This weekend, I made cake balls! These things are amazing. I found out about them at this blog, Sugar Derby Blog, and I just had to make some.
First, it starts with a cake. I used a cake mix (Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge). Let the cake cool, overnight if possible. Then you crumble it up. Here is a picture of the cake; part of it had already been crumbled and formed into balls when I decided to take the picture.
The crumbled cake is then mixed with frosting. I used canned frosting (umm...I think it was Betty Crocker Whipped Cream Cheese) because I was feeling lazy and did not want to make frosting from scratch like I normally do. Anyway...you mix it with frosting and then form it into balls.
You stick the balls in the fridge for a few hours, or the freezer for 20 minutes. I did the freezer because I didn't want to wait. Then comes the fun part. You melt Almond Bark or something similar (I used vanilla Almond Bark) and you dip the balls in it. Decorate them as you go.
My cake balls ended up looking a bit sloppy (I had never made these before...the second half looks way better than the first half). I decorated them with Easter-y sprinkles.
It was a lot of work, but well worth it. These things taste amazing (if I do say so myself, my family agrees). They were quite fun to make too.
I learned a few things though. Mixing crumbled cake with frosting using your hands as recommended is very messy; using a spoon does not work though. Also, frozen cake/frosting balls contract when frozen and expand as they warm back up; thus, the coating on some of the balls cracked and where there were holes in the coating, cake started oozing out. Also, melted almond bark hardens pretty quickly once you get it onto whatever you're coating.
There is a hand dipped chocolate store right next to my house, practically below my apartment building, and I love going there. They make cake balls too and it was the first time I ever heard of them. They are delicious!