Cakeballs III

Well, here we go again....Cakeballs III. I had to try these again after my hasty words night before last. If you remember, I was really "down" on the concept until I ran into a friend in the hall at school and she set me straight! I was using the wrong ingredients for the treats. So after work, I trudged to the grocery store and bought the following:

1. Carrot Cake Mix

2. 8 oz. Cream Cheese (replaced the icing in the first try)

3. Pecan pieces (instead of sprinkles)

Here are the adjustments from the first Cakeball fiasco. Read about Cakeball I here.

I followed the directions on the cake mix and baked the cake in a 9x13 pan. I let the cake cool slightly and then I really "crumbed" it up...last time, I had big lumps of cake which led to lumpy cakeballs.

This time around, my crumbs were very fine. And this time, instead of using canned icing as the binding agent, I used cream cheese. I wore gloves and really worked the cream cheese into the cake crumbs. The result was a play dough-like consistency rather than a dry ball. I rolled the dough into nice neat balls. Also this time I used all the cake except the pieces around the edge which were a little dry. Last time I only used 3/4 of the cake.

Into the freezer they went.

After about an hour, I skipped the sucker sticks and dipped the ball directly into melted almond bark. This time they looked more like truffles. When the bark hit the frozen ball it hardened quickly...that's fine if you aren't adding anything decorative to the top, but if you want to add sprinkles or pecans, you must work quickly.

Look, how pretty. And the taste, you ask? OH, MY!!!

WONDERFUL!!

As a side note: I hate to have to admit that I took the strawberry Cakeballs to work today. My two male library workers will eat almost anything (except pecans) and so I figured I could get rid of the overly sweet treats quickly...which BTW I did! Most people who tried them really liked them...maybe I'm losing my sweet tooth in my old age, I don't know, but they were just too sweet for me.

Now today's result.

Not only are they delicious, they are pretty. Think of the possibilities! Red velvet cake, spice, pumpkin, white with tinted bark....I will not sleep tonight thinking about it.


Why O Why did I jump to conclusions?!! This proves something my daddy has always told me, "If you want to do something WELL, go to an expert for advice!" Why invent the wheel, really?! Thank you, Nichole for setting me straight! I admit it, I'm eating my words....better yet, I'm eating a cakeball in your expert honor right now!!!

May all your cakeballs taste like truffles,