Halloween baking seems to be a thing. It’s getting like Christmas. Well, these cake balls are actually a no bake activity to do with the kids. Easy to do and my daughter had great fun.
To do these Monster balls, I recommend you buy some candy eye balls. I use wilton brand ones (and I buy mine in HomeStore & More in Dublin each year). The eyeballs have a great best before date and are inexpensive – so definitely a good buy if you bake with or for kids. They are not just for Halloween – you can use them for snowmen, Easter stuff….whatever you want.
The Wilton brand ones are made in a factory that has nuts – so do keep that in mind for anyone with nut allergies. Especially for parties etc. A few of my followers will be happy to see that I included that bit!
I’ve included plenty of pictures on this post with some hints and tips below.
Ingredients for the cake balls:
- Packet of mini muffins I used chocolate ones from Aldi (375g)
- 200g Buttercream (see below for instructions)
- 75 g milk chocolate
For Decoration:
- 200g white chocolate
- Candy Eyeballs – various sizes
- Sprinkles – optional
Method:
- Make buttercream (see below) or if you have it – skip to number 2
- Remove wrappers from mini muffins and crumble them into a large bowl with your hands. Kids love this bit.
- Melt the milk chocolate
- Pour melted chocolate into buttercream and stir well
- Pour buttercream & chocolate mixture into large bowl with muffin crumbs and stir well
- Use clean hands to scrunch the mixture together, this will make the mixture firmer and hold the ball shape in the next step.
- Roll the mixture into large bite-sized balls and arrange on a baking tray or plate. I weigh the first ball and make it around 30 g. I try to keep them to that size, but there are no rules. The balls are not going on sticks so can be as big or small as you like.
- Place in fridge for half an hour to chill.
- Melt the white chocolate, stir until smooth.
- Dip the cake ball into the chocolate. I do this using two forks. I hold the ball over the melted chocolate to catch any excess drips, like in this picture.
- Place the dipped ball on a plate or tray with grease-proof paper on it and add some eyes or sprinkles before the chocolate sets.
Buttercream – Beat (using a mixer) 75 g unsalted butter at room temp & 150 g of sifted icing sugar. Add 1 – 1.5 tbsp of cooled boiled water if the mixture is stiff. You will have slightly more than 200 g – you can use all the buttercream made.
Hints & Tips:
- I store uneaten cake balls in the fridge and just remove them 20 mins before eating to allow them to get to room temperature. My kids also happily eat them straight from the fridge…
- I shaped a few of the balls into domes (see above) to try to make them look like a ghost. These are the ones that got eaten first!
- This is a nice activity to do with kids – for some reason they love eyeballs.
- If you don’t want to use eyeballs, drizzle the balls with melted chocolate or put sprinkles on them.
- The balls may have the odd crack in them when you make them – this doesn’t really matter, as the melted chocolate you added to the mixture helps to hold them together. As well as this, they aren’t going on sticks so don’t have to be perfect. Cake pops take a bit more attention to detail – size, shape and if there are cracks as you don’t want them to slip off the cake pop stick. Cake balls are easier and a big hit – so why bother with sticks!
- One follower, told me she uses a chocolate swiss roll instead of muffins and buttercream. I have not tried this myself but it might save you making the buttercream. If you do this, I would still add melted chocolate as this helps hold the mixture together.
- If you are on instagram, I have saved some pictures and videos of me making these on my highlights. You can find me on insta @thecakemum *
Happy Baking
De (aka thecakemum)
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The Cake Mum 