Let them eat cake

We are having a cookie exchange tomorrow at our home school co-op. I decided that would be a good opportunity to make cake. You know. Since there might be a lot of cookies already.

OK. I might as well tell the truth. I LOVE CAKE BALLS.

This is my fourth attempt at making cake balls, and now that I'm starting to get the hang of it, I look for opportunities to make them. Maybe we'll have a pie-baking contest soon, and I can take some cake balls to that, too.

Anyway.

People always ask me what the heck a cake ball is, so here's the deal. (I'm sure you are all done with your duct-tape projects by now, and you are just DYING for another tutorial.)

1. Bake a cake. (Any cake mix will work just fine.) I made three types of cake for the ones pictured above: strawberry covered in chocolate, vanilla covered in white chocolate, and chocolate cake covered in chocolate.

2. Dump the baked cake into a bowl and crumble it into smithereens. Mix in about three-fourths of a can of frosting.

3. Stir it around until the whole thing sticks together like one big ball.

4. Take a small scoop and form the cake into balls. Put them on a pan covered in wax paper. Put the pan in the freezer for about 20 minutes or until you are ready for the next step.

5. I should have mentioned at the beginning that you will need some Candy Melt chocolate. (Wilton makes this.) I'm assuming you don't have this on hand, so I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier. This is only my second tutorial. You can buy the chocolate in almost as many colors as you can buy duct tape. They even have it in some swirly colors that slightly resemble the tie-dye duct tape. I'm not making this up.

6. Melt the chocolate according to the package directions. (Didn't that sound official?)

7. Add a big spoonful of Crisco to make the chocolate just a little bit thinner.

8. Dip the cake ball in the chocolate and turn it over with a spoon until it's completely covered.

9. Place on a tray lined with wax paper.

10. Sprinkle it with sprinkles. Or sugar it with colored sugar. Or swirl the top with swirls of chocolate. Whatever you prefer. Just do it QUICK! Since the cake balls were in the freezer, the chocolate will set up very quickly.

For a million super cute designs for every holiday and season, visit bakerella.com. She has some amazing ideas.

Here are some other cake balls I made around Halloween. Don't you just want to bite their heads off?

So, there you go. Merry Christmas and Happy Halloween. Whatever the holiday, it's always the perfect time for cake.

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