Dandelion Chandelier’s Luxury Dish is an occasional series featuring original recipes and their origin stories from our Luminaries, Fireflies, friends, families, and team of far-flung correspondents. They’re guaranteed to add sparkle to any menu.
This contribution is from Savannah Smith, a food blogger and dessert enthusiast based in New York. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in Classical Studies and English, she decided to follow her lifelong passion for baking and start her own baking blog, Seven Bakers Lane. The blog features recipes that are both delicious and fun to make. On Saturdays, you can find her selling amazing baked goods at the Palisades Farmer’s Market from 9 AM – 1 PM.
This is the third recipe that Savannah has shared with our Dandelion Chandelier community. Her Pistachio Rose Pinwheel Sparkle Cookies were a big hit at our house, and totally easy to make. And we loved the taste and the warm spirit of her Chocolate Gingerbread Rugelach, a wonderful dessert that celebrates two holiday traditions. Next up? A bite-sized treat that’s delicious, pretty, easy to make and environmentally sound. What could be a better note upon which to start a new year?
Chic Post-Holiday Cake Balls by Savannah Smith
Happy New Year! January in New York means that we’ve hit that time of year where I want to do nothing but wear cozy clothes and leave the house as little as possible. With this winter being especially cold so far, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time baking in the kitchen, keeping the oven on endlessly to makes the house extra nice and warm.
The past few weeks have also been spent purging our house of all the old, dusty belongings that have been sitting in the back of cabinets, completely forgotten. As I watched my Mom throw out (i.e. donate) at least seven different unused sketchpads from my childhood, I decided that one of this year’s resolutions would be to create less waste.
In that spirit, my first post of 2018 is a recipe that is entirely composed of leftovers. Yep, you read that right — this is the recipe equivalent of cleaning out your closet. Even better? These cake balls are impossible to mess up and they’re great treats for parties or group gatherings.
There are four components (or ingredients) to make these cake balls, and each of them can be made from leftovers:
1. The Cake: You can use whatever cake you have lying around – chocolate, vanilla, carrot, etc. Got an old boxed cake mix quickly advancing towards its expiration date? Grab it and make cake balls! You know the top part of the cake (sort of like the muffin top) that you slice off when leveling the cake? Save it and use it to make cake balls! Seriously, scraps of any size or flavor will do just fine. I had leftover scraps from the striped chocolate and vanilla cake I made for New Years Eve, so I made cake balls from each flavor.
2. Frosting: Again, you can use leftovers! I used the remains of the cream cheese frosting from my New Years Eve Cake, but you can use whatever frosting you have lying in your fridge or pantry — store-bought or home made.
3. Chocolate/Candy Coating: This is an incredible opportunity to use up all of those half-empty (or full) bags of chocolate chips you have lying around your house. The same goes for candy melts, if you have those.
4. Sprinkles: Now is the time to break out those sprinkles you bought for that bake sale years ago and have forgotten until now. I used the extra sprinkles from my New Years Eve cake to give my cake balls a celebratory vibe, even coding each flavor of cake ball by different sprinkle mixtures.
Instructions:
1. Line a baking sheet (or two, depending on how much cake you have) with parchment or wax paper.
2. Place your cake (or cake bits) into a bowl, and use your hands to crumble the cake until it is completely broken down. Make sure no huge chunks of cake remain.
3. The cake crumbles should be be moist enough so that you can mash them together and roll them into a small ball (about an 1½ in) that will retain its shape. To do this, add a little bit of frosting and mix together using your hands until completely combined. Try to shape a bit of it into a ball. Does it hold its shape? If yes, then place it on the lined baking sheet. If not, add some more frosting and repeat until your cake has reached the required degree of moistness.
4. Once all of the cake bits have been rolled into small spheres, place them on the lined sheet pans and refrigerate the cake balls for at least an hour until solid and firm. (To speed this process up, you can place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes).
5. Melt your desired chocolate or candy melts in a double boiler or microwave until completely warm and smooth. Remove the cake balls from the fridge, coat each in the melted chocolate and then return to the lined baking sheet. (I found it easiest to do this by placing a cake ball in the bowl with the melted chocolate, and used two spoons to make sure they were completely covered.) If decorating with sprinkles, immediately add them to the top of the cake ball while the chocolate is still warm and melted. Repeat with remaining cake balls and then return the sheet to the fridge until the chocolate has completely hardened.
6. Serve on a festive platter and enjoy!
Savannah Smith is a food blogger and dessert enthusiast based in New York. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in Classical Studies and English, she decided to follow her lifelong passion for baking and start her own baking blog, Seven Bakers Lane. The blog features recipes that are both delicious and fun to make. On Saturdays, you can find her selling amazing baked goods at the Palisades Farmer’s Market from 9 AM – 1 PM.
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