Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Cake Balls?

I made this new recipe for our 4th of July party. I have seen recipes over the past few months for Red Velvet cake dipped into some sort of white chocolate that hardens. Mary has one on her blog, Kelly Korner's has one and I even saw one on allrecipes.com.

They looked really good and seemed kind of easy (except Mary's, hers were homemade!) and I thought how festive they would be for the 4th of July.

Well, I thought they were horrible! They were a pain to make, I didn't like the way they looked and I could barely eat one bite. I almost threw them out because I was embarrassed to take them to a party and say I made them. Our friend Jeremy tasted one for me and he said they were good and I should bring them. So, I didn't throw them out and actually people did seem to enjoy them. Our friend Allen actually really liked them as he had 4 or 5!

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos because I was not planning on posting them here because I didn't like them. But I've decided to write about my experience and add my two cents if you try to make these in the future.

One thing I learned is that I don't like Red Velvet cake! Ha! It doesn't have a flavor - tastes like...nothing! I also learned that people raised in the south LOVE Red Velvet cake - hence why I think a few people at the party liked them.

Here's what I did:
Ingredients:
1 box Red Velvet cake mix
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 package white almond bark
wax paper

Directions:
Bake cake according to directions on the box. Allow to cool for a few minutes until cool enough to handle. Crumble cake into little pieces in a large bowl. When cake is completely crumbled add all of the frosting. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Using a melon baller or a cookie scoop, roll cake into balls and place on a plate. Place cake balls in the freezer until frozen solid - 2 hours or over night. Melt almond bark according to directions on package. Place wax paper on a cookie sheet. Use toothpicks to dip the cake balls into the almond bark and place on cookie sheet. Once hardened, transfer to a platter. Keep cold until serving.

My suggestions after making these:
Don't use Red Velvet cake unless you like it! :) I think chocolate would be much better. Maybe a yellow cake mix with chocolate almond bark. I liked the cream cheese frosting but a half a can might have been enough. I felt these were too moist - like I was eating raw cake batter. (Well, not quite, but you get the idea.) I also thought dipping them was a pain - using an egg separator would have been much easier. I tried finding one before I made this but the grocery stores I went to did not have one. I also felt the white almond bark was a pain to work with. I think the chocolate would be more forgiving - the white ended up looking pink and would show imperfections easily.

I will try these again but use a different combination. Maybe chocolate with chocolate. Who knows. Stay tuned!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry you had trouble with these! We enjoyed them and thought they were fun, though maybe more trouble than they were worth. Better luck next time!

But, before you knock red velvet cake TOO much, you should really taste a homemade version sometime. I have never had it from a box, but I think part of what gives it flavor and richness is the buttermilk (and also some cocoa of course), and I can imagine that might not work out too well in a cake. Also, the contrast between the moist cake and the cream cheese frosting works better in the real cake version than the balls. Sorry to write such a long comment, but I've got to stand up for my very favorite cake!! (And yes, I'm from the South.) :-)

Stefanie said...

Hey Mary! You are probably right - homemade cake would have been better.

Maybe the next time you are in NC you will have time to bake one for me so I know what it's supposed to taste like! :)