Cake Recycling

I have two containers that I keep whose contents don't look like much at all, that is until I magically transform them into little scrumptious bites that no one, I know, can resist. Especially my husband Richard!!

The first container is in the fridge it gets filled with all of my leftover french vanilla icing (which I always use as my buttercream base on cakes) The other container is in the freezer and it piles up quickly with all of the cake scraps I have from levelling the decorated cakes I do. Once the cake container is full then the magic starts to happen. I let the icing warm a bit, not really room temperature but softer than the rock hard candy it has become on the top shelf in my fridge. All of the cake scraps go into the food processor and then are spun into crumbs. Once the cake is crumbs. I pour them into a large DEEP bowl. Then back to the icing. In my kitchenaid mixer I beat that icing for old times sakes reviving it back to its once fluffy state and I add cream cheese, lots of cream cheese and beat it again until it looks like fresh dreamy icing, unfortunately this icing is usually a khaki green colour of maybe a little pinkish beige depending on the cakes I have done in the past week. Not that appetizing.  But wait it gets better, so much better.

Then I dump the entire amount of icing over the crumbs. I take off my rings. I wash my hands and I start to mix. Then I wash my hands and mix some more, then I wash my hands again and continue mixing, then I wash my hands again and finish the task. Now I have a super duper sticky, crumby concoction that I need to form into balls but before I do that I need to wash my hands. I have learned 2 important things about myself since I have been making cakes, Number 1 - I don't really like to get my hands dirty!!and Number 2 - I need to use more hand lotion.  My hands are clean but quite chapped from all of the handwashing I do.

So an hour later,100 more handwashing episodes, and I have just over 100 formed cake balls all on a tray and ready to return to the freezer. They go back in the freezer to freeze solid. Once they are frozen then the best part is just around the corner.

In a double boiler I melt the best belgium chocolate I can get my hands on and start dipping all of the frozen cake balls until they are completely coated and put them on a tray lined with wax paper to solidify. All lined up in little rows, like soldiers awaiting the changing of the guard, these left over ingredients have emerged triumphant with new life, ready to sweep the next taste bud off it's feet.

The only difficult part now is keeping them. I am not sure if they roll away into the vortex that is somewhere in my house that already contains many socks, a few pens, 3 pairs of my best scissors and I am sure the backings to one of the 20 pairs of earrings that are now unwearable in my jewellery box. I think there are also hair clips, tweezers and blistex tubes there. If these cake balls aren't in the vortex then I am sorry to say I have a thief in my midst or maybe even more! In light of passed experience I lean towards the latter theory.

Two Christmas' ago I had a large order for cake balls to fill. I made enough for all of my orders and a few extra for gifts that I could give to neighbors and .....friends... you know the ones. The friends that show up with a gift for you by surprize and luckily, in return, you had something for them... hidden... in your bedroom, that you wrapped in a panic while they waited in the Living Room. I have had a couple of those experiences in my life. I hope you're not all wondering if you were that person. Don't worry, you weren't I learned my lesson a long time ago. Anyways, I finished the order, packed the orders, made the deliveries and when I returned from making the deliveries my sister had arrived from Kingston. I had been gone a long time making all of the various stops but my husband graciously let my sister in, got her and her family set up in the guest room and offered them something to eat......guess what they ate? The left over cake balls, the ones for my neighbors and "friends".  They didn't tell me at first, but they didn't have to. They both had that "cat that ate the canary" look on thier faces.  I glanced around the kitchen then looked at them with the "I know what you have done, so fess up" look. They burst out laughing, because if you know my sister, you know, she is always laughing. When the laughter subsided they confessed the whole tale. They gave the kids something relatively heathly as a snack and sent them all to bed and then he broke out the good stuff........my cake balls. I know that Richard was the biggest culprit because to this day he inhales them instead of eating them. I don't really mind though because it makes me smile when he tastes one and his eyes roll into the back of his head!!

Now I can't say that I am the creator of the little wonders. There are many other people who lay claim to being the original "cake ball" inventor. So just to be clear I am not claiming this as my own, I just like making them! and I bet (if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, or at least washing your hands very often) that you might like making them too. Below is a picture of the company that claims to be the "original". Just look how yummy they are. You're going to be trying them I can guarantee it.