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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Cake Balls (yes, that's really the name!)

The name is unfortunate, but the dessert is delicious! It does take a bit of work, see my tips below for ways to make this more efficient.

Ingredients:
1 (18.25-ounce) boxed cake mix, plus ingredients called for on box
1 (16-ounce) can prepared frosting
Almond Bark Coating
Decorations (your choice!)

Bake the cake according to package instructions. While warm, crumble the cake into a bowl. Mix in frosting to make a paste, using 3/4 to a full can of frosting, according to taste. Then, chill the mixture for at least 2 hours.

Using a melon baller or your hands, form the mixture into 1 ½ -inch balls. Place the balls on wax paper and freeze at least 6 hours.

Melt almond bark in microwave, being careful to stir or it will scorch. Heat until just melted. Working in small batches, remove the balls from the freezer and dip into warm, melted coating, using a fork to manipulate the balls. Place on wax paper to harden.  God, this is sounding sexy...

For decoration, fill a narrow-tip squeeze bottle with a contrasting color of melted coating and paint stripes over the balls, or sprinkle on rainbow sprinkles, colored sugar or finely chopped nuts.

Tips: Don't bite off more than you can chew! The first time I made this, I decided to make three different flavors of cake. I didn't sleep for days. Three sets of balls is a lot for one lady to handle.

Pre-dipped cake balls can be kept frozen for weeks. Dipped balls will keep at room temperature, but if you refrigerate them, they will sweat. Also, you may need to double dip if you are using white chocolate, or if the balls crack or have imperfections.

Finally, these are intended to look & taste like truffles, but with a cake-like texture. Be creative -you can add liqueur by drizzling about 1/4 cup of rum, Bailey's or some other tasty alcohol over the finished cake before you add the frosting. Or get creative with the cakes + frosting combinations. You can do anything with these cake balls - just don't do all the steps in one day, or there won't be any time or energy left for everyone's favorite type of balls!

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