These super yummy treats are so much fun to make and make the perfect gift for the holidays! I wanted to surprise my friends as part of the cookie giveaway by making something other than a cookie. I had some leftover candy canes and melting wafers so thought I'd try making cake balls for the very first time.
I kept it simple by using Hershey's chocolate cake and frosting recipe. I highlighted in red the additions/changes I made to their back of the box recipe. You can use either the regular and/or dark cocoa powder from Hershey's. As much as I love dark chocolate, I didn't want it to be super bitter so I used a mix of both.
Servings: about 90-100 cake balls
Ingredients (Hershey's cake):
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups ap flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp (instead of 2) vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup boiling water
For directions, see the back of the box.
Ingredients (Hershey's frosting):
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup Hershey's dark cocoa
Dash of salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk (you want a slightly runnier consistency)
1 tsp peppermint extract (instead of vanilla)
For directions, see the back of the box.
Ingredients (coating + topping):
1 lb Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
2-3 crushed peppermint candy canes
Directions:
Bake and cool your cake on a wire rack. Once cooled, crumble cake into a large bowl. Add most of your frosting, mix it together with the cake with your hands until you get a cookie dough-like consistency. Add more frosting as needed. You want to make sure that it's wet enough that it will hold it's shape and not crumble. On a piece of parchment paper, scoop batter and roll it into bite-size balls, about 1 tbsp or larger if desired. Freeze for 1 hour. If freezing longer or even days in advance, take them out and leave them at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, otherwise they will be too cold and the melted chocolate will crack. Melt a few oz of the melting wafers according to package instructions, keep melting more as you run out. I like to use a deep bowl and microwave in 30-second increments. One by one, dip your cake balls into the chocolate. Use a fork to help you take it out and remove excess chocolate, or I also like to insert a toothpick (imperfections will be covered by the candy cane). Sprinkle with crushed candy cane before the chocolate has time to harden. Set your cake balls in the fridge for 15 minutes-1 hour, depending on how cold they were when you covered them in chocolate.
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