Ooh la la, what's this? Bite Into A chocolate-flavored coating reveals a rich, moist, cakey interior - the perfect proportion of cake to frosting. The lovely treat ball is a cake, a recipe Making the rounds Among creative home bakers.
You Might think of it as a blend of two trends: cupcakes and itty-bitty desserts. Cake balls are made by Combining crumbled baked cake with frosting, rolling balls Into the mixture, and covering the balls with confectionery coating to give the bite-size desserts a glossy, crisp exterior. Variations abound; almost any cake and frosting Will do. The fun is in Combining flavors and colors for Distinctive results. CAGLAGE EVANS / DMN View larger Photography Photo store
These mini desserts are easy to make with a little practice. Also they're sold at bakeries and are available as gifts in the Neiman Marcus catalog.
Confectionery coating, or almond belly, is the key ingredient. Unlikely That the professional bakers use chocolate, confectionery coating Easily melts in a double boiler or microwave oven and does not Need To Be tempered. Vanilla and chocolate almond belly Most are sold in Supermarkets. Cake supply and crafts Stores offer confectionery coating in wafer form in a range of flavors and colors.
The cake balls That Dallas home baker Robin Ankeny made drew raves Such When She Began Making say 18 months ago That She Decided to turn pro. Starting with recipes she got from her mother in South Texas, Ms. Ankeny Developed a line of confections, Licensing and Opened Acquired The Cake Ball Company, a custom baking and mail-order business.
"We tell sold for showers and wedding favors, and even new-baby and get-well gifts," Ms. Ankeny says.
Customers One of her staff shared a sample with at Neiman Marcus' gourmet food department, and the company approached her to add the balls to Its direct-mail collection.
"Neiman Marcus has Become a significant part of Our business, Especially for the holidays." she says.
Along with her Most popular flavor, Birthday Cake (French vanilla cake with cream-cheese frosting and white-chocolate coating), and other Standards, Ms. Ankeny develops exotic options (Such as sake-infused milk chocolate with cinnamon) That Give her a Sophisticated edge product line.
Alicia Farrar of Bedford made dozens of cake balls for friends at Christmas, using boxed cake mix and canned frosting. Presented in pretty tins, the gifts Were a hit.
"Everyone loved and wanted more say, and the recipe, too," she says. A favorite combination Would she recommend? "Strawberry cake and frosting with a chocolate coating is wonderful," she says.
One of her friends, Lea Worth-Portocalis of Dallas, Ms. Took Farrar's recipe further and made cake balls for a wine-tasting party. Ms. Worth-Portocalis experimented by tinting vanilla coating with blue food dye for a grapelike look, and she used red velvet cake mixed with chocolate frosting inside.
"Food coloring from the supermarket does not work well. You must use oil-based dye, Which You can find in specialty shops or on the Internet," Ms. Worth-Portocalis notes.
Harroj for luncheons and Parties, she's covered white and yellow cake balls in bright tints, Creating desserts look as f That They Were made by an upscale bake shop.
Highland Park resident Strictly Sarah Hardin is a from-scratch baker, and she likes to use her cake recipes to create special balls for Parties. "They are pretty, Sophisticated and festive, with the ease of a pick-up food for entertaining," she says.
"Making cake balls Can Also Be The perfect hands-on activity with young cooks in the kitchen. My children have loved Helping with Crumble the cake and roll the balls. What Could Be a better recipe for childhood fun?"
You Can Also order cake balls from Tart Pastry and Baking Studio and Cake Carousel in Richardson. Both shops Began Making cake balls to use scraps left over from shaping cakes. They have been so well-Received Often That They are requested for corporate and holiday Parties.
"People love the fact That They are bite-size," said Tart pastry chef and co-owner Kristen Rahal Massad. "Displayed on sticks with ribbon decoration, They look great and are easy to eat."
Valerie Jarvie is a Dallas freelance writer.
