Cake Balls

Cake Balls!? My friend emailed me a link last week about these so called ‘cake balls’. I chuckled before I opened the link in my browser. Then I read the article. Then I planned a day to make them. Then I ate one. Then I believed.

The latest pastry craze (though really not a pastry) are Cake Balls.  The familiar boxed-cake taste are the appeal of these sweet bite-sized treats. Bakeries all over Dallas are making these cake bites and so is everyone else!

Bakerella has a few wonderful wonderful how-to posts and beautiful pictures of the popular Cake Balls. The Dallas Morning News has a full article dedicated to the new craze along with recipes and ideas for different cake ball varieties.

Go ahead, make your own. I know that you committed to making them for your next event half way through reading this post My first attempt were Coconut Pecan Cake Balls and then I did Strawberry Cream Cheese.

Coconut Pecan Cake Balls

Ingredients
1 box Coconut cake mix (or plain white mix)
1 can of Coconut Pecan frosting
Vanilla Almond Bark
chopped pecans (optional)

Directions
-Bake the cake as instructed on the cake mix box.
-Place large pieces of warm cake into a large bowl & crumble into a fine texture with a hand mixer.
-Mix the frosting into the cake crumbles (the coconut pecan frosting is less in quantity than other frostings, so use the whole can, while regular frosting only use 3/4 can).
-Chill mixture for at least two hours.
-Roll mixture into  1 inch – 1 1/2 inch balls and place on wax paper on top of a baking sheet.
-Chill for 5-6 hours.
-Melt bark in a double broiler or microwave on high for 45 seconds and continue melting for 15 second intervals, while stirring, until fully melted (or as directed on the packaging).
-Add one tablespoon oil to the melted bark and carefully coat frozen cake balls. *tip: use toothpicks or wood skewers for dipping.
-Allow to set before serving. Makes 30-35 cake balls (or 60 small balls).

Tips:
Quick Prep: for those who don’t like waiting 6 hours for your cake balls to freeze like me I figured out a much faster way to make these goodies. After mixing the warm cake and frosting (by the way, make sure you cake is warm because it helps to melt the frosting for easier mixing) put your bowl in the freezer for an hour. Roll your balls, or use a small cookie scoop, and freeze for an additional 2-3 hours. I made cake balls twice using this method and did not have any problems.
Size: the larger the ball, the better. Avoid making the rolled balls to tiny because then you get too much bark and not enough cake. The final product should be 90% cake ball and only 10% chocolate coating.
Dipping: it is a good idea to use toothpicks or wood or metal skewers for dipping.
Frosting-to-cake ratio: most recipes suggest using 12 ounces of frosting, not the full 16 ounces. I suggest adding only 1/2 or 8 ounces to begin with, check the sweetness and add more if you want the mixture sweeter.

Please leave your comments and/or reviews here if you made this recipe or a variation of your own. Enjoy!