Do you think it's hard to make your own cake pops? No! These simple cake balls are surprisingly easy and fun to make as well as eat. They make a great party food snack for kids as well as for adults.
Cake balls or cake pops?
Hmmm. Cake balls. Cake pops. Balls. Pops. Balls. Whatever you want to call these, they are fun, tasty and incredibly moreish. We didn't have these when I was a child but even so, they remind me of the type of treats we used to get a children's parties.
They are so much fun to make!
You may be thinking that they are just for kids. Or even that they are something I made with Little Miss Spice. Oh no. Sometimes I want to play at being a child all on my own. I want to be able to have fun in the kitchen without a little person grabbing things and deciding what the finished product is going to look like.
I know that Little Miss Spice would love mixing up cake and melted chocolate with her hands. She would also love dipping the cake balls in the liquid chocolate and rolling them in the sprinkles
The truth is, I also wanted to do all those things, and I wanted to do them by myself for once. Cake balls may look like a kid's thing, but I don't know many adults who would say no to one of these.
Make Cake Balls with Leftover Cake!
They are surprisingly easy to make. If you had leftover cake they would take next to no time to make. But honestly, who has leftover cake? Most of the time I am wishing I had cake!
Of course I had to make cake. I made a beautifully simple Madeira cake from Cake by Rachel Allen. It is made with soft dark brown sugar which makes a lovely moist cake with a caramel taste. It goes so well with all the chocolate that you need later when you turn it into cake balls.
Do you need sticks for cake pops?
I used sticks which makes it easier when you are coating them in chocolate and rolling them in sprinkles. But you can still make these cake balls without the sticks. Don't feel you have to buy anything specially to make this recipe. Well, apart from sprinkles, chocolate, cake or cake ingredients.
Recipe for Cake Balls
Recipe
Cake Balls
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Madeira cake
- 175 g butter softened
- 175 g soft dark brown sugar
- 5 egg
- 275 g self raising flour
Ingredients for the Cake Balls
- 350 g madeira cake
- 175 g white chocolate broken into piece
- 350 g milk chocolate broken into pieces
- Sprinkles
Instructions
How to Make the Madeira Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease or line a cake or loaf tin. I used a round 20cm cake tin.
- Beat the butter with a whisk until it is soft and then add the sugar and continue to beat until it is well combined and is light and fluffy.
- Whisk the eggs briefly in another bowl and then pour them into the butter and sugar mixture slowly as you beat it.
- Sift the flour into the bowl and then fold it in.
- Pour the cake batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 35 - 45 minutes. Mine was ready after 35 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then take it out and cool it on a wire rack.
How to Make the Cake Balls
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Melt the white chocolate in a large bowl in the microwave. Put it in for 1 minute to begin with and then for 20 seconds at a time. Keep opening the door to check it and to stir it.
- Crumble the cake into the bowl with the white chocolate. Use your hands to mix the chocolate and the cake together and roll handfuls into balls. Press the mixture together so the balls are quite dense and then place them on the baking paper on the baking tray. If using sticks then push a stick into each ball.
- Put the baking tray in the fridge for the cake balls to set and harden. Leave for at least 30 minutes. I left mine overnight.
- Get the sprinkles ready by putting them in bowls. Have a teaspoon for each bowl too. Also line another 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Melt the milk chocolate in the same way as you melted the white chocolate.
- Dip each cake ball in the chocolate. You may need to use a spoon to make sure the ends with the sticks in also have chocolate on them. Spoon the chocolate on if you are not able to get it on just by rolling the cake balls. If any of the sticks come out then just dip the end in the chocolate to help it stick and push it back in.
- As soon as you take the cake ball out of the chocolate, roll it in the sprinkles. Again, use a spoon to spoon sprinkles onto the bits of the cake ball around the stick.
- Lay the cake balls down on the baking trays and put in the fridge to set.
Notes
Nutrition
More fun recipes for cake pops and cookies pops
Christmas Cake Pops
Raspberry Golden Oreo Cookie Pops
KEEP IN TOUCH
Do let me know if you make these these cake pops. Or any of the my other recipes.
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Places I'm sharing these cake balls
Love Cake, hosted by JibberjabberUK.
MyKabulKitchen
Beautiful!!! Your baking skills here are quite impressive, and I love that you actually made the cake balls homemade as most recipes call for mixing store bought cake mix and frosting (gross), these look perfect for any gathering!
Corina
Thank you. The homemade cake inside the cake balls was lovely and of course there was much more cake than we needed so I enjoyed eating it up on its own too!
cheri
These are adorable, looks like a great recipe to make with another person or persons.
Corina
Yes, when my children are a little older I will definitely make them together with them.
Dana Fashina
These are so AWESOMMEE!!
Ooooh, I'm going to make these for Thanksgiving!
Corina
I promise you, they will not disappoint!
Laura
I can totally see the comfort in these - a lovely cake base followed by the fun of mixing, rolling and decorating. Thanks for sharing them witht the Biscuit Barrel!
Corina
You're welcome!
Denise@magnoliaverandah
Making these for sure - they bring out the big kid in me.
Corina
That's what I found too. I had such fun making them and they are really tasty too.
Elaine @ foodbod
Very cool!!!
Corina
Thank you.
jibberjabberuk
I would have never have thought to make Madeira cake with dark brown sugar. I bet it gives it a lovely fudgy taste. I love the different decorations and especially that you are highlighting testicular cancer. Thanks for linking up.
Corina
I wouldn't have thought of it myself either but it gives a lovely taste. I'm tempted to use it in more things now.