Rainbow Cake Balls

Yes yes I know.  These aren't cupcakes.  But I just had to try this.  It also stems from a little "experiement" I'm doing in an effort to make my cupcakes more...available I guess is the word.  I've got people out of town who would love to try my cupcakes, but it's so hard to ship them.  No matter how many times I put  "This Side Up!" "Don't Flip!"  "Contains Yummy Cupcakes!"   "Keep Level Or Pay The Consequences!" my packages always end up tossed and turned and crushed.  I've come up with several ways to secure the cupcakes in their containers for shipping but....I still worry.  Sooooo as the name of the "business" suggests, I can make anything a cupcake (hence something is cupcakeable).  So why not the opposite?  More on that later.

Here are three pretty simple (but delicious) cake balls.  No, they are not perfectly round.  I still can't figure out how to get them nice and spherical.  I've been considering maybe a mold?  Suggestions?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Anyhow, these are as round as they get.  As nice as these may look it was the inside of the cake balls I was more concerned with.

HOW FRICKIN COOL IS THAT!?  I was so stoked at how these came out!  It took a little more effort but I got my rainbow stripes into the cake balls!  This is my Rainbow Cupcake recipe.  The cake is mixed with my Cotton Candy flavored frosting and then coated with white chocolate.

So having finalized this experiment with cake balls, I think I'm ready for the next phase.  But again, more on that later.  Stay tuned! Below are instructions on how to create this.

Cake Box Method (as always if you want the longer version, email me and I'll give them to you):

Makes 36 to 42 - 1 inch cake balls

1 box white cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup canola oil

Mix all ingredients together.  Divide evenly among 6 bowls and color each batter one color of the rainbow.  Fill six 6" cake pans (one with each color) and bake at 350 degrees for a bout 12 - 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Frosting

3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

2.5 sticks butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cotton candy flavoring

Cream butter.  Add confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time.  Mix until completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and cotton candy.  Set aside.

Crumble each color cake into fine pieces and place in individual bowls.  Starting with 1 teaspoon of frosting, mix with the crumbled cake with back of a spoon (more like mash it in).

Take a small cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Here comes the tricky part.  In the palm of your hand, place about 1/2 to 1 tspn of the red cake mix, on top put 1/2 to 1 tspn  of the orange, then the yellow, green, blue and purple.  Stack them on top of each other.  Now gentle roll the pile into a ball.  Place on cookie sheet.  If the cake become too soft to roll, place in freeze for a bit.   Once you've rolled out all the cake balls you want, place the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 15 minutes (or until cake balls are firm).

While waiting, melt some white chocolate.  I use Almond Bark.  To me it was the easiest to work with, wasn't too think or thick and seemed to coat the cake balls well.  I am sure there is better chocolate to use but for now this is what I used. 

Place a small wire rack over an empty bowl.  Take the cake balls out and place one at a time on the wire rack with the purple side on the bottom (mine are inverted with the red on the bottom).  Using a spoon, pour the white chocolate over the cake balls and allow them to "dry" for about 5 minutes.  Remove and continue with remaining cake balls.  Sprinkle some rainbow sugar or glitter on top.

Enjoy!