Cake Balls!

I'm just as guilty as the rest of society by being obsessed with "cute." It has nothing to do with being a mom, it's just a fact. I love cutesy things like puppies and kitties and cupcakes. Even better than cupcakes are what seem to be a fairly recent food craze: cake pops.
I'd never even heard of a cake pop until Starbucks started carrying them. Now I can't get enough of them.
I got a wild hair and decided to make some. I envisioned falling in love with the process and serving them to my friends so they love them (and me) right back. I could almost hear, "You should quit your job and make these full time!" But alas, this is me we're talking about and the dream has all but died.
I got some cool photos, even though I spaced documenting the first few steps.

I used this recipe from Bakerella who wrote a whole cake pop cookbook. Before I go any further, let me clarify the difference between cake pops and cake balls: cake pops have a stick; cake balls do not. I made both.

Freshly rolled balls!



I cannot stress this enough: Use chocolate specifically for candy, not baking chocolate. I made the mistake of using Ghiradelli and I over-heated it. Suffice to say the only liquid in my kitchen that could have coated my red velvet balls were my tears after a massive cake pop-induced meltdown. You can find all of the candy-making accoutrements at your favorite craft store. Google it if you're like me and craft-challenged. (Who knew there was one right down the street?)

And then BAM! Solid chocolate with a side of hysterical crying.

I now have over 50 cake balls and pops. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. I could take them to work but I haven't figured out if my new job is like my old job, where food is consumed no matter what it is or how long it sat out. At the old place, I once took in a pecan pie that was waaaaaay past its prime and it was gone before lunch. 

Aren't they cute?

What the recipe doesn't tell you is that these are really time-consuming. Trying to dip cake into melted chocolate is really tedious, especially when you have a teething toddler literally clawing your legs for attention. I can't see turning this into my full-time dream career anytime soon...at least until L.E. is old enough to make herself useful and help with the dipping.