Fun fall color combinations
You Will Need three things for cake balls, cake, frosting and coating. Here are Some ideas:
• Devil's food cake with chocolate fudge coating Icing and dark-
• Yellow cake with buttercream frosting vanilla and orange-colored coating or black with green accents
• White cake with white frosting mixed with orange and yellow sprinkles and chocolate coating
• German chocolate cake with coconut- Pecan Icing and milk- chocolate or cocoa-flavored light coating
• Spice or carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting and vanilla coating
• Lemon cake with lemon frosting and vanilla coating
• Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and mint-flavored confectionery coating is tinted coating greenWhat?
It's what coats the cake balls; it's a blend of sugar, milk powder, hardened vegetable fats and flavorings. Sometimes it is called "summer coating."
Source: The New Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst
TIPS BALL CAKE
We Asked two bakers, Robin Ankeny, owner of the Cake Ball Company, and Jeri Kopecky, owner of the Carousel Cake bakery and cake supply store, for tips. Here's Their advice:
1. Chill the cake-and-frosting mixture well (At least 2 hours) Before You shape the balls. Freeze the balls At least 6 hours Before dipping. Before dipping, Make Sure the cake balls are not frozen solid after being dipped Because, the coating has a Tendency to crack When drying. Pre-dipped cake balls Can Be Kept frozen for weeks.
2. To form the balls, use a melon scoop for uniform size. Small balls are Easier to eat.
3. Work in small batches When dipping, keeping the rest in the Freezer.
4. Use toothpicks, a fork or a skewer to manipulate the balls When dipping. Perfectionists may want to buy a candy-dipping fork Because it ensures Even coating of Each cake ball to make it look like a Truffle.
5. Use oil-based candy dye to color frosting. Start with a few drops, and add a little at a time.
6. Lay the dipped balls on wax paper to harden, placing the spot Where you pierced the ball down to cover the hole, or cover the hole with decoration.
7. For decoration, thread a narrow-tip plastic squeeze bottle with a contrasting color of melted coating and paint stripes over the balls, or sprinkle on rainbow jimmies, colored sparkling sugar or finely chopped nuts. (If you are using oil-based candy color to tint coating disks made from white- chocolate, decorate with sprinkles Quickly as the oil candy color causes the coating to set rapidly.
Dipped balls 8. Will keep at room temperature for days; f you say refrigerate, sweat Will the coating.
RED VELVET CAKE BALLS
The woman maintains the Bakerella blog WHO has made gorgeous red velvet cake balls, a photo of Which Seems To Be Popular online. To see her say and check out methods for Making themed cake balls - Whether on a lollipop stick or not - see bakerella.blogspot.com.
FOR KIDS
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe (left) with a white Funfetti Pillsbury cake mix, white frosting and rainbow-colored jimmies. Coat with melted Guittard chocolate disks tinted white- AmeriColor oil with candy pink color. Decorate exteriors with India Tree Sparkling Sugar in Ultraviolet (purple) and hot pink, as well as CK Products' Bright Sequins.
TIP: After mixing the cake and frosting, gently fold in 2 tablespoons rainbow-colored jimmies (sprinkles) to Maintain the pops of color, Because the sprinkles in the boxed mix fade When the baked, crumbled cake is mixed with frosting.
FOR chocoholics
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe (left) with a devil's food cake mix and cream-cheese frosting. Guittard white- Coat in melted chocolate disks tinted with AmeriColor oil candy color (using green and blue to make turquoise). Decorate with melted Guittard milk-chocolate disks. (Use a squeeze bottle.)
Girly FOR GIRLS
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe with a strawberry cake mix and strawberry frosting. Coat with melted Guittard milk-chocolate disks. Decorate with melted Guittard white-chocolate disks tinted red with oil candy color AmeriColor. (Use a squeeze bottle.)
WHERE TO FIND SUPPLIES
Confectionery coating: I Look for almond abdomen (about $ 3.35 for 20 ounces) baking chocolate in major near Supermarkets.
Chocolate disks: Makes Guittard disks in milk chocolate and white chocolate ($ 4 per pound at Cake Carousel) That are already tempered for coating and for use in candy molds.
