Lick my balls...

...or, better yet, bite them!

I've been dreaming of cake balls ever since I stumbled upon a site that mentioned cake pops, which inspired a Google search, which led me to Bakerella.

So for a couple of weeks now I've been plotting flavour combinations and decorating possibilities. I finally found myself healthy enough (after having the flu) and with enough time (dog-sitting for mom) to plunge into what I kept telling everyone was my 'Secret Easter Baking Experiment'.

Early Saturday morning kiddo and I headed over to the grocery store for cake mixes, and to the Bulk Barn for decorations and various other Easter-related baking nonsense. We spent waaaay more on sprinkles than on cake mix somehow, and I now have enough supplies to make hundreds of cake balls.

I thought for my first time I would stick with tried and true chocolate...for the cake and the frosting, and let kiddo go crazy with the decorations. What a great weekend activity to do with kids! Cake balls are super easy, although a bit messy, and just a little time consuming because of the steps involved:

1. Bake a cake.
2. Let it chill.
3. Break it up into crumbs.
4. Mix with icing to make a 'dough'
5. Chill.
6. Roll into balls.
7. Chill some more.
8. Dunk in chocolate.
9. Decorate (optional - and do it quickly before the chocolate dries!).
10. EAT!!!

Saturday afternoon kiddo helped me bake the cake, one of her favourite things to do (even more than eating cake - seriously) cause she gets to stand on a chair in the kitchen, help stir, and then lick the spoon.

I crumbled the cake and mixed in the icing while watching Saturday Night Live (my love for Seth Rogen only grows stronger) and then put the dough in the fridge overnight. Rolled the dough into golf ball-sized balls in the morning, went out for breakfast while they chilled in the fridge, and came back home full of bacon and ready for the fun part.

I used candy melts for the coating...Bulk Barn has a ridiculous rainbow of coloured candy melts. For this batch we used white, pink and milk chocolate melts. A quick swim in the chocolate and then kiddo attacked with rainbow chips, sprinkles, and flower and butterfly candies.

One batch made at least 60 balls, and they have so far been loved (and devoured) by friends, family and co-workers, and I still have a box to last me through the week.

I have more cake, more sprinkles, and a LOT more ideas, so stay tuned, more cake balls to come...