Devil’s Cake Balls

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If you haven’t heard of cake balls yet, I recommend that you check out Bakerella’s website to see what the fuss is all about. Cake balls are a great little invention; cooked cake batter crumbled and mixed with cream cheese frosting, rolled into balls, then dunked into melted chocolate. Don’t just make these for the health benefits though, they taste pretty darn good too.

The recipe says to use any boxed cake mix for the type of flavor you want. For my first attempt I used Devil’s Food Cake mix, and a homemade frosting. You can buy a can of cream cheese frosting instead, but I accidentally bought cream cheese instead of frosting, and had to improvise. The reason I didn’t use homemade cake batter + homemade frosting is because I wasn’t confident in getting exactly the right consistency for cake ball dough.

Devil’s Cake Balls (makes 45-50) – adapted from Bakerella.com

Ingredients:

  • 1 Box Devil’s Cake Mix
  • 1 16 oz. can cream cheese frosting*
  • 1 16 oz. bag of chocolate chips
  • wax paper

* To make homemade frosting: combine 8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1 stick butter (softened), and 2 cups powdered sugar. Blend until creamy.

Directions:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon or toothpick to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

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After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

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Powdered sugar, stick of butter, and package of cream cheese. 3 ingredients for a healthy dessert.

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If making homemade frosting, blend these ingredients together with a handheld mixer until creamy.

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Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
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Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)

Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
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Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. Or if using chocolate chips, melt with a bit of water in the microwave. Add more water if it is too thick (but don’t add too much or it will be too watery).
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Roll balls in chocolate. (Use a spoon or toothpick to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I used a cocktail toothpick to dip the balls into the chocolate, and a chopstick to gently brush off extra chocolate.

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Lay on wax paper until firm.

I put mine in the refrigerator to harden.

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And there you have it.  They were pretty good for a first attempt, but next time I would have to try it with the melted chocolate bark instead of chips. The melted chips didn’t solidify as much as I hoped it would, and I don’t know if it’s because I used chips instead of bark. You can store these in a freezer bag in the fridge for up to two weeks.

74 thoughts on “Devil’s Cake Balls”

  2. These look so yummy. Thank you for sharing! Thank goodness I decided to aim for being skinny in the next lifetime.

  4. Memoria – Thank you!

    Eva – I’ll never be skinny. But that’s ok because I can eat cake balls and not feel guilty for ruining my figure.

    Maria – I hope you try them out!

  7. Food Hunter – Hehe….I just have to add a scratch and sniff option.

    Bonnie – You can’t be a fatty by reading :P

  9. Serene – No, the first photos is taken after I let the chocolate set a few hours. The last shot was taken right after I dipped into the chocolate.

  11. If you add a teaspoon or so of butter or shortening to the melted chocolate chips it will firm up better when it cools.

  12. Adding water to your chocolate is why it didn’t firm up. candy coats are great for this, if you want to use your microwave to melt. If you follow bonnie’s advice and add butter, it will be much less stable at room temp than say, her other suggestion of adding shortening which will work, but if you add too much, will taste funny. and i find shortening kinda gross anyway My advice is to either use candy coating (some brands taste better than other) or to use a double boiler with the chocolate chips instead of a microwave. You can get the chocolate chips hotter, and therefore, thinner, (shoot for about 120degrees F) so they will coat easily and set up alright. or if you’re REALLY ambitious. use real chocolate and temper it. another product I’ve used commercially for coating just about anything is Pate glace. it’s basically an oil-based chocolate coating product. (works like candy melts, tastes a hell of a lot better)

  13. Die Eier Von Satan

    (UND KEINE EIER!)

    Eine halbe Tasse Staubzucker
    Ein Viertel Teelöffel Salz
    Eine Messerspitze türkisches Haschisch
    Ein halbes Pfund Butter
    Ein Teelöffel Vanillenzucker
    Ein halbes Pfund Mehl
    Einhundertfünfzig Gramm gemahlene Nüsse
    Ein wenig extra Staubzucker
    … und keine Eier

    In eine Schüssel geben
    Butter einrühren
    Gemahlene Nüsse zugeben und
    Den Teig verkneten

    Augenballgroße Stücke vom Teig formen
    I’m Staubzucker wälzen und
    Sagt die Zauberwörter
    Simsalbimbamba Saladu Saladim

    Auf ein gefettetes Backblech legen und
    Bei zweihundert Grad für fünfzehn Minuten backen und
    KEINE EIER

    Bei zweihundert Grad für fünfzehn Minuten backen und
    Keine Eier…

  14. Nice recipe and very well explained with great pictures…congratulations!

  15. They look very tasty, although whenever I name something I have as a general rule of thumb not to include the words “Devils Balls” in the name. Just a suggestion.

