Cake Balls, second time around

Ok, yesterday I said I had been so frustrated over my first attempt at Cake Balls, I was never ever baking or cooking again.

I lied.

Tonight is going to be a salad supper at my knitting group. I made Cake Balls today that turned out much closer to the ideal picture I showed yesterday. Once again, I am not going to name websites because I read many while looking for advice. I took advice from here and there, and some bits of advice appeared in many sites.

I began with a yellow cake mix, baking it in two round layers. I like Duncan Hines.

I broke the cake layers in a large bowl. Anyone recognize the Tupperware bowl?

I broke it up further by using the mixer. Some use their hands, others use forks, and one woman wrote of using her food processor. Whatever works for you is just fine. That isn't butter in the bowl, it is canned frosting, Lemon by Duncan Hines.

When the frosting is well blended into the cake, it will almost look like cookie dough.

I scooped out balls, getting 45 of them again, and rolled them before putting the tray in the freezer. Depending on whose directions you read, you will never put them in the freezer, put them in for less than 5 minutes, put them in for an hour, or you'll put them in overnight. Mine were in for a bit over an hour. This photo shows the back half rolled, the front ones just having been scooped from the bowl.

This time around, I did not use Wilton Candy Melts. Wilton makes many fine products but I am not personally fond of their candy melts. When someone else mentioned this, I decided to try Kroger's brand as that was convenient. I melted the chocolate in a double boiler with the addition of a tablespoon or so of shortening to make it flow better. These first few were still looking a little rough, but I got better as I went along.

Since I still had white chocolate in a squeeze bottle from Saturday's attempt, I warmed the bottle in the microwave and added decorative lines to the balls.

They are resting on a sheet of wax paper while I decide how to plate them for tomorrow night's festivities. I'll be making them again next week when our extended family comes here to watch my town's fireworks. I think I will make them pops instead of balls, meaning they will go on lollipop sticks. I'll need to get some styrofoam to hold them while they set.

This looks much better than last week's dipped trio. The yellow cake with lemon frosting is a winning combination and the chocolate exterior makes it even nicer.

If you don't like melting chocolate or the idea intimidates you, the uncoated cake balls are really good as is.

I think pondering cake flavors and frosting combinations is going to be a fun past time.