21 Sep Mexican Vanilla Cake Balls – Part 2
I just got back from a business trip to Minneapolis. Overall, it was a successful trip, but there are 2 things about me that you should know. I am neither a morning person nor a cold weather person.
In my opinion, people who choose to live anywhere that a jacket is required for more than 4 months of the year are right up there with Hannibal Lecter and Brittney Spears circa 2007.
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–Terrifying right?!
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SOOO You can imagine my excitement when I found out it was foretasted to be a balmy 49 degrees for my arrival in MN. Oh, and did I mention my flight was at 6AM?!
My Tuesday morning went something like this…
3:45 am Alarm goes off…SNOOZE
3:55am Alarm goes off for the second time. I curse whoever invented mornings and drag myself out of bed.
4:18am Arrive at my boss’s house (Yes I like my boss, but seriously I would prefer never to have to see her at 4:30 in the morning.ever.again.)
6am Board the COLDEST plane in the history of airplanes.
PRO: Apparently nobody else wants to fly at the butt crack of dawn either, so I got a row of seats all the myself. Maybe, the sleep gods were looking out for me.
9:30am Wake up to embarrassing photos that my boss has taken of me sleeping on the plane. Yes, she shared them on Facebook.
Anyway, you get the drift. It was rough.
But then I got to go to the Mall of America! And lesbihonest, Nordstrom heals all wounds.
Let’s talk sugar, shall we?
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In my opinion, icing is all about preference. If you like the super sweet stuff that makes you feel like your teeth are going to rot out of your head, add more powdered sugar. If you prefer something a little more toned down, add less. In my kitchen, taste testing is mandatory.
Mexican Vanilla Frosting:
1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter, softened
8oz cream cheese, softened
1.5 tsp Mexican Vanilla
dash of cinnamon (optional)
appx 4c powdered sugar (to taste)
1. Cream butter in large bowl with mixer setting on high, 1-2 minutes.
2. Add cream cheese and vanilla and continue to beat until fluffy, 3 min.
3. Sprinkle in cinnamon. Begin to add in powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments. Continue to add until you reach desired consistency and sweetness.
Tip: If you are making cake balls, I would recommend cutting down the powdered sugar to produce a less sweet icing. The candy coating we will use adds a lot of sweetness! If you plan to ice a cake and your icing is too runny, you can put icing in the refrigerator to thicken.
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Remember that Mexican Vanilla Cake we made? Time to get it back out and make cake balls!
For Mexican Vanilla Cake Balls you’ll need:
2-3 Packages of vanilla candy bark (also called almond bark & candy coating)
1 Mexican Vanilla Cake, prepared
1cup Mexican Vanilla Icing, prepared
Decorations, as desired
Instructions:
1. Use a fork to “shred” the cake into crumbs, like so.
2. Add 1/2 of your icing mixture to the crumbs and mix. You could use a spatula but it’s way more fun if you use your hands.
Continue adding the icing in 1/2 cup increments until it reaches a consistency that is slightly sticky and holds together with out crumbling. It will look like this. (I apologize for my terrible photography, my hands were covered in cake)
3. Put the mixture into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes – it will make it easier to roll into balls.
4. When your “dough” is nice and chilled, roll into 1.5 inch balls and place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment (or wax) paper.
5. Once your sheet it full, place in the freezer for another 30 minutes. This step is optional, but it helps the cake balls keep their shape and prevents crumbs from getting in the candy bark and thus, causing lumpy coating.
6. While you’re waiting on the cake balls to chill, microwave 1/2 a package of candy bark in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.
7. It’s time to dip! Coating cake balls is kind of an art. It takes practice so if your cake balls don’t come out looking perfect don’t worry about it! It took me several tried to develop a successful method. Regardless of what they look like, they’ll still taste magical. Promise.
Place the cake ball into the bowl of melted candy coating and use a spoon the cover with coating. Lift the cake ball out of the coating with a fork and tap against the rim of the bowl to remove excess.
Use a toothpick to gently push the cakeball back on to your cookie sheet. Make sure you push the cake ball from the bottom so you don’t smudge your coating 🙂 Let the coating harden and that’s it!
Suggestions for bedazzling:
- Sprinkle on your decoration of choice while the coating is still wet
- Use chocolate candy bark or dye vanilla candy bark using oil based food coloring (water based will cause the coating to seize up, I learned this the hard way). Pour into a ziploc bag. Cut a tiny piece off the corner and drizzle away! Then of course, add sprinkles or disco dust.
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