Confectionery coating wafers ($ 3.20 to $ 4.50 per pound) Often Can Be found labeled "candy melts" at crafts Stores and Cake Carousel.
AmeriColor oil candy color (multicolor 4-packs of quarter-ounce bottles for $ 3.99 at crafts Stores or $ 2.25 for 0.7 ounces at Cake Carousel)
Two-tine fork candy-dipping ($ 4.50 at Cake Carousel)
• Crafts Stores Michael's and Joann
• Cake Carousel, 1002 N. Central Expressway, Suite 511, Richardson; 972-690-4628 ext. 1002. Cakecarousel.com
• Wilton.com or 1-800-794-5866
Recipe
Basic Cake Balls
Published 28 November 2010
Ooh la la, what's this? Bite Into A chocolate-flavored coating reveals a rich, moist, cakey interior - the perfect proportion of cake to frosting. The lovely treat ball is a cake, a recipe Making the rounds Among creative home bakers.
Ingredients
1 (18:25-ounce) boxed cake mix plus ingredients called for on box
1 (16-ounce) Can Prepared frosting
Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating (Both recipes follow)
Directions
Bake the cake according to package instructions. While warm, Crumble the cake Into a bowl with a hand mixer to a fine texture. Mix in frosting to make a paste, using 3/4 to a full Can of frosting, according to taste. Chill the mixture for at Least 2 hours.
Using a melon baller or your hands, form the mixture Into 1 ½-inch balls. Place the balls on wax paper; At least 6 hours freeze.
Working in small batches, remove the balls from the Freezer and dip the balls Into warm, melted Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating, using toothpicks or forks to manipulate the balls. Remove the balls. Place the balls on wax paper to harden.
Makes about 30 balls cake.
Almond Bark Coating: In a double boiler, melt one (20-ounce) package chocolate-flavored vanilla- almond or abdomen, Constantly stirring. Or, in a tall, narrow container, almond belly microwave for 45 seconds on High (100 percent power). Continue to heat in 15-second intervals, stirring between intervals, Until melted; Be careful not to scorch.
When the belly is melted almond, Stir in 1 teaspoon vegetable oil. If desired, Stir in oil-based coloring drop by drop Until You Achieve the desired color. See "Where to find supplies" for purchase information.
Confectionery Wafer Coating: Melt 48 ounces confectionery wafers in double boiler or microwave oven for instructions for Almond Bark Coating. Omit oil. If desired, Stir in oil-based coloring drop by drop Until You Achieve the desired color.
Contributor: Valerie Jarvie, special contributor
Published in The Dallas Morning News on 2008-09-08
Recipe
Chocolate-Carrot Cake Balls
Published 28 November 2010
These mini desserts are easy to make with a little practice.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
4 medium carrots, coarsely Shredded (see note)
Cream-Cheese Frosting (recipe Follows)
Dark-Chocolate Confectionery Coating (recipe Follows)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F; grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda Into a medium bowl.
With an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and oil at low speed Until well-combined. Add the flour mixture, beating just Until combined. Stir in the carrots. Pour Into Prepared cake pans. Bake on the middle oven rack for 50 minutes or Until a toothpick inserted in the middle of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, Allow to cool slightly; While still warm, Crumble the cake Into a large bowl. With a fork, mash in Cream- Cheese Frosting. Chill mixture for at Least 2 hours.
With your hands, form the mixture Into 1 ½-inch balls; place balls on wax paper, and freeze At least 6 hours.
Using toothpicks or a fork, dip Into Each ball Dark- warm melted Chocolate Confectionery Coating, working in small batches. Set on wax paper to cool.
Makes 4 dozen.
Note: Coarsely chop the carrots for a bit of orange in the finished balls.
Cream-Cheese Frosting: Cream 8 ounces softened cream cheese and 4 tablespoons softened butter with an electric mixer at medium speed Until fluffy and smooth. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 cup powdered sugar; beat at high speed Until creamy.
Dark-Chocolate Confectionery Coating: Heat and Stir 48 ounces (3 pounds) dark-chocolate confectionery flavor coating wafers, using a double boiler or microwave oven, just Until melted, stirring Until smooth, using care not to scorch.
