Cake Balling Part 2

I had a fairly nice experiment with Cake Balls for my YW activity a few weeks ago, so I decided to give them another try for Easter. I also took more pictures this time. I learned a ton and I think Cake Balls are going to be a regular for me.

Bake your cake - I used Funfetti for festive reasons.

Crumble into a large bowl, picking out the edges that don't crumble so well. Some blogs said to use a food processor/blender/vegetable grater. Crumbling with my hands worked fine.

Mix in your frosting (and I added sprinkles).

Here's where my learning came in. I used a small cookie dough scoop to make sure I was using equal amounts of cake ball each time. I kept a stream of water going and rinsed my hands every few cake balls, keeping my hands wet while I formed the balls. This way, they don't stick to your hands and they are smooth instead of rough. I tried to make these kind of egg-shaped. LOLZ. Don't worry if they are a little wonky. You can smooth out the bumps when they are frozen before you dunk them. Mine still don't look like eggs even then. It's ok. Really.

Freeze. I only froze these for a few hours. I feel like the ones I froze overnight last time were easier to deal with.

Set up your station. Melt your almond bark with a little shortening, little bits at a time. You can also melt it in a small crock pot left on "warm" if it is deep enough for dipping. I was going to cover my cake balls in crystallized sugars, so I dumped them into small prep bowls. Have your tray covered and ready.

I dipped my "eggs" using a fork, then stuck the fork in a small cup so it could drip back into the almond bark bowl and firm up a bit. Then I shook the sugars over the sticky candy-covered egg balls and back into the cup to harden completely. I found it was much easier to pull off the fork when it had firmed up a little.

Finally, I froze them overnight to harden completely and then put them in an egg carton for Easter dinner. :) Again, a little time consuming, but super yummy and way cute.

Everybody is Cake Balling Except for Buster

Cake pops are the fun new trend on the dessert scene, and I'll admit I've been intrigued. Never much of a cake person, something small and bite-sized rather than an enormous slice seemed much more doable. I've never been incredibly crafty, nor have I been mistaken for Betty Crocker. Still, I've been looking for a good reason to make them and finally the opportunity presented itself. Saturday was the Young Women's General Broadcast and our ward did a mother-daughter dinner beforehand. I was divinely assigned treats by our Beehive advisor.

I ventured into the unknown dessert land with a heart full of hope, and I was rewarded. Cake Pops are not that hard. Even Danica can do it. Ryan snapped a few photos as I was making them, but I clearly don't have the photo/blogging prowess to be a real life Mormon Housewife blogger. But here goes. Click here for the exact recipe I used.

Ingredients

1 baked Funfetti Cake (so including the oil, water and eggs, or however you choose to bake it)

1 package of frosting (I used Whipped buttercream flavor)

1 package of Almond Bark

2 tbsp of Shortening

Large Disc sprinkles

First, bake your cake. I did this Friday afternoon.

Next, crumble it up into a bowl. The browner edge-parts may not crumble and look gross, so I left them out.

"WHY DID YOU RUIN THAT CAKE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" - The Beard during this step.

Dump in the frosting and mix well. I poured some small sprinkles in as well, so it looked more "Funfetti-y."

This is (one of) the messy parts. Roll the mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, parchment paper or aluminum foil. The more spherical and even the balls, the better. Your hands will be covered and gross, by the way.

Freeze. I froze them overnight. This process is a bit long to do all in one day.

On Saturday afternoon (when I woke up.... yikes), I melted the almond bark with the shortening in a small, deep bowl. Melt it for about 1 1/2 minutes, stir, then again for 15 second intervals, stirring in between until it seems well mixed and melted.

This was the hardest part for me. I'm going to find a better way to do it (suggestions?). I used a fork to spear and dip each cake ball into the candy, let the excess candy drip off and placed it on the pan. The hardest part is getting it off the fork without totally screwing up the candy coating on the top. You may need to drip some extra candy melting to cover up the fork punctures. Then I sprinkled the large disc sprinkles on the top while it was still wet.

I placed the finished pans of cake balls into the freezer to set up for about 30 minutes before placing them in a little basket and taking them up to the church for the dinner. Regretfully, I only got a picture of the two "crippled children" or imperfect ones that The Beard wanted to eat. So these have way more around the bottom that I didn't drain off well enough.

But I have to admit, they were delicious. Time-consuming, but fairly easy. And they look oh-so-pretty.