mmm...

.cakeballs.

I count these as one of my many guilty pleasures… along with:

-Fry sauce

-Sleeping in

-Frozen custard

-Reading an entire novel in one sitting

But, back to the cakeballs.

A relatively newly discovered favorite of the Gale family. We have already passed the recipe along to many friends and neighbors, because they are tantalizing to look at, SO delicious to eat and simple (and fun!) to make. So, if you haven't had/heard of these before, now I am passing it along and doing my small part to make the world a better place by spreading the love (and the love handles).

• Make 1 box of your favorite cake mix (makes about 40-50 cakeballs)
• Let cake cool
• Dump 1 to 1.5 cans of frosting on top
• Mush/smush/ mix all together until all the cake is moistened by the frosting
• Roll into 1 inch balls (may freeze before rolling if it is too soft)

• Melt a cup of candy-making chocolate (the kind you might use to dip fruit in- it hardens as it cools)
• I’ve found that 2 of these usually works for 1 cake
• If it tastes too waxy, add a bar of plain Hershey’s to the melt
• BE CAREFUL
• Chocolate burns extremely easily.
• 30 seconds, stir
• 10 seconds, stir
• 10 seconds, stir
• Until it is all melted and ready for dipping!

(if your chocolate hardens, try a tiny bit of vegetable oil when remixing/reheating it)

• Drop a ball into the chocolate and make sure it is covered
• Use 2 forks to lift it out (the forks help strain off the excess chocolate)
• Sprinkle a few nuts on top, if you wish!
• Place on wax paper or foil to dry

(sometimes, we roll the ball in nuts before putting it into the chocolate. I like it best this way, but it gets the chocolate a little nutty)

Let them dry, and then voila!

You have an amazingly delicious treat that stays fresh for days at room temperature (since the chocolate shell keeps in all the moisture). They are also good refrigerated or frozen!

One of the best things about them is you can be creative and try your own variations.

Here are some yummy ones we’ve tried so far:

Dipped in milk chocolate:

Butter pecan cake, coconut frosting (rolled in pecans)

Devils food cake, chocolate fudge frosting

German chocolate cake, coconut pecan frosting

Yellow cake, cream cheese frosting

Dipped in white chocolate:

Strawberry cake, vanilla frosting

Lemon cake, lemon frosting

Funfetti cake, funfetti frosting

Coconut cake, vanilla frosting (topped with coconut! they looked like snowballs)

Basically, you can mix and match to make your own little bite of heaven.

Enjoy! :)