Recipe: Cake Balls

Cake Balls

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INGREDIENTS:

Cake mix (of your choice), plus ingredients to bake
Can of icing
Candy coating or chocolate chips
Sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Bake a 9×13 cake as instructed. Can be a box mix or your own recipe. Let it cool. Break it up into pieces and crumble into tiny crumbs. Add 3/4 of a can of icing (you get to eat the other 1/4 or do something else with it). Mix until uniform. I broke my cake into small chunks and threw it into a stand mixer adding dollops of the icing and then turned it on slow at first and then full speed until it was well mixed.
Roll mixture into balls (about 1 to 1.5 inches). You can either do this by hand or use a cookie scoop. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. It’ll make somewhere between 4 to 5 dozen depending on how big you make them. Place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for several hours or the freezer for 15 minutes to chill but not freeze. If you do the freezer, move them to the refrigerator after 15 minutes if you aren’t ready to coat them yet (or have kids that have other plans for you).
For the coating, you can either use the candy coating or chocolate chips. I used chocolate chips on mine because I think it tastes better, and I typically always have chocolate chips. You’ll need roughly two bags of chocolate chips to coat all the cake balls. Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or a double boiler. I go with the microwave for ease. I do about half a bag at a time. Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. Repeat 15 seconds as needed, making sure not to “burn” the chocolate. The chips will hold their shape even though they are getting warm, so the stirring doesn’t seem like you’re doing anything at first. I typically have to do mine for a total of 45 seconds.
With the melted chocolate, drop a ball in and use a spoon to pour chocolate over the top to coat entirely. With the spoon, lift the ball out of the chocolate, gently shaking off some of the excess chocolate back into the bowl. “Roll” the ball off the spoon onto another cookie sheet with wax paper to cool. Repeat until all balls are coated. A tip is to leave the balls in the refrigerator and only take a few out at a time to coat. Once coated, you can leave them out at room temperature. Some coating may pool around the ball. Just use a toothpick to draw a “break” line around the ball before the coating sets.
You can leave the balls as is or decorate them. If you want to put any sprinkles on, you will need to do that right away as the chocolate sets fairly fast. You can also melt some more chocolate (or use any leftover from the coating) and drizzle on after they have set. (I just use a spoon, trying to not get big globs. You can get fancy and use a piping bag or cut a corner off a sandwich bag.)
You can make the cake balls ahead of time and store them in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator for several days. Be as creative as you would like with the cake, icing, and coating flavors!