Hail the cake ball in all its glory.
Cakes balls (also known as cake bites for the more demure) have been popular on the cake message boards for as long as I can remember. It's a great way to use up the scraps you save in your freezer when you level and carve your cakes. What? You don't freeze your scraps? Well, you must start to do so now so you can partake of this delightfully delicious delicacy.
I usually have a boat load of scraps in my freezer at any give time. Since we travel the globe on holidays (OK, we house hop, but traveling the globe sounds more glamorous), it is the perfect time to get those scraps out and do some rolling!
My son J said he would make them with me, but I got ditched for a playdate with a friend. So I was thrown into cake ball world all alone. No worries... I put a little music on, got a big fizzy Diet Coke from the gas station (fountain only of course!), and I went to town.
You will find many variations of how people make the balls. Some add icing or filling or liquid flavored coffee creamers to the scraps and then mash them all up. I find that makes a mushy ball with my cake recipe, and I don't care for that. I find the cake to be moist enough that if I just squoosh and moosh the scraps together very well, they bind together perfectly and are wonderfully moist as is.
I roll the balls and dip them right away into melted chocolate. Some folks freeze/chill the balls before dipping, but when I do that the chocolate cracks from the cold. I just dip them right away and they hold their shape beautifully .
I use candy melts (also known as candy coating) rather than "normal" chocolate. Candy melts do not have to be tempered. Regular chocolate must be tempered or it will bloom (get terrible white spots all over it). Melts are not as high of a grade of chocolate, but they taste fine to me, plus you won't see any tempering going on around these parts. ( Too lazy, um I mean overbooked). If the chocolate is a little old (or cheap), it might not melt to a very smooth liquid state. In that case, I add some melted paramount crystals to get it flowing nicely again. It also gives the shells a nice soft bite in the mouth and they do not crumble all in your hands.
So now I have about a bajillion cake balls in Tupperware ready to travel the globe with us on Thursday. Hope you guys try it out if you have not already.
YUM. OH.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Sharon
16 comments:
Now that is some dipping PERFECTION! ;)
BWAHAHAHAHAAH ADELE! You know I thought about teasing Suze in the blog? LOL
So, you don't mix your cake scraps with anything? I've tried cake balls before and they were just too mushy for me:)Maybe I'll give it another go.
Man...you even make cake scraps look perfect! I've always added a little icing- maybe I'll try without now and see how I like that!
I'm impressed by your dipping--why can't I get mine to come out looking like that? YUM!
They look so wonderful Sharon!!! It is dipping time again, isn't it! May they travel well on your Thanksgiving trek!
Followed your link from foodgawker--love the easier looking cake balls, but what struck me most was that I also only drink fountain diet cokes AND drink way too much of those--mine can only come from the Wendy's in my town--theirs is the best!!
Oh yeah, I'm listening and loving this!
Have you tried it with melted chocolate chips? Does it do ok?
Great idea - sounds delicious and they look cute too!
These look perfect! I agree that your chocolate dipping skill is very good.
Your cake balls came out perfect!!! Thanks for the tips. I'm gonna five a few of them a try!
Happy Thanksgiving!
~ingrid
Hmmmm, you might be onto something. The few times I've tried making them icing mixed in, I just thought they were gross. Too slimy.
I might give them another try, without any liquid or icing.
Yours are mighty cute, you globe trotting babe!
Saw a pic on CC and had to come and read your blog. Now you've taken away my excuse to eat the scraps...I thank you and my waistline thanks you. I think I'll start saving up and maybe this will be what shows up at the next office party.
(aka Mommy_Cakes on CC)
I love your cake balls! I have covered them with chocolate ganache. We call them ganache bites when we want to sound fancy, CAKE BALLS when we're just needing some chocolate! Thanks Sharon!
Lmao it wouldn't be a true dipping blog post without including me...and just for that I am going to try pulling a Julie and Julia move on you and duplicate all things dipped that you blog about this season...hehehe
Post a Comment