If you haven’t heard of cake balls yet, I recommend that you check out Bakerella’s website to see what the fuss is all about. Cake balls are a great little invention; cooked cake batter crumbled and mixed with cream cheese frosting, rolled into balls, then dunked into melted chocolate. Don’t just make these for the health benefits though, they taste pretty darn good too.

The recipe says to use any boxed cake mix for the type of flavor you want. For my first attempt I used Devil’s Food Cake mix, and a homemade frosting. You can buy a can of cream cheese frosting instead, but I accidentally bought cream cheese instead of frosting, and had to improvise. The reason I didn’t use homemade cake batter + homemade frosting is because I wasn’t confident in getting exactly the right consistency for cake ball dough.

Devil’s Cake Balls (makes 45-50) – adapted from Bakerella.com

Ingredients:

1 Box Devil’s Cake Mix

1 16 oz. can cream cheese frosting*

1 16 oz. bag of chocolate chips

wax paper

* To make homemade frosting: combine 8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1 stick butter (softened), and 2 cups powdered sugar. Blend until creamy.

Directions:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)

4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)

5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.

6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon or toothpick to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

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After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

Powdered sugar, stick of butter, and package of cream cheese. 3 ingredients for a healthy dessert.

If making homemade frosting, blend these ingredients together with a handheld mixer until creamy.

Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)



Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)

Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)



Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. Or if using chocolate chips, melt with a bit of water in the microwave. Add more water if it is too thick (but don’t add too much or it will be too watery).



Roll balls in chocolate. (Use a spoon or toothpick to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I used a cocktail toothpick to dip the balls into the chocolate, and a chopstick to gently brush off extra chocolate.

Lay on wax paper until firm.

I put mine in the refrigerator to harden.

And there you have it. They were pretty good for a first attempt, but next time I would have to try it with the melted chocolate bark instead of chips. The melted chips didn’t solidify as much as I hoped it would, and I don’t know if it’s because I used chips instead of bark. You can store these in a freezer bag in the fridge for up to two weeks.