Cake Balls

Cake Balls: A Brief History
Historically speaking, cake balls swept the internet nation last year and popped up on stay-at-home mom blogs, wedding planning websites and everything in between. Though the origins are debated, some believe Bakerella was the first to feature these little balls of heaven. Whatever the origin, cake balls are crowd pleasers.




Are cake balls right for you?
Cake balls look incredibly impressive and time consuming, yet they are probably the easiest things for non-bakers to bake. Do you want to impress someone with your baking skills, or convince them you know how to bake? Cake balls could be right for you. Do you like the idea of making a cake, but always break it when you try to get it out of the pan? Cake balls are absolutely right for you. Are you okay with using non-organic, junky, vegan ingredients? Make the cake balls.





Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake (I used an organic, vegan brand. To make it vegan, I used egg replacers and soy milk.)
16 oz cream cheese frosting
2 packages vegan chocolate chips, like Ghiradelli
greased foil or waxed paper

Cream cheese frosting:
8 oz tofutti cream cheese
½ cup vegan butter, like Earth Balance
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Blend together using electric hand mixer. Chill.




Process:
1. Bake cake as directed
2. When cake is completely cooled, crumbled into tiny pieces in large bowl
3. Add spoonfuls of cream cheese frosting, mixing with hands as needed. The batter should be moldable.
4. Roll mixture into small balls and place on cookie sheet
5. Heat chocolate chips as you wish—you can use a double boiler, but I put chips into small bowls, heated them in the microwave and mixed every so often.
6. Coat cake balls in chocolate. I used wooden skewers to poke into the cake balls and dip into chocolate.
7. Place on waxed paper or foil. ACT FAST and coat with sprinkles—do this while chocolate is still melted. It hardens quickly.
8. Stick in fridge and chill until ready to serve.
Variations: As you’ve probably noticed, this recipe is vegan. You can easily make it non-vegan by using eggs, milk, and dairy chocolate.

Enjoy!
--J