Because Cake Balls are Awesome

When I was married, my sister-in-law would make cake balls for the holidays.  It was one of those treats that I really looked forward to.  Instead of being cake-ball-less this year, I decided to take matters into my own hands and learn how to make them myself. Turns out it's not that hard, and kinda fun.

Before I start with the recipe, I just wanted to say that cooking doesn't make you any less of a man. For years the male/dad/father role in the kitchen has been limited to firing up the grill while making grunting noises and dragging our knuckles between the kitchen and the patio.  I joke with people about dropping my man-card off at Bed, Bath and Beyond around Thanksgiving and picking it up after the first of the year. But thruth be told, there is nothing wrong with cooking without a vagina. I've gotten many complments and found that people actually respect my cooking, especially my kids! Well, maybe it's because I let them lick the chocolate off everything.   

I feel that it's important to learn to cook on your own for a few reasons. The first is that you need to be able cook for yourself and your kids. Seriously, you can't eat out every night!  You need to teach your children to cook. It's an important life lesson and it will come in handy when they move out on their own.  Especially when they are in some college dorm and trying to eat more than Ramen Noodles.  When you move onto your next relationship, cooking for your date gets you major brownie points.  Besides, cooking is actually fun - and yes there are gadgets and power tools in the kitchen. 

Back to our cake balls. 

What are cake balls you ask? They are a sweet cake center coated in chocolate. They are little balls of pure joy and proof that balls taste great (wait that doesn't sound good).  They are pretty easy to make, and I'm going to give you the recipe and a few things I learned making them.  

I usually make a double batch, one of chocolate and one of vanilla.  The recipe below is for one batch and makes 30-40 balls. 

What you will need: 

-One box of cake mix (chocolate or vanilla works well, stay away from mixes that may be too moist like those that have fudge in the title. Just plain old cake mix)

-Vegetable Oil (for cake)  

-Milk (for cake)  

-Water (for cake)  

-12 oz Tub of Cake Frosting (or instead a can of condensed milk)

-1 lb Chocolate Wafers or Chocolate Chips 

-Solid shortening (Optional - 2 table spoons depending on the choclate you get) 

-Chocolate melter, double broiler or glass bowl and a pan

-Wax Paper

-Cookie Sheet

-Plastic/Rubber Spatula

-Dipping Tool (You can make this. I used Aluminum Welding Wire) 

-Cookie Scoop Tool

-Whisk or Mixer

-Large Bowl

Note: The above is for a single batch. If you make a double batch just double everything.

Step 1) Bake the cake per the directions on the box. Let the cake cool throughly. 

Step 2) Crumble the cake into the bowl, the mixture should not be lumpy
Step 3) Mix the 3/4 of the frosting or the whole can of condensed milk with the cake in the bowl   

Step 4) Put wax paper on the cookie sheet and scoop the cake/frosting mix onto cookie sheet using the cookie scoop tool

Step 5) Put the cookie sheets in the fridge and let set 12 hours

Now we get to play with chocolate.  This is the good part.

Step 6) Put the chocolate in the melting pot, double boiler or glass bowl. If you are using the double boiler or glass bowl do a google search for how to properly use them.

I use the Wilton Chocolate Melter Pro (http://amzn.to/1HIw9lv). It takes 20-30 minutes to melt 1 lb of chocolate. 

If you grab Wilton Candy Melts (http://amzn.to/1tmL0II)  from Wal-Mart or similar add 1-2 teaspoons of the solid shorting to the melting pot and pour the chocolate wafers in. The shortening will thin the mixture out and make it easier to coat the cake balls.  This REALLY makes a difference!  If you do not add the shortening, the cake balls will still taste great, but the chocolate will be hard to work with and will get clumpy after you coat a few balls.  

If you get dipping choclate wafers like "Ghirardelli Candy Making & Dipping Melting Wafers" you don't need to add the solid shortening.  

You can easily overwork the chocolate, don't stir more than you have to. When working with the chocolate  make sure that everything is dry. Water will ruin the chocolate. Try to use dry rubber or plastic utensils with the melted chocolate and avoid metal ones if you can.

Remember: The chocolate has to melt slowly!

Step 7) Coat the cake balls and place them back on the cookie sheet. This is the fun and messy part. 

You may find that using a fork or stick will help you coat them. Basically anything you can stick into the ball and get it to stay upside down.  Just swirl the cake ball in the melted choclate and you may need to twirl it to get some of the excess choclate off. 

Step 8) Let the cake balls set, you can put them in the fridge if you like but do not freeze them or they will crack

Step 9) Enjoy your sugar induced coma!

Quicktip: For maximum fun, feed your kids as many cake balls as they want before exchanging them with mom (kidding - sorta!). If mom is on a diet, she will definitely enjoy a big bag of these babies!