You Might think of it as a blend of two trends: cupcakes and itty-bitty desserts. Cake balls are made by Combining crumbled baked cake with frosting, rolling balls Into the mixture, and covering the balls with confectionery coating to give the bite-size desserts a glossy, crisp exterior. Variations abound; almost any cake and frosting Will do. The fun is in Combining flavors and colors for Distinctive results. CAGLAGE EVANS / DMN View larger Photography Photo store
These mini desserts are easy to make with a little practice. Also they're sold at bakeries and are available as gifts in the Neiman Marcus catalog.
Confectionery coating, or almond belly, is the key ingredient. Unlikely That the professional bakers use chocolate, confectionery coating Easily melts in a double boiler or microwave oven and does not Need To Be tempered. Vanilla and chocolate almond belly Most are sold in Supermarkets. Cake supply and crafts Stores offer confectionery coating in wafer form in a range of flavors and colors.
The cake balls That Dallas home baker Robin Ankeny made drew raves Such When She Began Making say 18 months ago That She Decided to turn pro. Starting with recipes she got from her mother in South Texas, Ms. Ankeny Developed a line of confections, Licensing and Opened Acquired The Cake Ball Company, a custom baking and mail-order business.
"We tell sold for showers and wedding favors, and even new-baby and get-well gifts," Ms. Ankeny says.
Customers One of her staff shared a sample with at Neiman Marcus' gourmet food department, and the company approached her to add the balls to Its direct-mail collection.
"Neiman Marcus has Become a significant part of Our business, Especially for the holidays." she says.
Along with her Most popular flavor, Birthday Cake (French vanilla cake with cream-cheese frosting and white-chocolate coating), and other Standards, Ms. Ankeny develops exotic options (Such as sake-infused milk chocolate with cinnamon) That Give her a Sophisticated edge product line.
Alicia Farrar of Bedford made dozens of cake balls for friends at Christmas, using boxed cake mix and canned frosting. Presented in pretty tins, the gifts Were a hit.
"Everyone loved and wanted more say, and the recipe, too," she says. A favorite combination Would she recommend? "Strawberry cake and frosting with a chocolate coating is wonderful," she says.
One of her friends, Lea Worth-Portocalis of Dallas, Ms. Took Farrar's recipe further and made cake balls for a wine-tasting party. Ms. Worth-Portocalis experimented by tinting vanilla coating with blue food dye for a grapelike look, and she used red velvet cake mixed with chocolate frosting inside.
"Food coloring from the supermarket does not work well. You must use oil-based dye, Which You can find in specialty shops or on the Internet," Ms. Worth-Portocalis notes.
Harroj for luncheons and Parties, she's covered white and yellow cake balls in bright tints, Creating desserts look as f That They Were made by an upscale bake shop.
Highland Park resident Strictly Sarah Hardin is a from-scratch baker, and she likes to use her cake recipes to create special balls for Parties. "They are pretty, Sophisticated and festive, with the ease of a pick-up food for entertaining," she says.
"Making cake balls Can Also Be The perfect hands-on activity with young cooks in the kitchen. My children have loved Helping with Crumble the cake and roll the balls. What Could Be a better recipe for childhood fun?"
You Can Also order cake balls from Tart Pastry and Baking Studio and Cake Carousel in Richardson. Both shops Began Making cake balls to use scraps left over from shaping cakes. They have been so well-Received Often That They are requested for corporate and holiday Parties.
"People love the fact That They are bite-size," said Tart pastry chef and co-owner Kristen Rahal Massad. "Displayed on sticks with ribbon decoration, They look great and are easy to eat."
Valerie Jarvie is a Dallas freelance writer.
Fun fall color combinations
You Will Need three things for cake balls, cake, frosting and coating. Here are Some ideas:
• Devil's food cake with chocolate fudge coating Icing and dark-
• Yellow cake with buttercream frosting vanilla and orange-colored coating or black with green accents
• White cake with white frosting mixed with orange and yellow sprinkles and chocolate coating
• German chocolate cake with coconut- Pecan Icing and milk- chocolate or cocoa-flavored light coating
• Spice or carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting and vanilla coating
• Lemon cake with lemon frosting and vanilla coating
• Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and mint-flavored confectionery coating is tinted coating greenWhat?
