Just in Time for the Holidays: Cake Balls

From cakeballs

I remember telling a cake decorator how even with all the "sweet teeth" I have in my house, I still managed to throw away a lot of cakes. To this, she opened her mouth in horror and scolded me for wasting perfectly good cake. She then proceeded to give me a well used tip that I often use in a pinch. Freeze leftover cake: iced or not, fresh or a day or two old, scraps from leveling, you get my drift. When ready to use, allow to thaw. Then, create magic!

1. Place cake in a bowl and using fingers or fork, break up cake into fine pieces.

2. Moisten cake with anything such as cream, icing, a little melted butter, etc... adding in small increments (i.e. tablespoons) until cake starts forming big crumbs. You can also add flavoring such as vanilla or mint extract here.

3. Then form moist cake mixture into well pressed balls, any size. I usually make mine golf ball-sized.

4. Freeze for 30 minutes on parchment paper, uncovered. Covered if storing for much later use.

5. Cake balls are ready to coat with melted chocolate or melted icing and toppings of your choice. The possibilities are endless!

6. Allow decorated cake balls to set in refrigerator until ready to serve. Cover if saving for later than one hour.

For my yellow cake balls, I moistened and formed them with heavy cream. Then, I dipped them in melted chocolate bark. Finally, I rolled them in various toppings; shredded coconut, chopped pecans, crushed fudge coated cookies.

You can box these tasty cake concoctions in decorated treat boxes or plate them nicely for a party. They are really easy to make, my whole family has helped make them. They are really cheap to make, too. Hey, you are using leftover cake. My hubby does not call me the "Queen of Leftovers" for nothing. People always think they take a lot more work than they usually do or were expensive!

Who says you can not trick while you treat! Have fun creating your unique cake balls!

And yes, I am well aware that many of you probably giggled at the treat's name and that Alec Baldwin's SNL special or South Park came to mind!