Peppermint Frost Cake Balls - November 2011

I made these peppermint cake balls for a cookie/treat exchange that my mom was hosting.

My mom was over while I was making them and she mentioned something about peppermint frost, I thought it was cute, so I named the recipe Peppermint Frost Cake Balls.  :)

(I followed the basic recipe and process for making cake balls from Bakerella's website found here; I just changed it how I needed to make it work for my peppermint cake ball recipe.) 

To make them you will need:
-1 box classic white cake mix (cook as directed on the box for a 13x9 cake)
-1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
-1 package chocolate flavored almond bark
-peppermint candies
-red food coloring
-wax paper or parchment paper

1. After the cake is cooked and cooled completely, break it in pieces into a large bowl.  You can use a fork to help get it broken up.

2. Start out by mixing ¾ of your frosting thoroughly with your cake crumbs.  I use a big metal spoon to smush it all together.  Roll one ball to test, then decide if you need to add more frosting.  [It should be moist and stay together, but you don’t want it to be gloppy.]  Some people use their fingers to mix it together, but it gets messy.

3. Get about 8-10 peppermint candies and crush them into a fine powder [you’ll have some bigger pieces which you can use later to top the cake balls.]

4. Mix the peppermint powder into your cake ball mixture to taste.

5. Divide the cake ball mixture into 2 bowls.  Add the red food coloring to one bowl until you reach the desired shade you want.

6. Take equal parts of the mixture from each bowl, roll it into quarter size balls, and lay on cookie sheet [I line mine with wax paper or parchment paper].  [This recipe should make 50-60 cake balls depending on the size you roll them.]

They will look something like this.  :)

7. Chill them for several hours. [You can speed this up by putting them in the freezer – that’s what I usually do. :)]

8. Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave according to the directions on the package.  [I only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken, and it’s easier to work with when it’s hot.]

9. Put one cake ball at a time in the chocolate.  [Use a spoon to cover the top of the cake ball and then get it on the spoon and tap off the extra chocolate.]

10. Lay it on wax or parchment paper and top immediately with your crushed peppermint.  Then wait until they are firm.  If your chocolate gets firm before you top it with the peppermint you can put a little of the chocolate on the top and put the peppermint on, it just won't have as smooth as a look to it.

Since I was making these for an exchange I plated a 1/2 dozen cake balls each on cute red square plates with a peppermint in the middle and wrapped the plate with plastic wrap.

Here are a couple pictures of the inside too!  Yummy!  :)

I had fun making these peppermint cake balls!  I thought they were cute, and they tasted yummy!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

 

Parties I've Linked This Post to:

Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop - Homemaker on a Dime

Made by You Monday - Skip to My Lou

Just Something I Whipped Up - Project Inspire

Show Me What You Got - Our Delightful Home

Tuesday To Do - The Blackberry Vine

Whatever Goes Wednesday - Someday Crafts
Christmas Catergorically Crafting - Someday Crafts

What I Whipped Up Wednesday - Sugar and Dots

{wow me} wedneday - Ginger Snap Crafts

Cast Party Wednesday - Lady Behind the Curtain
Sweet Treats & Swanky Stuff Saturday- Something Swanky
Strut Your Stuff - Somewhat Simple

My Little Pony Rainbow Cakes Featured!

The My Little Pony 3D Rainbow cakes that I made for my daughter, Cara's, 5th birthday were featured at Lady Behind the Curtain's Cast Party Wednesday!

 

Every Wednesday Sheryl at Lady Behind the Curtain hosts a link party called Cast Party Wednesday.  You can link up any of your recipes for others to browse through, and while you're there you can also visit other people's delicious creations they've added to the party.  The following week she lists her menu round up which consists of different menus she's put together from some of the recipes linked up the previous week.  Recently I linked the My Little Pony rainbow cakes I made and was thrilled to see that they were featured on one of the menus the following week.  Thanks, Sheryl!  :)  Here is a link to Sheryl's post that includes the feature (there are other yummy recipes featured too, not to mention all the cute ideas and yummy things she makes and posts on her blog ), and here is the link to my original post on the cakes.

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Utini!... a Jawa Cake - November 2011

I made this Jawa cake for my daughter, Carissa, for her 7th birthday.

More details and pictures to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about this cake, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about this cake by clicking the comments link at the end of this post.  :)]

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Jawa Cupcakes - November 2011

I made these Jawa cupcakes for my daughter, Carissa, to share with her 1st grade class at school to celebrate her birthday.

The majority of these Jawa cupcakes were made using regular round cupcakes, but I did make one with a square cupcake (the first picture below) and one with a heart cupcake (the second picture below).

More details to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about these cupcakes, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about these cupcakes by clicking the comments link at the end of this post.  :)]

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Pop!... Pop! Pop! - October 2011

I made this cake of a giant bucket of popcorn for my popcorn loving husband, Ronnie, for his birthday.  He really likes popcorn.  :)

More pictures and details to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about this cake, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about this cake by clicking the comments link at the end of this post.  :)]  

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Cake Assist: Bowling Cake with Rice Krispies Treat Bowling Ball - October 2011

My mom was making a cake for some ladies in a bowling league that she was participating in, and she asked me to help her cover the rice krispies treat bowling ball with fondant.

