Home

Cake balls

When I heard details of how to make cake balls from my son’s date, what struck me most was the utter simplicity of the process to create the delicacy and at the same time how quickly it could be made. After you decorate the cake balls, it is difficult for anyone to guess, how simple it is prepare. You can also innovate and create numerous variations by using your imagination and creativity. Believe me, it has been only a month since I learnt to make the cake balls and already I have made numerous tasty and delightful variations. You can use the cake balls as a treat for kitty parties as a after meal dessert or put a few in front of your children’s friends. They will just love it and clamoring for more. The delicacy is so tempting as well as addictive that you will have to hide from your husband to keep him from becoming overweight.

Cake Balls recipe

Cake balls are prepared from crushed cake which are then mixed with frostings and rolled into ball which are then refrigerated to make it hard and then dip it in molten chocolate or caramel and cool it to be served to your guests.  You can serve the cake balls just as it is or insert lollysticks to prepare Cake pops.  Basically the process for making cake balls starts with the preparation of the cake. You can use any ordinary cake flavor. It could be a chocolate cake or a vanilla cake.  I started off with a German Chocolate cake. Do not prepare cakes with toppings since you will have to crush the cake later on.

How to Make Cake Balls

- Step 1

Once the cake is prepared, allow it to cool till it is lukewarm. Crush the cake thoroughly to give it a smooth texture.  Different variations and flavors can be tried out. The next step involves mixing the cake mixture with frostings.  There are different types of frostings which are available in any grocery store. You can also prepare your own frostings by using cheese and crushed hard boiled sugar. Mix the frosting thoroughly with the cake mixture and add only that much frosting to make the cake balls soft and easy to mould. Do not add more frostings to make the Cake slushy. Make small balls of about 1 inch diameter. Allow the mixture to cool for some time before you roll out the balls. If you find that the balls are crumbling, cool the mixture in the refrigerators for 5 minutes and then try again. The balls crumble if the mixture is warm. You can use your hand to roll out the balls.

However I found it easier to make the cake balls with a melon baller. Using the hand warms the mixture and makes it difficult to roll perfect balls since they crumble. Place the balls in a wax paper lined shallow vessel and place it in the refrigerator. Do not place the vessel in the freezer since we do not want to freeze the cake balls.

The covering glory of Cake Balls

- Step 2

While the cake balls are hardening, take a shallow pan, add some chocolate bark and heat the pan on a very low flame. Don’t use high flames or you will char the chocolate bark. For a batch of 30 cake balls, you will need a package of chocolate bark weighing about 24 oz. You may waste some chocolate the first time and it could be a messy affair. However there is no need to be disheartened since it happens to everyone the first time and I was no different. You can break or crumble the chocolate or caramel or any other covering so that it melts quicker. Always use a dry saucepan of shallow depth and never melt the coating in high flame. This will char the coating. The coating of the cake balls is the toughest task and can be messy. The best way is to use a combination of fork and spatula to manipulate the cake balls and remove excess chocolate.  Keep about two bars of the chocolate for dressing up purpose later.

Step 3-Innovate and add variations

You can also use something else for the coatings besides Chocolate. You can also use confectionary wafers, caramel or hard boiled sugar candies. You can also add color to the chocolate. However make sure you use food grade and oil based colors. Do not use water based colors or you will spoil the coating since it will crumble at the lightest pressure. If you use a microwave oven to melt the coating, Microwave for 1 minute at full power and then stop and stir the contents and then again microwave for 15 seconds and then repeat the procedure until you get a smooth coating. You can also use different variations in the coating. I had once tried mint and prepared mint flavored cake balls and they tasted great. You can get the cake mix along with the frostings and covering from the grocery store. However they are expensive and you can get the ingredients at home at half the price.

Important precautions

• Bake the starting cake just as you bake normally and once done, leave it for 10 to 20 minutes to cool
• Crush the cake until it resembles a pile of dirt (Not literally of course)
• After the cake has been crushed you can use a hand blender to further pulverize the cake to get a smooth constituency.
• Do not add the frosting at once. Instead add the frosting slowly until you get the required consistency.
• After the frosting is mixed, the cake should look just like a blob of glue
• Do not freeze the cake balls before dipping it in the molten chocolate. It must be just cool enough for the frosting to set.

I hope you will be proficient within a few days about ‘How to make Cake Balls’