The Time-Saving Tutorial: How to Make Perfect Cake Balls (No Mess, No Lopsided Shapes, No Bubbles in Your Coating, No Dripping or Melting)

INGREDIENTS

• Cake Mix - and ingredients to bake the cake.
• Candy Melts or Almond Bark - for cake ball coating
• Sprinkles or Decorations
• Shortening
• Cupcake Cups

1. MAKE A CAKE
Make a cake following the mix's instructions from start to finish.

2. CUT THE EDGES OFF
Once the cake has cooled, cut the edges off of the cake while cake is in pan. So basically cut out a cake within your cake. You're not going to use the edges.

3. CUT THE CAKE AND PUT SECTIONS INTO A LARGE BOWL
Cut cake into a few sections and put into large bowl (leaving the edges in the pan.)

4. MIX IN ICING
Mix 1/2 a jar of icing into the bowl of cake "mashing" contents together until you have dough.

5. FREEZE DOUGH
Freeze dough for 15 minutes.

6. ROLL DOUGH INTO BALLS
Roll dough into balls about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter.

7. FREEZE DOUGH BALLS
Freeze dough balls for 15 minutes.

8. MELT COATING FOR CAKE BALLS

• A. Put a couple handfulls of candy melts or almond bark into a microwave safe container. The disposable containers are best for conducting heat and preventing burning and their size is perfect for dipping.
• B. Heat container of candy melts or almond bark on 6 or 7 power for 30 seconds.
• C. Stir container of candy melts or almond bark and reheat for another 30 seconds.
• D. Repeat step C until your coating is almost completely melted. (2 or 3 - 30 second heatings followed by stirrings should be enough to move on to step E.)
• E. Add shortening to thin coating. Just like you would add a pat of butter while cooking, you need to add shortening in pats at a time until you get a feel for how much you need. Stir mixture of candy melts or almond bark and shortening.
• F. Heat for 30 seconds (still on 6 or 7 power).
• G. Stir coating and add more shortening if needed.
• H. Repeat step G until your consistency is adequate for dipping.

(Tasty Cake Pops on YouTube has the best video tutorial on heating candy melts for coating cake balls or cake pops. Her 7 part video series is below.)

9. PREPARE DIPPING STATION
Have cupcake cups sitting on a plate or baking rack as well as any sprinkles or topping you may want to use near your dipping station as you will need to almost immediately put the coated cake ball into the cupcake cup and decorate it.



10. COAT DOUGH BALLS
Use a skewer or lolli stick and insert it very gingerly and not very far into the dough balls before you dip each one so you can dip and spin the dough ball (very carefully so the ball doesn't come off of the stick) in the coating.

11. PUT CAKE BALL INTO CUPCAKE CUP
Hold the coated cake ball over the coating as it drips excess coating for a couple seconds then put coated cake ball into cupcake cup by holding the skewer, cake pop down over the cupcake cup and giving the skewer a little shimmy so the cake ball slides down the stick and right into the cup.

12. COVER HOLE WITH COATING

Cover skewer hole with coating by dipping your skewer into the coating and spooning out some coating then shaking it off of the skewer and into and over the skewer hole in your cake ball.

13. DECORATE
Shake or sprinkle toppings onto the cake ball immediately after filling the skewer hole with warm coating.

14. FREEZE TO SET
Once you've decorated 3 or 4 cake balls you want to get them into the freezer so they set perfectly.

15. PRESENT OR SERVE
Once you've completed your batch and they've all spent at least 10 minutes in the freezer you can move them to the refrigerator or prepare to serve or gift them.