More pictures and details to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about this cake, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about this cake by clicking the comments link at the end of this post.  :)]

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Little Monster Cake Balls - September 2011

I was invited to participate as a guest blogger in a Halloween Event on Doodles and Doilies, but up to that point I had never made any Halloween goodies.  So, I decided to make these Little Monster cake balls for the event [and for us to eat later :)].

These are just made using the basic cake ball recipe, then decorated various ways.  To make the actual cake ball I just followed the recipe found on Bakerella's website [yay, Bakerella :) ], which you can find here.  (You'll also find instructions and tips on coating them with the chocolate.)

For these cake balls I actually used some extra cake and icing I had leftover from making a cake for my brother-in-law's birthday (see post Take Me Out to the Ball Game...).  To decorate them I used candy corn and pumpkins from the Brach's Autumn Mix, candy eyeballs from Wilton (so cute), chocolate almond bark (or you could use candy melts), and buttercream icing tinted various colors with food coloring.  I used toothpicks to make the mouths on my monsters.

yum...

After you get your cake and icing all smushed up to a good consistency you'll want to roll and shape the cake balls.  Think about if you want all the monsters to be the same size or if you want some to be different sizes or a special shape.  (After you shape them you'll want to put them in the fridge for a few hours or you can speed things up by putting them in the freezer.)

Here are the different shaped cake balls that I made before they were decorated.

Now that they're ready you can let your imagination go and have fun decorating your monsters!

For the chocolate covered monsters you can either have everything ready (candy corn, eyes, etc) to try to adhere to your monster before the chocolate sets or you can use a little of the melted chocolate to stick everything onto the hardened chocolate.  This time I did the latter, with a few exceptions.  For the monster with brown feet I put the candy corn in before it was dipped in the chocolate, and for the one with the yellow feet I stuck them in immediately after dipping it in the chocolate before it had a chance to harden.  The tall, gloppy, chocolate monster didn't get dipped, but instead I dripped the chocolate over it to give it... well... a drippy look.  :)  After I got the things stuck on I used a grass tip to pipe on any hair or fur.

Here is one of my family's favorites as it was made that had the chocolate covering on it.

Now if I were going to make these again I would add the mouths after I dipped them just before the chocolate was set instead of later in the decorating process, but if you forget or decide you want to add one later you shouldn't have a problem.

For the monsters covered in buttercream icing I used my grass tip again to get that furry look.  When I started covering these monsters I picked the cake ball up and piped my icing around the bottom in a couple of rows first, then I set it down on the parchment paper to finish piping the rest of the fur on it.  The only exceptions to that were the monsters with the long fur that goes all the way down.  That was piped on from top to bottom in long strands.   You'll want to try to have your eyes and other decorations ready to put on before your icing sets so they stick, but also so it doesn't crack or crumble your icing when you push them into it.  Most of the candy corn I used whole, but for some monsters I experimented with cutting it depending on the look I wanted.  Make sure you let your icing set well before you pick up or move your monsters (you may even want to put them in the fridge to help it set some).  I found using a thin spatula to get under the monster and lift it up helped minimize damage from finger indentations, etc.

Here is one of my family's favorites as it was made that was covered using the buttercream icing.  I used a toothpick to shape the mouth before I put the teeth on.  The teeth, by the way, are tips of candy corn cut in half.  :)

My son nicknamed this one Tricker-Treater Pumpkin Eater!  :)

I would imagine these would work as cake pops too (I've not yet made any cake pops).  You may just have to watch the size some since these tend to be a bit heavy, you'd want to make sure they stay on the stick.  (You can also find instructions for cake pops on Bakerella's site here.)

All kinds of happy little monsters!  :)  Is that a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater?... I think it would be the one getting eaten though.  :)

The top one above kind of reminded us of a turkey, the kids called the middle one Yoda, and then there's my nod to a cute two headed monster I used to watch on Sesame Street.  :)

If you're like me, you may find it helpful to sketch out some monsters before you start to get an idea of what you want them to look like and to know what you'll need to make them.  It's by no means necessary though, some people work better being spontaneous.  :)

To make our little pumpkin patch I used some crumbled cookies for dirt and some of the pumpkins from the Brach's mix.  It made a great place for our monsters to hang out.  :)

Some artificial fall leaves give it a nice touch too.

I had a lot of fun making these little monsters and thought they turned out really cute!  We all had a good time eating them up too!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

 

 

Parties I've linked this post to:

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop - Homemaker on a Dime

Made by You Monday - Skip to My Lou

Just Something I Whipped Up - The Girl Creative

Tuesday To Do - The Blackberry Vine

Whatever Goes Wednesday - Someday Crafts

What I Whipped Up Wednesday - Sugar and Dots

Strut Your Stuff - Somewhat Simple

Sweet Treats & Swanky Stuff Thursday - Something Swanky

Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday - Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons

For the Kids Friday - Sun Scholars

Show Me What You Got - Our Delightful Home

Halloween Categorically Crafting - Someday Crafts