Cake Balls (and Pops too!)

Tonight I am making a tried and true favorite of mine: cake balls.

I have been a huge fan of bakerella since way back in the day. (AKA when I was in high school.) Tonight when I was out shopping I found a cherry chip cake mix and thought, I have red candy melts at home. LET'S DO THIS! So here I am making cake balls/pops.

Cake Pops!

I had bought a machine to try and make them because before I thought that the process was tricky and possibly to fattening. So the idea of making just cake balls with no frosting seemed like a good idea. Let me tell you, in my opinion, this machine was a waste of my money. The balls didn't bake right and tasted smokey and we a far cry from the delishness of an original cake pop. So if anyone wants this machine, let me know. I used it once and I don't plan to use it again!

Making cake balls (or pops) is worth the extra seemingly difficult steps it may take.

What you will need is:

• 1 box cake mix
• 1 can frosting
• wax paper
• candy melts
• sprinkles (optional)

Next you will need to follow some not so complicated steps:

1. Bake your cake mix like you normally would and allow to cool. Once cooled, cut the cake into 4 even sections. Rub the cake together over a large bowl to crumble evenly. Add in the frosting and stir.
2. Use your hands or a cookie dough scoop to roll the "dough" into even balls no bigger than a quarter. Place the balls on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet.
3. Place the sheet in your freezer for 15 minutes to cool. After 15 minutes, transfer to your fridge and prepare your candy melts.
4. To make cake balls, place a tooth pick in each of the balls then dip into the candy melts until completely covered. Make sure to tap off any excess. And place on wax paper or into cupcake papers. Remove tooth pick and use tooth pick to fill in the cake ball hole with candy melt. Decorate however you like or allow candy melt to harden.
5. To make cake pops, place pop stick in candy melt to get a tiny bit on the end and press gently into cake ball. Allow to harden. Dip cake pop into candy melts and cover completely tapping the end of the pop stick gently to shake off excess candy melt. Place the end of the pop in a styrofoam block or cake pop decorating tray to allow to harden.

That's pretty much it with endless decorating possibilities! Have fun with it. It really is worth all the steps, so don't try to skip out and use a cake ball maker! These are the ones I made: