Happy Valentine’s Day! This is always a fun day in our family, because it’s also Knitting Daughter’s Birthday! (So fun to have a baby born on Valentine’s Day. Paul and I both agree – that was our favorite Valentine’s Day ever.) 🙂 I’m hoping YOU all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, and if you don’t have a special Valentine in your life right now, please be our Valentine, because we sure think the world of you around here!
I brought in these Cakeballs to celebrate the Loopy birthdays this week (Lynn’s birthday was earlier this week, too). They are so delicious and are like the ones that Janice’s daughter Kirstin used to make for our Spring Fling. Now you can make your own, if you’re so inclined. Too bad we can’t pop them in orders today. We would if we could!
Delicious Cakeballs
2 cake mixes (can be any flavor. I typically use white for chocolate dipping and chocolate for white dipping.)
1 batch of buttercream (recipe below)
2 lbs. melting chocolate (I like Giradelli)
Bake both cakes as directed, in 9 x 13 pans. Mix up buttercream recipe while the cakes are baking.
Let the cakes cool and then scoop them out of the pans and crumble them up. (You’ll have a big bowl full of cake crumbs.) Add about 2/3 of the buttercream to the cake crumbs and mix well. You should end up with a mixture that resembles the consistency of cookie dough, but maybe a slight bit dryer. It should stick together when you scoop it and roll it into a ball. If it seems a little dry, add a little more frosting. Make the balls about two-bite size. Smaller than a golf ball. Lay them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to harden up a little. (No longer than that, or they get too cold and you risk having the chocolate shell crack after you’ve dipped them.)
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Plop each cake ball into the chocolate and fish it out by scooping under it with a fork. (I then tap the fork on the side of the pan to let the excess chocolate drip off.) Slide the chocolate covered cakeball onto a piece of waxed paper to dry. Drizzle a different color of melting chocolate across the top. (It’s easy – I stick a fork in the other melted chocolate and swing it over the top of the cakeballs. Makes a mess on the waxed paper, but looks nice on the cakeballs!)
Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
The Best Buttercream (from easy-cake-ideas.com)
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, cut into 1/2″ slices
1 1/8 cup shortening (not butter flavored)
With whisk attachment on your mixer, mix the sugar, salt, vanilla and milk at a low speed until it’s smooth. Add in the butter, one slice at a time, until mixed. Add the shortening and then whip at the highest speed for 10-12 minutes, until almost doubled in volume.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!
Sheri whomighthaveeatenafewtoomanycakeballswhilemakingthem
Wow Sheri – it’s just about lunchtime so I think I should get something to eat before I start licking my computer screen! lol Those cakeballs look awesome 😉
Love that Loopy – Happy Valentine’s Day all around. xoxo
Happy Birthday to Knitting Daughter!!
I had my first and only cakeballs at a Spring Fling and I am delighted to have the recipe. Do I assume correctly that I could cut all the ingredients in half and make half a batch (i.e. use one cake mix)?
Hi Julie! Sure, you could. It just gets a little trickier with the buttercream recipe. Also, when you crumb up the cake and mix it with frosting, it really does go down in volume. But one cake still probably makes about 40 – 45 cakeballs.
This is a recipie I will have to try….Grandson loves these at the large coffee shop chain. Also my two grandson’s have holiday birthdays. The oldest one 22 years old was born on Halloween. The youngest one 9 years old, on Christmas Eve. Both have been fun to celebrate on holidays.
They look perfect Sheri!!!! And just an FYI – The buttercream freezes beautifully, so make a batch (or a double batch) and have it on hand for whenever you need it!!
Oh – good to know you can freeze it, too. (Coming from someone who has made hundreds and hundreds of cakeballs with buttercream.) Thanks, Janice!!
Happy, Happy Birthday to Knitting Daughter! She is such a joy!
Those cake balls look so yummy!
Happy Valentines Day to you all!
Happy birthday, Julia! I have very find memories of eating your delicious cakeballs at Flings past.
Happy Valentines. Loopy , Sheri and Elves! I can’t wait to try the cake balls. Thanks for the receipe.
Happy Birthday to knitting daughter!
Daniel’s 12th birthday is on Wednesday!!! Yay!
I am going to try those cake balls! I ordered some chocolate covered strawberries and Lovebug pops for Dan and Daniel’s valentine from Shari’s Berries— so good and pretty! I wish I could insert a picture for you all to see! Otherwise, go onto the website- sharisberries.com. Yummo!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day a day late! Work always seems to interfere! Thank you for the recipe. I remember them from past Flings. I know my grands will love them as much as I did
Happy Birthday to Knitting Daughter! I found out I was pregnant with The Kid 24 years ago, so Valentine’s is pretty special for our family too.
Happy Valentine’s!