Cake Balls!

First of all..

Big time. I was pretty tired of my apron lady, and her blurriness. She'll be back, but she needed a vacation. For now, things will be pink. If pink makes you feel effeminate, don't worry, I'm sure I'll change it up again in the next few days. Or hours. Or minutes. Who knows..

On another note:

I'm really loving this whole cake ball thing. It's so easy, incredibly good, and totally versatile. You can make as much or as little at a time, and save the rest for later. It's appropriate for all occasions (birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Tuesday evenings before a final exam, etc), and all ages can enjoy it. 

Oh, and my husband is very protective of them. Perhaps, more than blueberries, which some of you know says a lot! 

So here's a sample of the silliness you can come up with for these things. I'll post more and a how-to in the next couple weeks, but they are so much fun! And easy - E-A-S-Y!

Making cake balls is simple! I've made them 2 ways.

1. Grab a box of cake mix and make according to the packages directions. Once cooked, crumble the entire cake into a large bowl. You'll need to use your hands to break the mixture apart. Once crumbled, add a can of frosting and mix together. Shape the "dough" into balls and place them on a cookie sheet, and then in the freezer for about 5 minutes. After 5 min, melt some baking chocolate (or bark as it's often called) according to package directions. Dip balls in chocolate, and then place on some wax paper to dry for about 10 minutes. 

Or...do what I prefer, since it involves no baking whatsoever.

2. Grab a bag or oreo cookies, crumble them into crumbs in either a food processor or pound in a large Ziploc bag with a mallet.

 Pour crumbs into a bowl ...

...and mix w/ 8 ounces of softened cream cheese.

Form these into balls, freeze, and then coat with chocolate, just like above. When coating with chocolate, I like to use a fork to pull them out of the chocolate. Then, use a toothpick to slide them off the fork and onto wax paper. If there's too much chocolate at the bottom of the ball, no worries. You can just break it off once it's dried.

And then you can do the fun part - decorating! Actually the fun part is eating, but decorating is fun too!

I did something a little different, as suggested by Bakerella...

For about $3. at Michael's, I bought some little plastic candy holder container things. You can make candy with them, but I just  filled them with white chocolate (tinted green w/ food coloring), and then pressed a cake ball down on top.

Which was much more sloppy than hers seemed to be.

But that's okay..

Because we're not done decorating, and who cares anyway.

(that's white chocolate I on top, and it's accidental..)   ;)
So then I popped these things out after about 5 minutes (or sooner, they dry fast). I then flipped them over, and dipped the top part (the cake ball part), into more melted chocolate. I used white chocolate.

And then decorated with some sparkly decorators gel.

But this gave me another idea. I could use black icing instead of green, and do Twilight Zone cupcake bites....FUN! I'll do these around the 4th of July, since that's when we watch the Twilight Zone marathon!

Cake balls. White chocolate. Green chocolate. M&M's. Did I mention, CHOCOLATE.

There's the inside scoop. I tried to veer outside of the norm by using some kind of organic Teddy Graham off brand, but they weren't as good. Well, just as good, but not as sweet. Plus, the oreos have that cream center that does a body good on these things. 

This is all I made this time. Literally 5. 5 cake balls cupcake things. Well, I mean, I also ate 2, and my husband ate one. But still, not very many.  

Except for the 16 we ate before I took this picture.

And I'm telling you, the hardest part is not eating them. I wish I could just make these all day and not be tempted to eat them. 

With that said, I'll be eating the one on the bottom at around 6:30 this evening.

Things to come:
* Blueberry Cheesecake Bites
* Key Lime Pie Bites
* Strawberry Lady Bugs (you're just going to have to trust me on this one)