How To Make Cake Balls Without Chocolate

This Cake Bites recipe is so easy and fool-proof! Featuring “doctored” cake mix, a tub of frosting and candy melts, this fuss-free celebratory dessert recipe requires just 20 minutes of hands-on prep and there’s no special equipment or molds needed! These cake balls are buttery, rich and ultra-moist with a decadent chocolate candy shell! Plus, they’re totally customizable (use your favorite cake flavor, frosting and colors!)!

This recipe for cake balls is perfect for both novices and pros alike. Read on for tips on making and decorating cake balls. Plus, learn how to easily doctor a box of cake mix and get all the tricks for making the entire process stress-free. This simple, step-by-step recipe tutorial for cake balls will transform you into a cake bite master in no time!

This post was originally published in February 2022. I made updates to include more information about making frosting bites with a box of cake mix at home.

Leftover Cake Cake Balls

Hi, friends! I hope you are in the mood for a sweet treat, because today I’m sharing a super-simple recipe for cake balls! This easy recipe (it’s more like a totally customizable, step-by-step, choose your own bite-size cake adventure guide!) uses a simple trick to create cake pops that come out perfect

! These mini cake pops without a stick are the perfect treat for every occasion – from birthdays and holiday parties to potlucks, bake sales, and more!

If you are a dessert lover, I’m sure you’re already closely acquainted with the most adorable baked treats in all the land – cake bites, also known as frosting bites or cake bombs. But, just in case you aren’t familiar with these festively fun treats, they’re basically miniature cakes or cupcakes, with extra-frosting and a chocolate shell! Featuring moist, buttery crumbled cake and rich, creamy frosting all wrapped up in a shatteringly thin, colorful candy shell!

Cake Ball Recipe (step By Step Tutorial)

Decorate the cake balls with colorful sprinkles and you’ve got cake bites! Or pop them on a stick for homemade cake pops! Either which way, everyone goes crazy for these charming, bite-size morsels of cake!

Okay, so what’s so special about this dessert recipe?! EVERYTHING! This cake ball recipe uses a simple secret trick which ensures soft, buttery, ultra-moist cake pops (with the perfect candy shell)

! Whether you are a beginner looking for tips on making cake pops, or a novice seeking tricks to making the process frustration-free, this simple guide covers everything!

Common Cake Pop Issues & Tutorial

A cake bite, also known as cake ball or frosting bite, is a bite-size dessert resembling a truffle ball. These mini confections are made up of a mixture of cake crumbs and frosting, which are formed into small spheres, and covered in a candy coating. Essentially, they’re akin to tiny, extra-frosted, candy-coated cupcakes – lollipop stick optional. There are endless variations and flavor combinations, from Chocolate and Oreo to Funfetti and Vanilla cake bites!

This homemade cake pop recipe totally simplifies the process! By doctoring a simple box of cake mix and using a convenient tub of your favorite frosting, you get all the rich, buttery flavor and moist texture of cake pops made completely from scratch – with just a fraction of the effort or hassle!

It’s a common misconception that the popular coffee-house, Starbucks, invented the cake pop; however, it is in fact Angie Dudley, also known asBakerella, who first introduced cake pops to the world! In 2008, Dudley started a mini-baking-revolution by posting her cake-on-a-stick creation on her blog! It didn’t take long for her bite-size morsels of cake to go viral, triggering both

Easy Vanilla Chocolate Cake Pops (pop Cakes) Without Mold

These mini cakes are incredibly simple to make at home – requiring just a few kitchen and pantry staples, such as store-bought cake mix, a tub of frosting, eggs and oil! Below are all the ingredients you need to make this easy cake bite recipe!

From festive Funfetti Cake Pops to decadent Red Velvet Cake Pops and Easter-appropriate Carrot Cake Pops, the sky is the limit when it comes to making fun cake pop flavors. Below are some of my favorite cake ball ideas:

Expert Tips: For this cake bites recipe, I recommend using box cake mixes with the words “moist” or “supreme” on the label. Also, don’t forget you, can customize your cake truffle balls even more by using your favorite instant pudding flavor and candy melt color(s)! Be sure to use “regular” (not sugar-free) instant pudding for the best results!

