Come over to the Dark Side........We have Cake.

I was definitely on the Dark Side this week.

I just couldn't shake it. I think I had a kind of a "baker's block".....sort of like having writer's "block" I guess. This post was much easier to write than it was to come up with a birthday cake idea for my 8-year old nephew. I mean, I had NOTHING. No ideas. Zip. Zilch. Nada. My only consolation was that he is the type of kid that takes pleasure in just about anything, so it made me really want to put a little extra effort into making him something special.

But I couldn't think of anything.

Of course when I made the mistake of asking him what type of birthday cake he wanted, he thought for a few seconds and hesitantly said, "I don't know..........maybe a Scooby-Doo cake?" I immediately focused on the fact that he hesitated before answering me. It gave me the necessary reason to believe that he really didn't care WHAT type of cake he had. Also, I needed a reason to justify my decision not to bake a Scooby-Doo cake. Call me crazy, but I have never been a fan.

I still didn't have a clue of what I was going to do. I had almost decided to just bake him a baseball cake when my friend Michele gave my baker's "block" a little shove. When I told her that I couldn't come up with any good ideas for an 8-year old's birthday cake, she stared at me disbelievingly, then slowly and distinctly started spewing the names of Star Wars characters. Chewbacca, Luke, The Death Star, The Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader, C3PO and R2-D2. Wait...R2-D2??.........................R2-d2!!!!!!!

That's it!

R2-D2, of course! My nephew's bedroom has a Star Wars theme and if he is knee-deep into Star Wars play mode he will almost always answer to the name Luke. What was I thinking? It was the perfect solution except I wasted so much time trying to make a decision, now I didn't know how I was going to pull it off. I only had about 2 hours that night to start it and 2 hours the next morning to finish so I threw some cold water on my face, took 800 mgs. of Motrin, donned my Wonder Woman apron and quickly downshifted into "vortex mode". The clock in the hallway had just struck 11 p.m. when I was whipping up the Devil's Food cake batter. I poured it into four 4-inch baby spring form pans and popped them into the oven.

After baking and cooling them, I leveled off all but one of the cakes. Since the cake needed some additional stability, I used plastic straws as a means of support through the center of all the cakes. Then I stacked and crumbcoated it with vanilla buttercream and put it into the refrigerator for an hour or so to "chill out".

Now I needed to design R2-D2's "legs", but I knew it couldn't be done with cake......too crummy. Having worked with Rice Krispies and marshmallow before, I knew that the mixture would hold up to sculpting, so I made enough to fill a 9 x13" pan and let it cool completely. I measured the length I would need on each side, then carved it out.

After I shaped R2's "legs", I covered everything in white fondant and attached the legs to the body with lollipop sticks. Then I lightly covered R2 with Saran Wrap, patted his little round head and left him tucked away in a corner of the counter until the next morning.

(Note: Remember, fondant does not like to be refrigerated.)

The next morning (after several cups of coffee), I used a beautiful royal blue colored fondant to cut out various shapes for the frame. Then I sipped mixed vodka, a dab of black food coloring, a dab of blue food coloring and edible silver dust to get a very glossy silver-gray color that I used to paint on R2's "head". Then I finished R2's body with a touch of red, blue and black fondant pieces.

And the little guy started to come to life....

As I've said before, riding by on a fast horse, you would miss the little imperfections (that I see) in some areas of R2's little body...........at least I hope you would.

Just a random musing here...

If Darth Vader went to grade school,

this could be his eighth grade photo.

Cue the Stars Wars music...

Ah-h-h-h. That smile means a sweet success!

Happy Birthday Cody!

Love you buddy,

and

May the Force be with you!

The Cake Ball Pop

What in the heck is a Cake Ball??

That was my initial thought upon hearing about these cute little cake "bites". I needed to know the name of the genius who invented them because they are nothing short of BRILLIANT! I had to know. So I went on an extensive internet search and came up with .......absolutely nothing. Can you believe it?? No names, no secret recipe, no cake ball archives, no culinary history. Nothing. Not one person claims to be the first to come up with these mouthwatering little beauties.

