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Cake Balls: New Christmas Tradition

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I am busy finishing up the gift wrapping, cleaning the house, and doing the last of the Christmas baking. I wanted to share one last recipe before I take a little blogging break to enjoy the holiday weekend with my family. Cake pops are all the rage around blog land, so you’ve probably already seen them. These cake balls are similar, they just don’t have a stick in them. I got the recipe from my friend Kathy. Her husband Dan is the creator of Cook’n software. It is a great product, and they have lots of great recipes on their website. Instead of being on sticks like most cake pops, Kathy’s version look more like truffles. I liked that because I gave some away and I needed them to fit in little bags. 🙂
We loved them!! They will definitely be a new Christmas tradition at our house.

Aren’t they pretty? And they taste wonderful too!

cake-balls-recipe
Cake Balls

1 devil’s food cake mix, prepared according to box instructions
1/4 cup butter
6 ounces cream cheese
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk, enough to make spreadable frosting
1 package of almond bark (found near the chocolate chips)
1/2-3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chipsMake cake according to directions on box. Mix together butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make a frosting. Dump cake out into a large mixing bowl. (It doesn’t matter if the cake is warm or cool.) Smash it up and add the frosting. Stir till everything is well mixed. Refrigerate till very cold.
Roll the mixture into balls. At this point you can freeze them and store them in ziplock bags for a few months. I thought it was much easier to dip them frozen, so that is what I did.
Dipping:
Melt your chocolate at half power in a glass bowl in the microwave. Stir every 30 seconds or so till the chocolate is smooth. After trying several methods of dipping, I decided that poking them with a toothpick worked the best. Poke a toothpick into a cake bite and dip it in the chocolate. Shake off the excess and place the cake bite on waxed paper to set up. If the cake bites are frozen, they will set up very quickly. Repeat till all the balls are covered in chocolate.
After the chocolate is hardened, you need to remove the toothpicks. I found that they came out easiest if I gave them a little twist first.
Note: At this point my cake balls looked terrible. Especially the first ones that I tried to dip using a fork. They were seriously ugly! I didn’t think I would be able to give any of them away.I felt like swearing. So if yours are less than beautiful, don’t panic!
Take your chocolate chips and place them in a small freezer ziplock bag. Melt them at half power in the microwave. Make sure not to overheat them. Take them out every 30 seconds or so and squish them around. Snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag. Squeeze the chocolate over the top of the cake bites. Make sure you cover up the toothpick holes and any other imperfections. Just like magic your cake bites will look beautiful!!!Notes:
-You can substitute store bought frosting if you prefer.
-I used almond bark because it is easier to work with, but I actually prefer the taste of white chocolate chips. Just add about 1 Tablespoon of oil or shortening to each 2 cups of chips. (DO NOT use butter or margarine or your chocolate will clump up.)
-You can use any flavor of cake mix that you like, or use a homemade cake recipe.
I hope that all of fabulous readers have a wonderful Christmas this weekend! I’ll be back next week. 🙂

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Comments

  1. An even easier method for something similar to the cake bites – crush 1 pkg of oreo cookies, add 1 8 oz pkg of room temp cream cheese, refrig. Roll into 1″ balls, refrig or freeze, then dip in white choc. Can also drizzle dark choc over them for a professional truffle look. Yum!

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