake is done baking, rather than letting the cake cool and frosting it, take a fork, and scrape the cake into a big bowl. That’s right, it will be crumbly and it will ruin the cake but that is the point. In the bowl, you will have broken, crumbly, cake. It’s perfectly okay. Next, take the whole container of frosting and plop it right on top of the crumbled up bake. Take a fork and mix it all together. Break up the cake as much as you can and make sure it the cake and frosting are mixed up together really well. (Yes, it will look like someone chewed up a cake and spit it back into the bowl…but it is do delish and will look amazing when we are done) Put the mixture in the fridge to chill. I usually will chill it for between 3 to 24 hours. When you take it out of the fridge, it will look like this.
I told you it wouldn’t be pretty. Now, either melt your chocolate chips or melt your almond bark. I like to put my almond bark in a small saucepan with sort of tall sides, turn the heat to low, and let it go.
Although almond bark is usually easy to work with, it can get messed up really easily so, keep these tips in mind.
1. Do not put a lid on it when melting it. Even a drop of water from condensation can ruin the entire batch.
2. Use a double boiler if not microwaving (if you’re not skilled at working with it).
3. Keep it at a uniform temperature. If it gets cool and warm and cool again, little lumps will form and you will have to remelt them before using it again and this can mess up the bark.
4. If it’s too hot, it will scorch and be too think to use or it will lose moisture and…be too thick to use.
5. Do not put water, cream, milk, oil, or butter in it to “remelt” it. It won’t work and the mixture will seize up. The package say’s you can use shortening but, I have tried that and it didn’t work either.
While it melts, start rolling your cake into balls. I use a melon baller to make each ball uniform. I think it holds about 2tsp. and I can usually get about 75 to 100 cake balls out of one batch. Once all of your balls are rolled, make sure your chocolate is melted, and lay down a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on the counter. I like to use a fork and a knife when coating the balls with the melted bark. Put one ball into the melted bark. Make sure it is fully covered. Pick it up out of the bark with the fork and gently tap the fork on the side of the pan to get any excess off and to smooth the bark on the ball. Then, move the fork over to the wax paper and gently slide the ball off of the fork with the knife. Keep doing this until all of your balls are covered. If you plan to put sprinkles on your balls, do it while the bark is still wet because it will harden. Decorate them however you want. Play with it and have fun!
Once they harden, you can pick them up and break off any excess hardened bark to make it look nice. I like to place each ball in a mini muffin paper cup. It makes them look pretty and it hides any imperfections. Also, it’s easier to package them and transport them this way. I forgot to get the paper cups so, I’ll just break off the hard bits and put them on a platter. J
…..and if you think those are good, you’ll love the cookie bon-bons!
