Leftover Makeover - Cake Balls

Earlier this month, I baked a buttermilk pound cake in order to use a bunch of buttermilk I had leftover from making pancakes and ended up with way more cake than I bargained for. Since pound cake tends to keep quite well, I decided to double wrap the leftovers in plastic wrap and foil until I could decide what to do with it.

This morning, I found myself looking at a picture of chocolate covered bonbons and had an epiphany. I could make cake balls! For the uninitiated, cake balls are simply cake crumbs, held together by frosting and dipped in candy coating. It's like a kid's birthday party in a bonbon. They're a great way to use leftover cake that may not have been ready for its closeup.

Here's some naked cake balls -- all formed and ready to be chilled again before being coated in chocolate...

I cheated and used canned frosting but you could probably use your favorite homemade recipe that holds it shape but doesn't get rock hard when refrigerated.

Michelle's Cake Balls
Adapted from this recipe from All Recipes

• Cake (any flavor, any size)
• Frosting (any flavor)
• 12 oz bag of chocolate chips

Crumble cake in a bowl
Add frosting and mix with crumbled cake until it is the consistency of cookie dough
Let cake and frosting mix chill for 1 ~ 2 hours
Shape about 2 T portions into balls and place on wax paper
Freeze balls for about 2 hours until firm
Melt chocolate in double boiler
Dip frozen cake balls in chocolate until well coated and place on a wax paper surface.
Refrigerate dipped cake balls for 1 ~ 2 hours until the chocolate is firm and the cake is no longer frozen.

Best enjoyed with a glass of milk or coffee ;)

This recipe is totally simple and oh so customizable. For these cake balls, I used my buttermilk pound cake and white frosting with chocolate but other awesome combinations would be german chocolate cake and coconut frosting with white chocolate coating or maybe red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting with a white chocolate coating.

My original plan was to do this for a Halloween party. I was going to tint the cake/frosting mixture with some orange candy dye and sprinkle Halloween colored jimmies on the still wet coated cake balls. Alas, I was too lazy to go to the craft store for the specialty ingredients I would have needed. No big loss; it tastes just as good!

I found that using a scoop (I have one that is approximately 2 T) really helps to portion these cake balls. This dessert is REALLY rich so you only need a relatively small ball. Chilling and using latex gloves also helps keep the mess factor down since this is REALLY sticky with all the but I'm sure kids would love to help shape the balls if they were willing.

Double Trouble Brownies

Even though I'm a gestational diabetic, I can't help but make desserts whenever the fancy strikes. Here's my Double Trouble Brownie -- a dark chocolate brownie, studded with white chocolate chips and topped with a velvety dark chocolate ganache. These are very rich. My husband could only eat 1/2 of his; I could only eat 1/4! These would be excellent with a good strong cup of coffee. Enjoy!

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Brownies
6oz bittersweet (70% cacao) chocolate, chopped
6oz unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 c flour
1 T kahlua
6oz white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir in sugar and incorporate eggs one at a time. Add kahlua and then stir in flour. Once the flour has been incorporated, stir in white chocolate chips.

Spread in a 9x13 pan, lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes and cool completely.

Ganache Topping
8oz bittersweet (70% cacao) chocolate, chopped
8oz heavy cream
1 T kahlua

Heat heavy cream and pour over chopped chocolate. Let stand for two minutes and then carefully stir the cream and chocolate together. Once incorporated and smooth, stir in kahlua.

Let ganache cool to near room temperature and then pour over cooled brownies, spreading evenly. Place brownies in refrigerator for 1 hour to set topping. Remove from refrigerator and score/cut brownies into 3x3 squares while still cold. Bring brownies to room temperature for maximum yummy before eating.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Bastardized from... um, I mean inspired by David Lebovitz's Dulce de Leche Brownie recipe and Cooking for Engineer's brownie recipe

• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 6 oz butter, unsalted (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c flour
• 1 c dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 325F and butter and flour/cocoa an 8x8 brownie pan.

Beat eggs and vanilla together. Set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate slowly in a double boiler. Once the butter and chocolate have melted together and are mixed together nicely, take off the heat. Mix in the sugar and then the egg mixture. Once that has been full mixed and incorporated, fold in the flour to form a thick batter.

Spoon 1/2 of the brownie batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon half the dulce de leche in blobs onto the brownie batter. Swirl with a skewer or knife. Spoon the rest of the brownie batter and repeat the process with spooning the dulce and swirling with a knife.

Bake for 35 ~ 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool on a wire rack completely before cutting into 2x2 squares.

Makes 16 brownies

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The original Cooking for Engineers brownie recipe called for 1.5 c of sugar which I reduced to 1 c. I thought that the dulce de leche would add enough sweetness to the batter and I was right. The still slightly bitter dark chocolate is well offset by the dulce de leche. Any more sugar and it would have been far too sweet.

My dulce de leche had been made ahead of time and I had taken it from the refrigerator. As I suspected, it was pretty blobbish and unspreadable. That was easily rectified by warming gently in a double boiler. I also thinned it out with just a splash of milk which made it easy to make it the same consistency as the batter.

I love the dual layer of dulce de leche in the brownies from the two swirled layers. It's nice to have dulce de leche both in the middle of the brownie and the top of the brownie. But I think I will make it in an 11 x 13 pan next time. Although I like the 2x2 size of the the brownies, they are much too thick for me and I think it would be better if they were thinner and larger (closer to 3x3) to really showcase the dulce de leche.

This is brownie is really rich and really needs milk to help offset its decadence. Oh and it's even better the second day. If they last that long ;) If you refrigerate your brownies to prolong the love, make sure to let it sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving. It tastes much better at room temperature.