Cake Balls Recipe

Dense, moist, sweet, and utterly addictive, this is the ultimate tutorial on all things Cake Balls! Perfect for Holidays, events, or just because!

Baked cake crumbled and mixed with just the right amount of frosting is then rolled into balls and coated in chocolate. Ooo-la-la! That process right there makes the most delicious dessert, Cake Balls! You’re basically getting a small portion of a cake in ball form. And the best part about it is that they can be decorated in a variety of ways and made with any flavor of cake! Plus with my expertise, you’ll be making perfect homemade cake balls in no time! Let’s get started:

Make cake mix according to package directions. Depending on which brand of cake mix you use, you may need to change the measurements for eggs, oil, and water. Allow baked cake to cool completely.

How To Make: Coconut Cake Balls

Mix in cream cheese, frosting, and cocoa powder. The mixture should be moist and stick together easily. If the dough is too dry, add in more frosting a tablespoon at a time.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and using a cookie scoop, scoop cake balls onto the baking sheet. Roll each ball with your hands. If the dough sticks to your hands, you’ll need to wash them occasionally.

Microwave milk chocolate wafers in a microwave-safe bowl. Start out with 30 seconds, stir, and then melt at 20-second increments until melted. Be careful not to overcook the chocolate or it’ll seize up!

How To Make Cake Balls

Tip: Work in small batches! Pour ⅓ of the bag of chocolate in the bowl and then once it’s used up, make another ⅓ of the bag.

If the chocolate is too thick, you can add a tiny amount of coconut oil to thin it out, just be careful not to add too much because the chocolate won’t set! You can also use Crisco shortening.

Once the chocolate is melted and the cake balls are frozen, you’re ready to dip. Place a cake ball onto a fork and dip. You can use a spoon to scoop up chocolate and pour it over the cake ball if needed. When the cake ball is covered, gently tap the fork to let any extra chocolate drop off.

Surprise Rainbow Cake Pops

Melt the white chocolate wafers the same way you melted the other chocolate. Place in a plastic Ziploc bag (careful, it can be hot!) and move the chocolate to one corner of the bag. Snip a tiny section of the opposite corner off and drizzle the top of the cake balls! Cool completely then enjoy!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can customize it to create many different flavor combinations! If you are making a variation of this recipe (using a different flavor of cake mix) leave out the cream cheese and cocoa powder. You may need to add more frosting to get the right consistency. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Now that we have the flavors out of the way we can decide how to decorate your cake balls! There are a lot of options out there, so when in doubt, keep it simple.

Easy Cake Ball Recipe

If you wanted to make cake balls ahead of time you could! The dough should last in the fridge for a couple of days. Or you can roll them out and freeze them for up to three months… just remember to thaw before dipping!

If you are making a variation of this recipe (using a different flavor of cake mix) leave out the cream cheese and cocoa powder. You may need to add more frosting to get the right consistency.

Calories: 182 kcal Carbohydrates: 21 g Protein: 2 g Fat: 11 g Saturated Fat: 7 g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g Monounsaturated Fat: 3 g Trans Fat: 1 g Cholesterol: 8 mg Sodium: 112 mg Potassium: 61 mg Fiber: 1 g Sugar: 16 g Vitamin A: 79 IU Vitamin C: 1 mg Calcium: 46 mg Iron: 1 mgHow was your weekend? We spent most of it celebrating my friend’s birthday. I made a whole mess of treats including chocolate zucchini cake (as cupcakes), these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies, and these peanut butter M&M cookies too—it’s been way too long since I made a batch of those in particular! The birthday girl loves chocolate and peanut butter and caramel so these 3 were a no brainer.

How To Make Cake Pops Or Cake Balls Three Ways

There’s no batter time (get it? batter?) than a happy occasion to indulge in your favorite treats whether that’s a birthday, shower, wedding, you name it. My mom and sisters threw my baby shower last month and one of the treats they surprised me with was a HUGE display of cake pops. I love cake pops, but hardly ever take the time to make them. Though I did whip up a batch for both of my sisters’ bridal showers in the past few years.

The difference between these cake pops and others you may have tried is that these are 100% homemade. There’s no box cake mix or canned frosting, which results in a totally unique cake pop experience. You can actually TASTE the homemade. The love, the passion, and the care that goes into creating each adorable pop.

So anyway! I first began making homemade cake pops when I wroteSally’s Candy Addiction. In fact, this recipe is published in the book! I want to share it on the blog as well because I’ve gotten lots of questions about making from-scratch cake pops.

Dark Chocolate Cake Truffles

Today we’ll go over all my tips, tricks, and secrets to crafting the peeeeerfect pop as well as the homemade vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream used inside. There’s lots of ground to cover so let’s pop right to it. (Can’t stop with my nerdiness right now.)

Since we’re leaving the box cake mix and canned frosting on the store shelves, we’ll need to take a little extra time to prep both from scratch. I always make the cake the night before, then finish the cake pops the next day. Here’s the general process:

Super basic recipes for both the vanilla cake and frosting, but I do encourage you to use the correct size pan for the cake. This cake is too large for a typical 9-inch cake pan. You’ll need to use a 9-inch springform pan since it rises quite high. Or you can use an 11×7-inch pan instead. A 10-inch springform pan would work as well.

Strawberry Cake Balls

Cake ingredients are straightforward. The basic crew like flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, milk. Same goes with the vanilla frosting: butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, milk (or cream). The difference between this and what you get out of a box is the taste. You can totally tell these cake pops are special and it’s because you started with from-scratch components. WORTH IT!

(Crumbling the cake into the frosting sounds super weird when you think about it and that’s exactly what cake pops are—super weird when you think about it. It’s cake and frosting mixed together to form a truffle-like ball. Pop a stick in it and dunk into coating. Yep, it’s weirdly delicious and awesome and you need to embrace it.)

It’s easier to roll the cake + frosting mixture into perfectly round balls if it’s cold. And what I do is roll the balls up right after the two are mixed together. They’re pretty misshapen because the cake + frosting mixture is super moist—and at room temperature. So then I chill the balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. After that, I give them another little roll to smooth out the sides. When they’re cold, they’re easier to smooth out and form perfectly round shapes.

Cake Balls Recipe

Just like when we make Oreo balls, the cake balls need to be super chilled before dipping, so this trick gets both steps done!

Now let’s dunk. You can dip the cake balls into pure white chocolate, which is what I prefer for best taste, but that stuff is pretty expensive. And you need a good amount for all 40 cake pops! You can use candy melts/candy coating instead. I give both options in the recipe below along with notes for each choice.

Another trick: to ensure the cake ball stays secure on the lollipop stick, dip it slightly into the coating first. Then stick in the center of the cake ball. See photo above!

Cake Balls Recipe: How To Make It

And another trick: the best way to allow the coating to dry and set—without ruining the perfectly round cake pop—is to place them right side up in a large styrofoam block or even a box. I used a box, as pictured below, for this batch. I just poked super tiny holes into it. Easy and cheap.

Cake pops are a genius celebration-worthy treat to make ahead of time because they freeze beautifully. I simply freeze them in a large zipped-top freezer bag after they’ve fully dried. They’re great for up to 6 weeks, then just let them thaw overnight in the fridge.

I have a few more tips for ya! I went over these in Sally’s Candy Addiction because they’re pretty important to review before you get started.

Strawberry No Bake Cake Balls Recipe

Sally McKenney is a professional food photographer, cookbook author, and baker. Her kitchen-tested recipes and thorough step-by-step tutorials give