Guys.
I’m embarrassed.
It’s been way too long since we chatted. Way. Too. Long.
A month too long, to be exact.
Eeeeek.
Would it be okay if I told you that I missed you? It’s the truth. Honest. I don’t even know where the time went. Okay, maybe I do…
It went to work. A lot of work. But, I can’t complain too much cause I actually really like my job.
And, some weekend trips away from home aka the Hint of Nutmegg Kitchen.
And, laziness. I’ll be honest, sometimes, on my days off, I just want to sleep. Or, I want to go out and tootle around. Or, I just have a ton of errands to run.
And then, there’s the real kicker, the heat. I’m so, so so, over the damn heat. I want rain. I want clouds. I want to sit on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, drinking a PSL, eating a pumpkin cream cheese muffin. I want fall and I want it now. It’s simply impossible to have the oven on in my house with the heat. Impossible.
That reminds me, I have something reallllly exciting to tell you. A few weeks ago I officially catered (well, the dessert portion of the event, that is) a baby shower! A friend of a friend saw the Baby Boy Cupcakes I made awhile back on Instagram, thought they were the cutest (I mean, they are pretty stinkin adorable), and asked if I could make them for the shower. Pretty cool, huh?
Now, let’s move on to the important stuff.
Coconut Chocolate Cake Balls. Some have even called them heaven balls. No joke. That’s a direct quote from a coworker of mine.
Moist chocolate cake mixed with coconut frosting, rolled into balls, dipped in chocolate, and sprinkled with shredded coconut. I mean, does it get any better than that? I don’t think so.
Originally, my plan was to make cake pops…butttt, in my excitement, I made the cake balls a little too fat to stay upright on a lollipop stick, and there was also the fact that I didn’t have enough lollipop sticks for all the pops. Oops. So, I simply made cake balls. Problem solved. They were just as easy as making cake pops, just as yummy, and just a tad bit easier to eat because of the missing lollipop stick. Sounds like a win to me.
But, guys, seriously, let’s not go this long without talking. I don’t like it. I’ll try my best (better than my best) to be around more often.
Coconut Chocolate Cake Balls
Yields: about 40 cake balls
Ingredients:
1 chocolate cake
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for garnish
1-2 teaspoons coconut extract
1 15-oz package light cocoa chocolate candy melts
Directions:
Bake your cake according to the recipe or box instructions. Let cool completely.
Once cake is cooled, use a fork, your hands, or a food processor to shred the cake into small crumbs—if you want to use cake crumbs for garnish, put some in a separate bowl at this time. Set aside.
To make the frosting, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream, shredded coconut, and coconut extract—this frosting is very adaptable to taste…if you want it sweeter add more powdered sugar, if you want less coconut flavor you can either lessen the amount of coconut extract or substitute vanilla extract instead, if it’s too thick add more heavy cream…just keep playing with the taste until you love it—beat until combined.
Add ¾ of the coconut frosting to the crumbled chocolate cake mixture. Once combined, try to form about a 1-inch sized ball—the dough should be sticky enough to hold the shape of a ball, similar in consistency to cookie dough, if it’s too dry or crumbly add more frosting until it reaches the desired consistency. Place cake balls on a lined cookie sheet and let chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
When the cake balls are almost done chilling, melt your chocolate candy melts, in intervals of fifteen seconds, stirring after each interval, until melted.
Coat each cake ball completely in melted chocolate—everyone has their own method of doing this, whether that be dipping it, spooning it on, or a combination of both (I prefer a combo of both)—and place on the lined cookie sheet. Working quickly, sprinkle coconut shreds on top of the coated cake ball and let sit to harden. Repeat until all cake balls are coated and garnished.
Alternatively, you can garnish your cake balls with a coconut candy melt (or, chocolate or white chocolate) drizzle and then sprinkle with the reserved chocolate cake crumbles.
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