I like to give Cassie the credit for starting Tasty Tuesday, whether or not she happens to be posting her own recipe. It's just nice blogger etiquette.
I says balls a lot in this post. If it makes you giggle, welcome to the club, you can be my new bff. If it bothers you, well, come up with another word to replace balls with, like bluffs, or something like that.
I posted a little teaser of my cake balls on Instagram the other day, and mentioned that I used a new secret ingredient as the binder. You guys, this is so simple, yet ridiculously delicious.
I have no doubts that you have had a cake ball, made them yourself, or at least heard of them in the past few years. Starbucks even sells them, so I know I would be hard pressed to find a person unfamiliar. The typical cake ball recipes I have seen and used say to mix in most of a can of store-bought frosting to your crumbled cake. Not bad, and quite delicious. But I really am not a fan of store-bought frosting, and when you are using so much, it makes cake balls a little less appealing to me. I say a little because, let's face it, I will eat pretty much any baked treat, good or bad, and I'll eat it all, too.
So imagine my delight when I found a suggestion online that did not use frosting at all as the binder for the cake balls. Color me impressed. Who knew you could use a liqueur, half and half, or whipping cream, in addition to the usual frosting option? However, I only had coffee creamer on hand, so I figured I would give it a shot. Um, best decision ever!
Creamy Dark Chocolate Cake Balls
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 cup Bailey's coffee creamer. I used vanilla brown sugar, but the Toffee Almond Cream
sounds great!
sounds great!
Directions:
- Bake the cake according to box instructions using a 13x9 pan.
- Allow to cool, then crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl. I cut the cake into 8 pieces, and rubbed them against each other over the bowl, then used a fork to break up the bigger pieces. I also ate the edges that were not crumbling, hah!
- Add 1 cup of creamer {or other liquid of choice} to the crumbs, and use a spoon to mix together. If the mixture seems too dry, add a little more creamer by the tablespoon until it all sticks together well.
- Using a small ice cream, or medium cookie scoop, grab a bit of the mixture and pat it together into a ball shape. Place balls on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. I had a little trouble with consistent sizing, and my mixture was on the dry side, but I still managed to make 32 balls when all was said and done.
Freshly rolled cake balls - Chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes so the cake balls can be handled without breaking apart.
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl according to package directions. Drop a ball at a time in the chocolate, rolling until it is coated, then set back on the waxed paper lined cookie sheet.
All 3 stages of balls, uncoated, freshly coated, hardened coating - Chill in freezer again until the shells are hardened. Transfer to a resealable container and keep in the fridge until ready to eat.
Disclaimer: These are really good. Like "eat them all in one weak moment" good. Or "Can't stop thinking about balls" good. I suggest having a destination for the finished product before you set to making these, as you won't want to part with them unless you have a very good reason. Like making your significant other worship you, impressing the heck out of your friends, being very popular at a bake sale, or to console your PMSing sister, as just a few very worthwhile options.
Happy baking!