Cake Balls: Christmas 2011

I struggled with what to give to those-I-need-to-give-a-little-sumthin'-to this year. I always think I'd like to give something healthy because by the time the week before Christmas comes around, I'm a little bit treated out. An assortment of our favorite cookies was an idea, but Wow! That seemed like a lot of batches of cookies. And while seven flavors of cake balls may seem like a lot...it's really quite easy. And...you can't beat how pretty they look!

This is the second year I've made cake balls with my mother. We simply take a day and just do it. We get a rhythm and an assembly line going and it actually moves along pretty quickly. For most of these we did half-batches. One cake made two different flavors. Using the Basic Cake Ball How-To, simply half it (use half the cake and half the frosting) and add one-and-a-half teaspoons of flavoring. Add your flavoring and any food coloring to your frosting first, before combining it with your crumbled cake.

Here's what we did this year:

Lemon 

• Half a white cake, crumbled.
• Half a can of cream cheese frosting with one-and-a-half teaspoons of lemon extract AND yellow food coloring mixed in.
• Dipped in white chocolate with flower on top made from melted yellow Make 'n Mold Candy Wafers.

 

Chocolate Mint

• Half a chocolate cake, crumbled.
• Half a can of cream cheese frosting with one-and-a-half teaspoons peppermint extract (not mint).
• Dipped in dark chocolate.
• When chocolate is hard, partially dip in white chocolate, and then immediately dip into chopped Andes mints.

 

Orange

• Half a white cake, crumbled.
• Half a can of cream cheese frosting with one-and-a-half teaspoons of orange extract and orange food coloring mixed in.
• Dipped in dark chocolate.
• Add a few drops of red food coloring to yellow Make 'n Mold Candy Wafers for orange swirl.

Salted Caramel

• Half a butter pecan cake, crumbled.
• Half a can of cream cheese frosting with approximately 12 Werther's Original CaraMelts, melted and mixed into the frosting.
• Dipped in milk chocolate.
• Melt remaining Werther's CaraMelts and drizzle over cake ball and immediately add a pinch of sea salt to the top.

 

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter

• Half a chocolate cake, crumbled.
• Half of a half can of cream cheese frosting and an equivalent amount of peanut butter mixed together. (Can be either smooth or chunky peanut butter.)
• Dipped in milk chocolate with melted Nestle peanut butter chips criss-cross pattern on top.

 

 

Maple

• Half of a butter pecan cake, crumbled.
• Half of a can of cream cheese frosting with one-and-a-half teaspoons of maple flavoring mixed in.
• Dipped in white chocolate with a yellow candy melt and Werther's CaraMelt drizzle.

 

Red Velvet

• Whole red velvet cake, crumbled.
• Whole can of cream cheese frosting.
• Dipped in dark chocolate with a dark chocolate drizzle.

Box them up and deliver!

Unfortunately, some of you out there didn't get your designated box this year.  My delivery timing was off, as I really didn't think through all the things I had to do over the weekend. But, from our house to yours, Merry Christmas!