Cake Balls

Whoever first came up with the idea of taking a cake and mixing it up with a can a frosting and then rolling the mixture into balls and dipping them into chocolate should be applauded. Cake balls are so easy to make and they are so good. Addictive even. Not just to eat but also to make. I have tried many variations and all have turned out great. Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, strawberry cake with strawberry icing, chocolate cake with chocolate icing, German chocolate cake with coconut pecan icing, yellow cake with cream cheese icing, and I'm thinking of carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Maybe some kind of mint creation since my hubby loves mint. There are so many options. I'm having a lot of fun trying them all. I really want to get Bakerella's Cake Pop book. What she can do with a ball of cake is amazing. I got the ice cream cone idea from her. You can check out her blog at www.bakerella.com. If you are inclined to do so send up a little prayer for her. She has been in the hospital the past few weeks. I hope that she will be feeling better soon.

I'm on vacation this week and decided to make some cake ball creations. I shared them with my library friends at Lake Station and Hobart. When I got done making them and were letting them dry I completely forgot to take a picture. Since I started doing this blog my camera stays in the kitchen. I'm not the best photographer and yes I do use paper plates, a lot, but I think recipes with pictures are the best. So I take pictures, not the best pictures, but a least you can see what the food is supposed to look like. I realized I didn't take pictures of my cake pops after I had wrapped them up like 20 times in saran wrap. I was lazy and didn't want to unwrap them so I took pictures through the saran wrap. You can kind of get the idea.

For the cake balls:

1 box cake mix, any flavor you want
1 can frosting, any flavor to go with the cake

Make the cake according to the package directions and bake in a 9x13 pan. Let cool completely. When cooled crumble cake in a large bowl and mix in the frosting. I use the whole can but 3/4 would do. I use a small cookie scoop to form the balls but you don't need one. Place the balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer to firm up.

If you want to make cake pops just stick lollipop sticks in the balls. Dip in melted chocolate and place upright in Styrofoam. Sprinkle on colored sprinkles if desired. Or if you have the cake pop book go to town making almost to cute to eat cake pops.

Or if you just want to make cake balls dip the balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper to dry.

To make the Ice Cream Cones:

First prepare the ice cream cones. You want to cut the tops off the sugar cones. Be careful because to much pressure while cutting can cause the whole cone to break. I used regular cones this time as well. They are very easy to cut and you want to just cut off the top part of the cone leaving the bottom.

Before forming the cake balls I like to stuff some of the cake mixture down inside the cone. And then using my small cookie scoop I put a scoop of the cake mixture on top of the cone pressing it down slightly. I did the same thing with the regular ice cream cones but ended up using the slightly larger cookie scoop since the regular cone is a little bigger than the sugar cone. Place the cones in the freezer to firm up. About 15 minutes.

I had never used Wilton melting chocolate before and really wanted to give it a try. You can find many colors at Walmart. Of course the day I bought some they only had pink and white in stock. Oh well the colors worked out for the ice cream cones. Before dipping in need something to hold the cones upright while they dry. I used a card board box. I cut X's in the card board so I could push the cone through. It worked out okay but I want to come up with some other way. In a microwave safe bowl melt the pink chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Take the ice cream cones out of the freezer and start dipping them one at a time in the chocolate. Let the excess run off and then place the cone upright in whatever device you have created. For me it was a cardboard box. Or you can place cake side down to make it look like you dropped the cone. It looks cute like that. You can do other colors or dip some in milk chocolate like I did. Then I melted some of the white chocolate to put on top of the pink chocolate. I spooned some of the white chocolate on top of the pink and then sprinkled colored sprinkles on and placed a red peanut m&m on top of that. Once they are dry you can store them in the fridge or I like to leave them in the freezer.