It's simple. Just make these super easy AND absolutely addicting cake balls and watch his (her (for my 2% male readers):) face when he (she) tries them. Especially if he (she) has a sweet tooth....
What you will need: Red Velvet Cake Mix (and the ingredients it calls for - usually eggs, vegetable oil and water), 8oz cream cheese, and a package of white chocolate candy melts.
The directions couldn't be simpler: bake your cake, let it cool, crumble and mix with cream cheese. Use your hands or spoons to form the balls, stick on a pretty stick and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. After freezing, melt the candy melts per the instructions provided and dip each ball in. Cool in the refrigerator for another 20 minutes.
Some tips to keep in mind:
1. How to melt your candy melts... make sure you know how to use a double boiler. I didn't. I probably still don't. But I figured it out-ish eventually. The key is that if you get even a drip of water in your melts, they are gone. Done. No coming back (unless you have shortening - and who has shortening just laying around these days? :) Luckily, I saw this coming and I had bought two packs of melts. The second time around, I used better suited containers for the exercise.
2. Where to place your cake balls once they have been dipped... plan ahead! The right answer for this will depend on what size sticks you picked. But you will need to be smart about where you place each top-heavy ball. I had to use a coffee cup that was shallow and narrow enough. But I only had one of those. Which meant I had to patiently wait between each ball for the chocolate to cool and harden. It was almost as fascinating as watching paint dry :).
3. How many of these to eat... yeah. Guilty here. I ate more of these than the person who they were meant for. So, you better practice your self control. Because they are pretty AMAZING. I used any excuse to destroy all the "not-so-perfect" cake balls. Needless to say, I had a "few" of those.
If you want to read about making those tags, you can do so here.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
A few months back, a co-worker of mine convinced me to join my company's Spartan Race team. He didn't talk it up much: he mentioned it's a long-ish run with a few fun obstacles. You know, no big deal. Something someone who runs as much as me should complete more than easily (read, you don't really need to train for it). Ha ha ha.