Leftover Bundt cake? Turn it into chocolate cake balls! Usually cake balls are made by baking a cake mix cake and mashing it together with canned icing. Here, you just mash up some leftover glazed cake and dip in chocolate.
Because cake balls need to hold together, it's important to start with a cake that is already very moist. Not only is this cake moist, but it's topped with a chocolate ganache which stands in for what usually would be canned frosting.
Chocolate Cake Balls vs. Chocolate Cake
Honestly, at the end of the day I'd prefer eating a piece of actual cake than a cake ball, but turning an already baked cake into cake balls is a good way to make a cake last a little longer.
Recipe
Dark Chocolate Cake Balls
These are delicious chocolate cake balls rmade by mashing up half of a very moist dark chocolate Bundt cake.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups 8 oz all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder natural type (try Dutch)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water or coffee
Ganache
- 3 ounces of chopped semisweet chocolate
- 3 ounces of heavy cream
- Dipping Chocolate
- 12 ounces of your favorite kind
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 12 cup (10 inch) Bundt pan with flour-added baking spray. If your pan is black, preheat to 325F.
- Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add oil, milk, eggs and vanilla. Beat two minutes with electric mixer at medium speed. Stir in water until blended. Batter will be thin.
- Pour batter in the Bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until skewer or pick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the cake sit in the pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn it from the Bundt.
- Let the cake cool and then drizzle it with ganache. To make ganache, heat 3 ounces of heavy cream in microwave or saucepan. Pour over 3 oz chopped dark chocolate and stir until smooth. Let cool until thick enough to drizzle.
- Eat half the cake
- When you're ready to make the cake balls, put leftover cake in a large mixing bowl. Using food grade gloves (or a spoon), mash up the cake. If you used all the ganache in the recipe, you won't need any extra. If the mixture doesn't hold together, heat 2 more ounces of cream and pour over 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and make more ganache. Add a tablespoon at a time until mixture is moist and holds together -- you don't want it too moist, though. Only make the extra ganache if the cake mixture doesn't hold together.
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls of cake mixture. With your gloved hands, shape the scoops into smooth balls. Line the balls up on a tray, cover the with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer until firm.
- In a chocolate melting pot, top of a double boiler or in the microwave, melt the chocolate.
- Dip cake balls into melted chocolate and lift with two forks, allowing extra chocolate to drip back into the pot. Put the balls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet to set.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Chloe @ foodlikecake says
Great idea to use a cake with ganache. I love step 6!
Katrina says
The reason I've never cared for cake balls is because they are always made with a cake mix and canned frosting. 🙁 I've made brownie balls before and also used banana bread before, which is moist enough to hold together without frosting, but brilliant to use a cake with ganache. Love your choices of chocolate for dipping, too! You know, I made a grain free/refined sugar free chocolate bundt cake for my birthday last year. I just might have to try cake balls with that cake. After eating half of it first. 😉
Katrina says
The reason I've never cared for cake balls is because they are always made with a cake mix and canned frosting. 🙁 I've made brownie balls before and also used banana bread before, which is moist enough to hold together without frosting, but brilliant to use a cake with ganache. Love your choices of chocolate for dipping, too!
Mela says
Looks like a really moist bundt cake. Good idea for making cake balls easier and tastier.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
Add mint in honor of ST. Paddy's day. Ohhh, these look good and instruction 6 is most informative.
Jan Harris says
That looks like pure fudge. When you make the cake into balls, do you pack the mixture so it's very dense, or do you use a lighter hand? I've always wondered about just how hard to squeeze them.
Teresa says
I think I will just make the cake. It looks absolutely delicious.....
Wendy says
Love instruction #6!!!!
Sue says
Oh my goodness! I think it would be difficult to smoosh up a beautiful cake like that!! I do like step 6 though where you instruct to eat half the cake.