cake balls 101...

I'm no expert, but I have made cake balls a few times now and it seems I am getting better with each attempt...if I do say so myself.  As simple as they are to make, albeit time consuming, they are not so easy to explain to someone who has never made them before.  Better to do a hands on instructional.

 You can bake your cake the night before to cut down on preparation time.  Box mix is fine for this, although I am sure a made from scratch cake would be even better.

I did go by a recipe, so if you are reading this try not to make them by this instructional.  It's simply more of a story than a recipe.

The icing and the cream cheese are blended together to create the "glue" for the cake balls.  After mixing this glue up with the finely crumbled cake, you will end up with the  close consistency of play dough.  That's my description.

 Once you get it all mixed together real good, you just make a ball with your hands and place on cookie sheet to chill while you melt your chocolate coating.

To keep the melted chocolate (almond bark) at a constant temperature, I put the chocolate in a glass which is submerged in a water filled warmer.  It's easy to work with this rather than a two pan double boiler.  Dipping cake balls is something you will have to get the hang of just by doing it.  I used two forks and transfer the ball from one fork to the other to let the excess chocolate fall back into the melting pot.

Once the balls are dipped in the chocolate, you place them on the cookie sheet to harden or set.  We decided to top some of them with coconut before they started to set up.  Mmm good!