How to Make Cake Balls

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: November 18, 2022 Tested

When you think of eating cake with your hands, you might imagine a baby at their first birthday party, hands full of mashed cake and icing smeared across their face. Luckily, there’s a much tidier way to eat delicious cake with your hands. Cake balls are perfect party treats, packing the scrumptiousness of cake into bite-sized finger food. Pop a stick in the cake ball, and you'll have a delicious cake pop! Learn how to bake and decorate these yummy treats for your next party– or for dinner, there’s no judgment here.

Ingredients

1 box of cake mix (any flavor)
1 tub of frosting
1 bag of melting chocolate
Optional toppings (crushed Oreos, sprinkles, etc.)

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Baking the Cake

1
Grab your favorite cake mix. The great thing about cake balls is that you can create them out of any of your standard favorites: chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, whatever! Between the cake mix, frosting, and decorations you can use for your cake balls, your options are pretty endless.
- Make sure to pick up all of the ingredients listed on the cake mix (typically oil and eggs).
2
Follow the instructions on the box. You don’t need to do anything special– just prepare the cake as directed. You can use any pan, just make sure you’re following the directions for that pan size. Pop your cake into the oven for the directed amount of time. If they list a baking time range, opt for the lower end– soft cake works best for cake balls.^{[1]
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3
Remove your cake from the oven. Check to see that it’s cooked thoroughly by sticking a toothpick into the middle of it. If the toothpick slides out relatively clean, the cake is done. If the toothpick comes out with batter on it, you’ll need to stick your cake in the oven for a few more minutes. Just make sure you check it regularly so it doesn’t burn.^{[2]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Forming the Balls

1
Crumble the cake into a large bowl. It’s best to do this while the cake is still warm. Cut chunks of cake at a time and crumble them into the mixing bowl. You can use your hands, or you can use a mixer to break it up more quickly. Continue until the entire cake is crumbled into the bowl.^{[3]
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2
Stir in the frosting. Scoop the frosting into the bowl of crumbled cake, and continuously stir.^{[4]
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Research source} Depending on the size of your cake mix box, the amount of frosting you’ll need will vary. Most cake mixes are 15.25 ounces, but there are also mixes that come in 18.2 ounces and bigger. For a 15.25 box of cake mix, you'll need about 3/4 cup of frosting. Add a bit more for a bigger box. Keep adding frosting until the mixture is a malleable texture, like Play-Doh, and you can form it without it crumbling.
3
Consider cake and frosting combinations. If you want to make chocolate cake balls, use chocolate cake mix with chocolate frosting. For vanilla, use vanilla cake and vanilla frosting. Otherwise, feel free to mix and match cake mix flavors and frosting flavors to create hybrid flavors. Some combination ideas include:
- Red velvet cake with buttercream frosting
- Angel food cake with strawberry icing
- Chocolate cake with red velvet icing
4
Roll the mixture into balls with your hands. The optimal size for a cake ball is about the size of a Ping-Pong ball. Grab a chunk of dough and roll it between your palms. Once it’s as smooth and round as you can make it, place it on a tray lined with wax paper.^{[5]
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5
Place the tray in the fridge. You don’t need to keep it in there very long. Fifteen to twenty minutes will allow the balls to firm up, and they’ll be easier to coat and decorate.^{[6]
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Research source} If you’re crunched for time, put them in the freezer for about five minutes.
- The cake balls are done with the outside no longer feels moist and you can squeeze them gently without them losing their shape.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Coating and Decorating

1
Melt your coating in a small pan. You can use white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate– whatever you’re in the mood for. Make sure to purchase the chocolate specifically meant for melting and baking. Set your stove to low heat, stirring constantly, so that you don’t burn your chocolate. Once it is completely melted, turn off the heat.
2
Dip your cake balls into the melted chocolate. This step can be tricky, but there are a few different ways to do this. Try sticking a toothpick into the cake ball and use it to dip the ball into the chocolate, turning it in the pan so that the entire ball is evenly coated. Once you’ve let the excess chocolate drip off the cake ball, place it back on the wax paper.
- You can also place the cake ball in the batter with a spoon or even with your hand, but you may have difficulty getting the chocolate perfectly smoothed around the cake ball.
3
Decorate your cake ball. While the chocolate is still warm, you can add some extra goodies, if you want. Scatter colorful sprinkles over the balls, or coat them with edible glitter. To make your cake balls extra decadent, you can even sprinkle them with crushed Oreos, Reese’s, or M&M’s. You can drizzle your cake balls with caramel or another liquid topping as well.
- If you’re making several different kinds of cake balls, it can be helpful to use your decorations to signify what flavor of cake is in the inside. For example, red velvet cake balls could be decorated with crushed Oreos while vanilla cake balls could be decorated with sprinkles.
4
Harden your cake balls in the fridge. You can leave them in their overnight, or just pop them in there until the chocolate is completely solidified. Once the chocolate is solid to the touch, they’re all done. Enjoy!

Community Q&A

Question

Can I freeze finished cake balls?

Qamar

Top Answerer

Yes. Place the cake balls in an airtight container or wrap them with plastic wrap. Stored in the freezer, they last a few weeks.
Question

What is the difference between a cake ball and a cake pop?

Community Answer

A cake pop is a cake ball on a stick, like a lollipop. Just poke a stick into each of them and then have them cool that way. You could push the other end of the stick into a piece of Styrofoam or something like that in order to keep them upright in the fridge until it’s time to serve, if you want.