Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Easter Egg Cake Balls

The last time I made cupcake pops it was September and I cursed my way through them and even pounded one flat in anger.  I swore then that I would never make them again...or at least wait for at least 6 months when the amount of work I put into them wore off my brain.  Here we are just past the 6 month mark and I was cursing but did not flatten any so I consider that a victory.  I tried everything I could to lighten these up so hopefully if you decide you'd like to make these for Easter you can spend your Saturday cursing too that you can fit them into your calories.  (Do NOT even attempt to do these on Easter Sunday or you will be in the worst mood ever...good thing for them they taste so damn good!)



Here's what you'll need:

1 box of Duncan Hines White Cake Mix
4 egg whites
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/4 cup water
1 can reduced sugar vanilla frosting
Food coloring (if desired)
1 bag of Wilton Candy Melts (I used one whole bag of yellow and half a bag of dark cocoa melts)
1 tbsp canola oil to thin the melts
Sprinkles


Preheat oven to 350.

Add first 4 ingredients and mix well.


I had this vision of this bright, brilliant purple against the yellow melts I was using so I put my elementary school skills to work and added blue and red food coloring.


I gave it a good stir and got...poi.  No seriously, if it didn't smell sweet, I would've thought I was supposed to dip 2 fingers in and mix it with my salty kalua pork.  These pics coming up don't even do it justice because the color isn't found in nature.  It looks like the frosting on Jackson's aunt's armadillo cake in Steel Magnolias.


Pour in a 13x9 baking dish with a little butter cooking spray and bake for 20-22 minutes.  Check for doneness with toothpick or stab it with a knife like I did.  Apparently that red food coloring earlier had me channeling my inner Dexter.  (Is it September yet...who else is waiting for the new season with baited breath after the ending!)


Let the cake cool and then sadly, it's time to break it apart and put it in a big ol' bowl.




With a pastry cutter or fork or heck even your hands, break the cake up into crumbly pieces.


I only use half a can of frosting for this.  I know other people use a whole can but with the melts being used I feel like that's overkill and too mushy.  I use reduced sugar just to cut where I can on things without sacrificing flavor.


Add the frosting to the crumbled cake.


Mix until well combined so there are no blobs of frosting, like so.


This small cookie scoop will be a lifesaver making them so if you don't have one, get one and thank me later.


Of course if I had unlimited calories, I'd be making them with this bad boy.


I know you probably won't but this is where I strap on my food prep gloves.  The thought of people manhandling food like cake pops, fondant and such grosses me out so I do others the favor of not touching it when making stuff that others are going to eat.  (If it's just the Mr and I he can hack my cooties)  Note to self:  You do not wear size large in food prep gloves, get medium!


Do a little scoopie scoop.


Plop it in your hand and roll the ball until smooth.


Roll 'em up and put them in a freezer safe container.


If you need to stack them, put wax paper in between and then cover with plastic wrap and snap the lid on.  Put them in the freezer for at least 30-45 minutes.


Just before they're ready to come out of the freezer, grab your candy melts/bark and put in a microwave safe dish.  Microwave for 1 minute.


Mix until smooth and add the oil to thin out the melts and make it easier to coat the "eggs."


Roll the balls into an oblong egg shape.  Drop it in the bowl to be covered with the melts.


Roll it around and use a small spoon to retrieve it.


Immediately use your favorite sprinkles with each egg that gets turned out onto a wax paper coated cookie sheet.


You can also do dark chocolate melts to appease the chocolate fans.


They look just as pretty!


Go ahead, put all of your eggs in one basket.  Thank you Easter Bunny!  ("Bawk bawk!")  Yeah, the old schoolers will know what that's from.


This nutritional information is approximate!  Per ball:  Calories  130  Total Fat 6g Sat Fat 3g  Sodium 25g  Sugars 10g  Protein 1g  Iron 1%

Have you ever made cake balls before?  How'd they turn out?

EDIT:  For those wondering about the "bawk bawk" reference, take a peek at this vid.
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17 comments:

  1. I make cake balls for most group/family functions. And yes, I do wear prep gloves for rolling, especially if I'm making red velvet. :)

    A good flavor combo I found last summer was lemon cake & frosting. It went well with vanilla almond bark, but I'm thinking it might not have been so good with the chocolate.

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  2. I tried hard to believe I wasn't old enough to know what you were talking about in your Easter bunny (bawk, bawk) comment, but alas, I had to admit I am old! :-) Your eggs look very pretty and I'm sure were delicious!

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  3. I guess I'm TOO old, because I don't know where it came from. But I think I can guess the gist of it.

    The cake balls look scrumptious, so now I have a serious decision to make, cupcakes or cake balls? No, I've never made them, but another Spark friend makes what seems like a similar version of them for every imaginable occasion, so I've heard of them. Question...do you freeze them just so they'll be easier to handle while coating them, or do they need to go back into the freezer until time to eat them?

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  4. They get put in the freezer to get them firmed up a bit but with the frosting, it never truly freezes which is why you can't use a toothpick over a spoon for dipping.

    Now I'm experimenting with freezing them for Easter Sunday. I've heard to take them out and put them into the FRIDGE 24 hours prior to reduce sweating/condensation upon coming to room temperature. Then 2 hours prior to serving you can put them out room temp. I plan to update the recipe once I see if it works or if I screwed myself on that one. LOL

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  5. I never saw this. *pushes delete button on memory* *What?! No delete button?! What about a recycle bin!?*

    ;)

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  6. Those look SO good. I have made cake balls twice, and everyone loved them! They are such a pain in the ass to make though. Yours are so cute. Mine came out looking pretty fugly. :) I tried to use white chocolate, but it didn't melt well and kept thickening up, so it was hard to work with. I just did a chocolate cake and then used half a container of chocolate frosting and then used the white chocolate. I also made some with chocolate cake and rainbow chip frosting (my fav, and my kids too) I think I am going to make some sugar cookies and give those out. I can eat one or 2 of those and not want more, but with cake balls and other stuff like that, I will just keep eating them. I haven't made chocolate chip cookies in SO long because they trigger binges. I know, I am WEAK. :)

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  7. Love it! I might share this on my blog with a link back this is awesome.

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  8. Definitely no need to watch the video for this girl!!! Knew exactly what you were referencing and if that dates me, then so be it! :-)

    I've never made cake balls, but I've eaten plenty and they are delicious! LOL

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  9. These look delish, but I would be tempted to eat too many of them, and I can't get my hubby to take leftovers to his work like your Mr. does, so I better just admire them from a distance.

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  10. I made cake pops once and they never stayed on the damn sticks LOL! So they pretty much became donut holes! I'm totally making these for Easter! I was going to make a carrot cake anyway so I may do the cake as carrot cake mixed with cream cheese frosting and then coated different candy coats! I'm so excited thank you so much for the AWESOME idea!

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  11. I haven't tried making cake balls yet, but these look so good, it's very tempting. And now I'm hungry...

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  12. Wow. Those look absolutely amazing. I try to NOT bake these days, because I can't pace myself while eating it :p

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  13. DEXTER! DEXTER! DEXTER! How dare they leave us hanging like that!

    cheezchik32

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  14. They look so great. As usual.

    I think I'm going to save myself the frustration and do a basic carrot cake in cupcake form. Portion controlled and not mind bendingly hard to make.

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