It's what coats the cake balls; it's a blend of sugar, milk powder, hardened vegetable fats and flavorings. Sometimes it is called "summer coating."
Source: The New Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst
TIPS BALL CAKE
We Asked two bakers, Robin Ankeny, owner of the Cake Ball Company, and Jeri Kopecky, owner of the Carousel Cake bakery and cake supply store, for tips. Here's Their advice:
1. Chill the cake-and-frosting mixture well (At least 2 hours) Before You shape the balls. Freeze the balls At least 6 hours Before dipping. Before dipping, Make Sure the cake balls are not frozen solid after being dipped Because, the coating has a Tendency to crack When drying. Pre-dipped cake balls Can Be Kept frozen for weeks.
2. To form the balls, use a melon scoop for uniform size. Small balls are Easier to eat.
3. Work in small batches When dipping, keeping the rest in the Freezer.
4. Use toothpicks, a fork or a skewer to manipulate the balls When dipping. Perfectionists may want to buy a candy-dipping fork Because it ensures Even coating of Each cake ball to make it look like a Truffle.
5. Use oil-based candy dye to color frosting. Start with a few drops, and add a little at a time.
6. Lay the dipped balls on wax paper to harden, placing the spot Where you pierced the ball down to cover the hole, or cover the hole with decoration.
7. For decoration, thread a narrow-tip plastic squeeze bottle with a contrasting color of melted coating and paint stripes over the balls, or sprinkle on rainbow jimmies, colored sparkling sugar or finely chopped nuts. (If you are using oil-based candy color to tint coating disks made from white- chocolate, decorate with sprinkles Quickly as the oil candy color causes the coating to set rapidly.
Dipped balls 8. Will keep at room temperature for days; f you say refrigerate, sweat Will the coating.
RED VELVET CAKE BALLS
The woman maintains the Bakerella blog WHO has made gorgeous red velvet cake balls, a photo of Which Seems To Be Popular online. To see her say and check out methods for Making themed cake balls - Whether on a lollipop stick or not - see bakerella.blogspot.com.
FOR KIDS
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe (left) with a white Funfetti Pillsbury cake mix, white frosting and rainbow-colored jimmies. Coat with melted Guittard chocolate disks tinted white- AmeriColor oil with candy pink color. Decorate exteriors with India Tree Sparkling Sugar in Ultraviolet (purple) and hot pink, as well as CK Products' Bright Sequins.
TIP: After mixing the cake and frosting, gently fold in 2 tablespoons rainbow-colored jimmies (sprinkles) to Maintain the pops of color, Because the sprinkles in the boxed mix fade When the baked, crumbled cake is mixed with frosting.
FOR chocoholics
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe (left) with a devil's food cake mix and cream-cheese frosting. Guittard white- Coat in melted chocolate disks tinted with AmeriColor oil candy color (using green and blue to make turquoise). Decorate with melted Guittard milk-chocolate disks. (Use a squeeze bottle.)
Girly FOR GIRLS
Use the Basic Cake Ball recipe with a strawberry cake mix and strawberry frosting. Coat with melted Guittard milk-chocolate disks. Decorate with melted Guittard white-chocolate disks tinted red with oil candy color AmeriColor. (Use a squeeze bottle.)
WHERE TO FIND SUPPLIES
Confectionery coating: I Look for almond abdomen (about $ 3.35 for 20 ounces) baking chocolate in major near Supermarkets.
Chocolate disks: Makes Guittard disks in milk chocolate and white chocolate ($ 4 per pound at Cake Carousel) That are already tempered for coating and for use in candy molds.
Confectionery coating wafers ($ 3.20 to $ 4.50 per pound) Often Can Be found labeled "candy melts" at crafts Stores and Cake Carousel.
