More Cake Balls and Disasters

Thanksgiving is coming up, and if all the holiday specials on the Food Network weren't enough of an indication, 'tis the season for delicious food!

Last week I made two different kinds of cake balls: I tried banana again, this time with a dark chocolate coating (not almond bark) and vanilla/candy corn.

The candy corn was interesting, to say the least. Joy and Haley helped me make them, and honestly, I don't think I would've ever tried if they hadn't suggested it. We made a plain ol' vanilla cake but chopped up candy corn pieces when we rolled them into cake balls. Then we tried to melt the candy corn to use as a coating, instead of chocolate.

The first problem was that the melted CC was very thick and difficult for dipping. Honey to the rescue! I suppose corn syrup would've been a good thinner too but we didn't have any of that.

The second problem was that the coating never really hardened. We put them in the freezer and everything but once they were sitting out at room temp, they got all mushy and sticky.

The solution? Coat the balls again in chocolate. The chocolate helped retain the moisture, and the candy corn took on an almost caramel-y texture and taste. The double-layer of candy coating actually turned out well. This is definitely an experiment I want to explore more.

And let me just say that tempering chocolate? It's magical. It's also pretty difficult, and I ended up with a lot of streaky chocolate, but thanks to my friends Hillary (for giving me the directions and confidence to try tempering) and Grant (who loaned me the all-too-important thermometer), I think I did pretty good.

I got some more cake ball requests from my family for Thanksgiving, so I'll try pumpkin or something equally delicious and festive. And Wednesday is the Disaster Party (an excuse to get together with friends and watch horribly corny apocalyptic movies and eat cake) which Hillary & I have been planning for a year, so I'm making the cake for that this afternoon.

So there's my baking update! I'll have lots more to share this week! :)