Amazing.

The internet baking world is inundated with these sweet little treats in all flavors and colors. In fact, there are a couple of websites solely dedicated to them......so where did they originate??? Apparently we are supposed to believe that these sweet little round confections have been in existence since the beginning of time. Do you think cavemen invented them right after they invented the wheel?? That would sort of make sense......okay, I'm being ridiculous. Who cares who invented them?? The important thing here is that I'm making them, and they are fantastic!!

Cake Balls are a snap to make. Like I've always said, if you can read you can cook. Just follow the directions and you will totally "Wow" your friends and family. The recipe is a simple one. I used a Duncan Hines Strawberry Cake mix, Devils Food Cake mix, two containers of instant frosting and a couple of bags of candy wafers. Following the directions on the box, I baked each of the cakes in a 9 x 13 pan for about 40-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven and let them cool completely.

When the cakes were cool, I turned them out of the pans. After placing all the cake pieces into a large bowl, I used my little Kitchen Aid hand mixer to break it up into tiny pieces.

I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the frosting and continued blending it together. For the Strawberry Cake I used Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting and the Devil's Food Cake I used Milk Chocolate Frosting.

Using a small melon ball scooper, I shaped the mixture into 1"balls. Each cake mix should yield between 40-50 of them. (That's a lot of Cake Balls!) After they were all formed, I placed them on a cookie sheet and popped them into the freezer for at least 4 hours. The Cake Balls are easier to dip and work with when they are frozen.

While the Cake Balls were "chillin" in the freezer, I melted the candy wafers (or bark candy) in a double boiler. If you don't have one......improvise, because I wouldn't advise melting the candy directly over heat. Either put the candy in a bowl over boiling water or use the microwave.

I feel it necessary to caution you here. Based on my past experiences, don't get any water or condensation into the candy. Any trace of moisture will cause the candy to "seize" up. It has the same effect as adding water to flour. It becomes an unworkable and gooey MESS!

I've used several techniques for dipping these Cake Balls but have found one that works best for me. I worked in small batches, taking only about a dozen out of the freezer at a time. For this batch I decided to convert my Cake Balls into Cake Pops, so I used lollipop sticks to skew them. I placed the stick about halfway into a Cake Ball and held it over the melted candy in the pan. With the other hand I used a tablespoon to evenly coat each one, I constantly turned the Cake Ball to keep the drips drying evenly. As soon as the candy stopped dripping, I placed the stick into a styrofoam pad to keep it upright while they finished drying. And then because they were so pretty to look at.......I just had to take some pictures....

and a teeny bite.....

Wait!!!! I almost forgot to mention that you can roll the Cake Balls in different toppings too. I found that it was best to do this in the 2.5 seconds between coating the Cake Ball and standing it up to dry. You will find that if you roll it too soon, the mixture will clump up in the candy coating and slide off. If you wait too long to roll, nothing will stick to the Cake Ball.

But if you are lucky, you will hit it just right!

You can use so many different toppings too....chopped nuts, chocolate jimmies, non-pareils, white coconut and toasted coconut just to name a few. How many different ones can you come up with?

I love the fact that you can use any cake/frosting combination with these. There are no rules. Lemon cake, lemon frosting and chocolate coating....Carrot cake, cream cheese frosting and vanilla coating...Pumpkin cake, cream cheese frosting and cinnamon vanilla coating. I even read about using crushed up Nutter Butter cookies, cream cheese frosting and chocolate coating to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls.

Gulp.

You can store your Cake Ball Pops in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Keep in mind if you store them in the fridge, you may have condensation issues when you remove them. Trust me....they will stay fresh for up to about 7 days if you hide them in a nice cool corner of your kitchen (yeah, good luck with that). Maybe I should add "under the watchful eye of a sentry".....

Although I am a die-hard fan of chocolate cake, I have to say that the strawberry cake I used for this batch of Cake Balls is such a beautiful rosy-pink color, isn't it? Oh...........and they tasted great too!

You're still sitting there reading this??

Why haven't you started your Cake Balls yet?