AmeriColor oil candy color (multicolor 4-packs of quarter-ounce bottles for $ 3.99 at crafts Stores or $ 2.25 for 0.7 ounces at Cake Carousel)
Two-tine fork candy-dipping ($ 4.50 at Cake Carousel)
• Crafts Stores Michael's and Joann
• Cake Carousel, 1002 N. Central Expressway, Suite 511, Richardson; 972-690-4628 ext. 1002. Cakecarousel.com
• Wilton.com or 1-800-794-5866
Recipe
Basic Cake Balls
Published 28 November 2010
Ooh la la, what's this? Bite Into A chocolate-flavored coating reveals a rich, moist, cakey interior - the perfect proportion of cake to frosting. The lovely treat ball is a cake, a recipe Making the rounds Among creative home bakers.
Ingredients
1 (18:25-ounce) boxed cake mix plus ingredients called for on box
1 (16-ounce) Can Prepared frosting
Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating (Both recipes follow)
Directions
Bake the cake according to package instructions. While warm, Crumble the cake Into a bowl with a hand mixer to a fine texture. Mix in frosting to make a paste, using 3/4 to a full Can of frosting, according to taste. Chill the mixture for at Least 2 hours.
Using a melon baller or your hands, form the mixture Into 1 ½-inch balls. Place the balls on wax paper; At least 6 hours freeze.
Working in small batches, remove the balls from the Freezer and dip the balls Into warm, melted Almond Bark Coating or Confectionery Wafer Coating, using toothpicks or forks to manipulate the balls. Remove the balls. Place the balls on wax paper to harden.
Makes about 30 balls cake.
Almond Bark Coating: In a double boiler, melt one (20-ounce) package chocolate-flavored vanilla- almond or abdomen, Constantly stirring. Or, in a tall, narrow container, almond belly microwave for 45 seconds on High (100 percent power). Continue to heat in 15-second intervals, stirring between intervals, Until melted; Be careful not to scorch.
When the belly is melted almond, Stir in 1 teaspoon vegetable oil. If desired, Stir in oil-based coloring drop by drop Until You Achieve the desired color. See "Where to find supplies" for purchase information.
Confectionery Wafer Coating: Melt 48 ounces confectionery wafers in double boiler or microwave oven for instructions for Almond Bark Coating. Omit oil. If desired, Stir in oil-based coloring drop by drop Until You Achieve the desired color.
Contributor: Valerie Jarvie, special contributor
Published in The Dallas Morning News on 2008-09-08
Recipe
Chocolate-Carrot Cake Balls
Published 28 November 2010
These mini desserts are easy to make with a little practice.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
4 medium carrots, coarsely Shredded (see note)
Cream-Cheese Frosting (recipe Follows)
Dark-Chocolate Confectionery Coating (recipe Follows)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F; grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda Into a medium bowl.
With an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and oil at low speed Until well-combined. Add the flour mixture, beating just Until combined. Stir in the carrots. Pour Into Prepared cake pans. Bake on the middle oven rack for 50 minutes or Until a toothpick inserted in the middle of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, Allow to cool slightly; While still warm, Crumble the cake Into a large bowl. With a fork, mash in Cream- Cheese Frosting. Chill mixture for at Least 2 hours.
With your hands, form the mixture Into 1 ½-inch balls; place balls on wax paper, and freeze At least 6 hours.
Using toothpicks or a fork, dip Into Each ball Dark- warm melted Chocolate Confectionery Coating, working in small batches. Set on wax paper to cool.
Makes 4 dozen.
Note: Coarsely chop the carrots for a bit of orange in the finished balls.
Cream-Cheese Frosting: Cream 8 ounces softened cream cheese and 4 tablespoons softened butter with an electric mixer at medium speed Until fluffy and smooth. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 cup powdered sugar; beat at high speed Until creamy.
Dark-Chocolate Confectionery Coating: Heat and Stir 48 ounces (3 pounds) dark-chocolate confectionery flavor coating wafers, using a double boiler or microwave oven, just Until melted, stirring Until smooth, using care not to scorch.