Carrot Cake Balls

while in NM, i promised to make my brother, W, carrot cupcakes for his birthday. i'm not sure if it was the altitude or the fact that we didn't have a mixer so it was hand-mixed, but for whatever reason, the cupcakes were a utter fail. they, spread out way too much (nearly spilling over the muffin tin) and when i pulled them out of the oven, the middle sank. they were some ugly cupcakes. so ugly i couldn't bear to take a picture. my plan was just to ice them and accept the failure. after all, they did taste good (i checked).

 

the problem with my "fix everything with icing plan" was this: as i tried to pry them from the muffin pan, the tops basically crumbled off. that when the though hit me . . .

when life hands you deflated, ugly cupcakes, make cake balls!

i had seen something on the food network about cake balls and i even saw a food blog post about cupcakes balls. this was the answer to my ugly cupcake dilemma. i remembered the show saying cake balls were made by crumbling up baked cake and mixing it with the icing to crate a moist, compact-able dough.

i just crumbled up the cupcakes and then mixed it with the cream cheese icing i had made to spread on the cupcakes.

hence the topping became the binding.

i used a tablespoon to measure out uniform size balls and rolled them up. it made 34 balls.

i placed them all on wax paper to prevent them from sticking and then stuck them in the freezer for 20 minutes.

meanwhile, i melted white chocolate chips in a double broiler (heat-proof glass bowl over simmering water) to dip the cake balls in to make them extra pretty.

i only had enough white chocolate chips to dip 3/4 of the balls so i used extra cream cheese icing and piped it on the remaining carrot cake balls.

W said they were both good but liked the iced ones the best. he's the expert!

even though this does take extra time, it's a different, unexpected treat. i'd love to try it with chocolate cake and dip them in melted dark chocolate chips. yum!

---

Carrot Cake Balls
(makes 34 balls)

cake:
3/4 stick of butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained

mix butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. add eggs, one at a time. in a separate bowl, whisk together remaining dry ingredients. slowly add dry ingredients (flour through salt) to wet until completely mixed. add in carrots and pineapple and pour into 8x8 baking pan.

bake for 30-40 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean) then remove from oven and let cool.

once cake has completely cooled, crumble into large bowl.

icing:
2 tbs cream cheese, room temperature
4 tbs butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

cream together cream cheese and butter. add powdered sugar a little at a time and then vanilla extract. whip in mixer until light and fluffy

stir icing into crumbled cake and stir well. the mixture should be able to hold together. form into uniform size balls and place in freezer for 15-20 minutes.

meanwhile, melt a bag of white chocolate chips. using tooth picks, dip semi-frozen balls into melted chocolate. place on wax paper until chocolate has set. then, enjoy!


note: you can also make a double batch of cream cheese icing and safe half for piping on top of the carrot cake balls. if you do this, keep balls refrigerated.

---

happy belated 32nd W!

(you're my favorite brother:)