Many of you have asked for a recipe for my cake balls… well, here it is. I must say, it is with a tiny bit of regret that I share my secret, because it’s the one thing I CAN do in the kitchen (besides oreo balls). Now I must share how easy they are to make and disappoint those who thought I was a great baker, homemaker, stay at home mom… whatever you call it. I did have some of you guys fooled, right?! Anyway, cake balls really are that easy.
What you need: Red Velvet cake mix, Cream Cheese Icing, Almond Bark
1. Bake a cake. Any cake. Follow the directions on the box.
2. Let the cake cool, then mash it. Don’t leave any big chunks, you want it pretty pulverized. Then mix in your icing.
3. Roll it into balls. It takes a little work, but it’s not too hard. Your hands will look like this…
4. Put them in the freezer to harden. 15-20 minutes should do.
5. Melt the Almond Bark according to the package, dip the balls, and let them harden on wax paper!
I know there’s probably some kind of professional tool for this step, but I use what I have in the kitchen: toothpicks. After the balls come out of the freezer you can put toothpicks in them to make dipping easier. It will leave a nice little hole in the top once they harden. Good luck covering that up!!
So… these cake balls turned out delicious and super ugly. The almond bark wasn’t really working for me this time. If that happens to you, I’ve heard you can thin it out using a little bit of water. Or maybe it was something else? Not much help, am I?! So there are no pictures of my finished product!! Seriously, didn’t look so good. Here are some finished Valentine’s Cake Balls from my sister-in-law’s kitchen. Clever girl covering those holes with heart sprinkles!
Easy, right?! I have yet to venture away from red velvet cake balls, but I know others would be just as yummy. I’d love to hear your suggestions or recipes!
stacy roseberry - We have been making cake balls for almost 10 years and it is so funny that it became such a phenomenon. One of my favorites to make in the spring is strawberry cake balls with white icing. They seem a bit lighter and are perfect for Easter.
Happy Cake Ball Creating!
-stacy
Angie - That sounds yummy! Can’t wait to try that out!
Kandy Chimento - Do not add water to almond bark to thin it. It will ruin it. Add 1 teaspoon of solid shortening at a time until it is the consistency you desire.
Angie - Thank you Kandy! Good to know!
emma - I made cake balls last night, and I had a horrible problem with almond bark myself! However, I have advice! Alright…my white almond bark was so thick and gunky, it stuck to the cake balls so much that I ran out of bark without having coated 10 of my cake balls, and it just looked like a mess. From making almond bark pretzels for Christmas, I learned the hard way that you cannot thin almond bark by adding butter, milk, water, margarine, or anything like that. It has to be solid vegetable shortening! But anyways, I have a solution! I made chocolate cake balls (chocolate icing, chocolate cake, and chocolate almond bark) which turned out beautifully! The chocolate almond bark turned out beautifully because it was thinner. I got to cover all of the chocolate using only 3/4 of the package! They taste the best, too. But anyway, I think it is the brand of almond bark you are using. I used Plymouth Pantry (because it was the cheapest), and I think the white almond bark from that brand is just too thick. The chocolate flavored from the brand works great, though! Maybe next time you want to use white, get CandyQuik (I think that is the brand). It is more expensive (by 50 cents or something like that), but the white gets really thin so it turns out pretty. However, there is also less in the CandyQuik package (but it goes further because you don’t end up globbing so much on each cake ball!). Good luck baking!
Angie - Thanks Emma for the suggestions! I used the candyquik the past few times and it’s definitely better, thinner, and I think it tastes better!
Blake - you can use a solid shortening to thin the bark. Water will really mess up the bark.
Pauletta Harris - a little veggy oil will thin out chocolate.