Tips For Using Babycakes Cake Pop Maker • Love From The Oven

I’m a firm believer that there is a time and place for everything! While I mostly bake from scratch, I also have zero issues using a box of cake mix if it can help save time,

It doesn’t sacrifice on flavor! And such is the case with cake pops! Once you crumble the cake, mix it with frosting, form balls and dip them in chocolate, you seriously can’t tell the difference in taste – AS LONG AS you doctor up your cake mix!

Tip:When using store-bought cake mixes, make sure your mix doesn’t contain any large textured ingredients, such as coconut flakes in the box of German cake. The large clumps will prevent you from forming and rolling smooth cake balls!

Chocolate Cake Balls • Longbourn Farm

A simple box of cake mix has all the makings for a delicious cake – it just needs a little doctoring or TLC! Doctoring cake mix is an easy way to make store-bought cake mix taste extra special, with that from-scratch flavor!! To doctor cake mix all you need to do is ignore the back of the box and add a few simple ingredients! Easy-peasy! The additional “secret ingredients”, such as instant pudding mix, sour cream, pure vanilla extract, and an additional egg, gives a box mix that extra-moist, flavorful, almost-from-scratch flavor!

Making cake pops without a stick is an easy process! However, unfortunately it’s also a slightly tedious one involving a lot of repetition.

Most recipes, including this one, make cake pops by mixing cake crumbs with frosting and forming the mixture into golf ball-sized spheres. The cake balls are then stuck on the end of a lollipop stick and set in the refrigerator to chill. After chilling, the balls are dipped into chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. Voilà! As if by magic – homemade cake pops!

Ingredient Chocolate Cake Balls

So, are you wondering what makes THIS recipe any different from all the rest? This one teeny-tiny, but also massive detail makes all the difference in the world! It’s the contrast between dry, chalk-y cake pops and these buttery, perfectly-moist ones: doctoring the cake mix! This one simple tweak makes these little cake bites taste totally homemade! Step aside Starbucks – there’s a new cake-pop-making-barista in town!

The process of making cake bites can be a slightly tedious one! However, this simple recipe guide helps streamline the process, making it quicker and easier! Plus, there’s no special kitchen equipment or gadgets, such as cake pop molds, required! Below is a list of kitchen supplies that will help make the process as smooth as possible!

Below you can find a photo collage showing you exactly how to make a cake ball, step by step! You can find the full, detailed cake bites recipe in the printable card at the bottom of this post!

Easy Cake Ball Recipe

Unfortunately, while making cake bites is an easy process, it’s also a time-consuming one! There is no getting around it, these mini cakes take time – it’s a process of baking a cake, cooling, crumbling, rolling and decorating. For the sake of your sanity, I recommend planning to make your cake bites over the course of two days! Take the first day to bake the cake and allow it to cool completely. Then, use the second day to shape and decorate the cake pops! If you can do any of the process in advance, do it! Tip:Once the cake is cool, cover it tightly with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out!

For the easiest process and best results, make sure you doctor your cake mix! Preparing the cake mix according to the back of the box usually yields a cake with a light and fluffy crumb, which tends to fall apart versus stick together. However, doctoring your cake mix results in moister, denser cake crumbs, typical of homemade cake batter!

To ensure your cake balls hold together, make sure you trim the cake and remove the darker brown edges and bottom! Those darker edges are drier in texture, which can cause the cake pops to fall apart and crumble – so, be sure to discard them!

Easy Vanilla Cake Balls Recipe

(This is your sign and excuse to nibble on those excess cake crumbs – trust me, it makes the rolling, dipping and decorating process more fun.)

You need to crumble the cake until it resembles fine crumbs! This will ensure your cake balls roll out smooth and hold together!

When you mix the cake crumbs with the frosting, you want to form a soft, slightly moist dough that just holds together. The dough shouldn’t feel wet, sticky, or dry! If the dough is dry, mix in more frosting one tablespoon at a time.

Moist Christmas Cake Balls (my Most Requested Holiday Dessert) Aleka's Get Together

A cookie or ice cream scoop makes quick and easy work out of scooping and measuring cake balls! Plus, using a scoop