Chocolate Cake Balls

Because I think I am cooler than I actually am, I like to say that "I'm not really one for food fads." I like to eat things that taste good to me and as a person of infamous bad taste, my preferences usually do not fall in line with anything considered trend-setting. But then I'd been seeing these "cake balls" in a few places. To be honest, I kinda assumed that they would be gross. Then my cousin Jessica brought a plate over to my parents' house a few weeks ago and I ate one. Then I ate about 14 more. They were SO good. So very very good. My mom made it her life's mission to recreate this phenomenon as soon as possible. That happened to be last weekend wen we were home together. These little balls are so inexpensive and easy to make and they are so cute and delicious that they would make a great dessert to bring for a potluck party, picnic, or buffet of any kind. One box of cake will make a very large quantity of cake balls so this isn't really a dessert-for-two type of thing. Word of warning: They are addictive. You will not be able to eat just one.

Chocolate Cake Balls
Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix (along with eggs, oil, water - or whatever the mix calls for)
1 can chocolate frosting
2 bars Hersey Milk Chocolate
Toppings (I used sprinkles, course salt, and cinnamon)

1. Bake the chocolate cake according to the box instructions. Allow to cool and dump the whole cake into a large bowl.

2.  With a spoon (or your hands) crumble up the cake.

3.  Add a whole can of chocolate frosting and mix that in with a spoon.

Now you will have your "cake ball" batter.

3.   We used a little scoop and scooped out a bunch of little balls.  Place them on a lined sheet and put this in the freezer.

4.  Break up the chocolate in a microwave safe dish.

Melt in the microwave for 1 minute until smooth.

5.  Take your fully frozen cake balls and dip them in the chocolate.  This is messy business, but it is worth it.  Immediately after you dip each ball, place them on another lined baking sheet and sprinkle them with your topping.  I used sprinkles, cinnamon and course salt.  I thought the course salt was particularity delicious.

Since the balls are so cold, the chocolate will harden quite quickly so you do want to put your topping on right after you do each ball, rather than to wait until you've dipped all of the balls.

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