Cake Balls

Welcome to my Sunday project! Have you heard of cake balls? I recently discovered these when I ran across an article on DallasNews.com about a lady in Dallas who makes these (and apparently we sell then at Neiman Marcus though I did look online and didn't find any). Since then, I've been talking to (some might say "bugging") people at work asking if they have ever had these, made these, and or had any advice to dispense before I got started. Well, I didn't get any advice at work, but I did enough research today to boost my cake-ball-making confidence.

These were pretty easy to make (though they do require a lot of chilling / freezing time), but the thing that frustrated me the most was the lack of real step-by-step instruction on how to make these so I'll be a little more detailed than usual.


Cake Balls


1 box, yellow cake mix (and the necessary ingredients to make that cake)
1 package cream cheese or neufchatel, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 12-oz bag of milk chocolate chips
Nuts or sprinkles or fleur de sel
Parchment or waxed paper

Bake the cake according to the directions on the package.
While the cake is baking, mix together the cream cheese and confectioners sugar to make cream cheese frosting.
Once the cake is done, crumble it in a large mixing bowl with the cream cheese frosting and condensed milk. You want it to have the same consistency as your cornbread dressing.
Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

After chilling, make little balls out of the cake mixture. To ensure a consistent size, you can use a tablespoon or melon baller. Place the cake balls on parchment or waxed paper.
Freeze for at least 4 hours.

In a small bowl, combine an even mix of milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and microwave another 15-30 seconds. It's best to melt the chocolate in batchessince it does tend to be easier to dip the cake balls when the chocolate is warm.
Pick up a cake ball, drop it in the chocolate and, with two toothpicks, turn the cake ball to coat completely in chocolate.
Set aside on parchment or waxed paper and sprinkle with your topping before the chocolate sets.

Once you're done with dipping, let the chocolate set in the fridge or the freezer.


Notes:

1. All the recipes I found called for either Almond Bark or Confectioner Wafer Coating. I think the consistency for Confectioner Wafer coating is a bit different from regular chocolate chips. You can get these wafers at the grocery store in the same section where you find chocolate chips.

If I were to guess, it would probably be more like the chocolate you get your ice cream dipped in at Dairy Queen. Next time I make these, I'll use the wafers since the chocolate chips made for a really thick coating. You can get these wafers at the grocery store in the same section where you find chocolate chips.

Additionally, if you want to do different colors, you can get the white wafers and color with oil-based candy dye.

2. You can make all sorts of flavor combinations. Check out these suggestions.