05 Dec Peppermint Mocha Cake Balls
I have been slacking big time on the blog front. The holidays have been keeping me busy but they have also been keeping my life fairly predictable and uninteresting.
My last few weeks have been spent eating ungodly amounts of food and spending ungodly amounts of money on Christmas gifts and New Years travel (San Francisco, I can’t wait!). Fortunately for my manfriend, living at home allowed me to put a little extra into his Christmas present fund. I was able to pin down an awesome deal on Cyber Monday and bought him a super awesome manly man toy. -pats herself on the back-
I think I deserve a Girlfriend of the Year Award. Or at least something sparkly. After all, shopping for man gifts is hard work! And the men in my life are no help at all. Holiday Wishlist conversations usually go something like this:
Me: “Hey Hun, is there anything you want for Christmas? Something you’ve got your eye on? Anything? Anything at all?”
Typical Male Response: “Uhhh I dunno.”
Women don’t have this problem. Somehow, somewhere along the timeline of evolution, a love for shopping was coded into our DNA and there is a special part of our brain reserved just for wishlists. Why can’t men be more like us?
My wishlist this year includes a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Santa don’t let me down!!
Since Holiday shopping is so tough, it’s important to keep your energy up with delicious Christmas-sy treats, like Peppermint Mocha Cake Balls!
Peppermint Mocha Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cup brewed coffee, strong
1 packet instant coffee (such as Starbucks Via)
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13×9 sheet pan
2. Make cake mix according to package instructions, substituting coffee for water
3. Add peppermint extract and instant coffee and blend until well combined
4. Bake according to package instructions 25-30 minutes
While your cake is cooling make some….
Cream Cheese Icing
4oz Cream Cheese (1/2 8oz block), softened
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), softened
1-1.5 cups powdered sugar
1. Cream butter and sugar until well blended and fluffy
2. Add in powdered sugar until icing reaches desired sweetness. Since the icing will be used in cake balls, consistency is not important.
Note: I typically make cake ball icing less sweet than normal butter cream because the candy coating adds a good amount of sweetness.
Cake Ball Assembly
You will need:
2 packages chocolate candy coating (also called Almond Bark)
1 package white candy coating
Christmas sprinkles or decorations or your choice
1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.
2. Use fork to shred cake into crumbs. You can do this either in the pan it was baked in or in a large bowl.
3. Add the 1/2 the cream cheese icing and mix thoroughly with crumbled cake. Test your “dough” to see if it is sticky enough to form a ball without crumbling. Add more icing if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (you could also do this the night before) – it will make it easier to roll into balls.
4. Using your hands, roll cake mixture into 1 inch balls. Place on lined baking sheet. When done, place baking sheet in freezer and let cakeballs chill for 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.
5. While cake balls are chilling, microwave 1/2 a package of chocolate candy bark in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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:
Use chocolate candy bark or dye vanilla candy bark using oil based food coloring 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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