  16. I always add a little bit of parafin when melting chocolate chips for coating.

  17. Bonnie – Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try that sometime.

    Christine – Thanks for your suggestion as well.

    Louis – Thanks :)

    Magnificant: That was the point.

    Lisa – Thanks for the advice.

  19. To the jerk who left the dumb comment on my post: It’s not MY fault that people have diabetes. Stop your whining and go eat an salad then. People like you just like to put the blame on everyone else and not themselves. And by the way, how the hell do you walk around fat AND dead?

    I deleted your comment, moron.

  22. Sorry you had a rant around diabetes. I looked at this and figured that it would be a great portion control trick for me. Diabetic yes but each little ball would be one or two carb servings as is and sugar could be subbed with measure alike splenda and cut it way down.

    Diabetics have to manage portions not cut out every carb.

  23. Powdered sugar, stick of butter, and package of cream cheese. 3 ingredients for a healthy dessert.

    Um, this is irony, right?

  24. Barry, sugar, stick of butter, and package of cream cheese are good, great components, just dont eat whole of what you cooked and everything will be healthy

  26. Summer – I made them for a large group of people. I’d be in trouble if it was just for me….and I usually put leftovers in the freezer.

    Bran – I think they’re the perfect size for portion control. They’re small bite sized pieces, not like a slice of cake. Splenda would be a great alternative I would think.

    Barry – more like sarcasm.

  27. You had a great article and recipe, but I was absolutely confused by your recommendation of adding water to the chocolate chips that are to be melted. The first thing they teach you in a candy-making course is that adding liquids, especially water, to chocolate, will cause it to seize up. Perhaps in very small denominations this works, but I am definitely most cuirous about that technique.

  28. Marcy – That’s because I’m not a baker and have never taken a course on candy-making. Please don’t assume I’m a professional chef or baker or anything.

  33. You can add coconut oil to the chocolate in place of butter, or water. That’s actually how they make chocolate shell.

  34. My friend once made oreo balls like this. mmmm i will have to make these. the look amazing

  36. Alta – They are evil.

    Jenn – Coconut oil sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the tip.

    Heather – Thanks.

    Jellybean – It’s fun if you’re serving these at a party and ask people if they want to try your chocolately balls.

  37. I wouldn’t put anything in the chocolate, and I certainly wouldn’t use the bark. Buy a good quality chocolate- Guittard, Ghiardellhi are my favorites, but Hershey’s is good if you like American-style chocolate. They’re much easier to work with than the cheap/artificial stuff. The cheap ones are mostly just made to be chips in cookies, not melted. Another option is to use Milk Chocolate (Cadbury is my favorite by a mile) because milk chocolate is more stable than dark. It would also be a nice contrast with the depth of the devils food. White Chocolate would be fun, but it’s a bitch to work with…..but White Chocolate with Red Velvet Cake using the same recipe would be great for Valentines Day…..
    Pastry Chef Sam in Colorado

  38. Sam – Thank you so much for the advice! And for explaining why you would use certain chocolates over others. This’ll help a lot the next time I try this recipe again.

  42. I just made these and they were delicious and everyone at my work loved me for bring them! Thank you!

  48. Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as yours but they are soooooo good! Evil chocolate, how I love and hate thee… lol

  50. The best tips I’ve found:

    I use dipping chocolate meant for fruit; it comes in milk and white chocolate, in a microwavable container which you can use for dipping as well. Fewer dishes.

    Definitely don’t add water. If you’re using chocolate of any quality, it will seize and be ruined. I add very, very small amounts of any flavorless oil until the chocolate is thin enough to coat. It sets up just fine even without refrigeration, and the flavor is unaffected.

    I don’t chill the balls; it makes them sweat when you put them out and they come to room temperature. If you fiddle with the consistency just slightly and use a gentle hand it’s not necessary.

    You can top them with sprinkles when they’re still wet or drizzle with a contrasting chocolate for decoration.