Cake Balls...I Got 'Em

There is a little party happening at my house Saturday evening. The groom is a long time friend of Son2 and his lovely bride is one of those people you meet and feel immediately like you have known her forever. She is absolutely charming and to the groom the only thing I can say is " Well you aimed high and somehow hit the target"

You know how when you are having people in your home you finish up all the loose end projects you mean to get done but just put on the back burner? For the past few days I have been in a flurry of clean, repair, reposition, and renew. It's almost amazing what we will live with everyday, but would hate for someone else to know is our everyday life. I think I should have something at my home each month just to keep all projects in line for completion. Or am I the only one who starts something then doesn't quite finish? Or how about the ideas that you thought were really good until you tried them. When my older sons were little I thought it would be a great idea to wallpaper the walls and ceiling of the stairwell going to there playroom. Not a truly terrible idea until you understand that I thought it would be a good idea to paper it with the insert maps found in old National Geographic magazines. Still think it's not a horrible idea? The old maps were quite thin and not really intended to be used as wallpaper, but never to let a "good idea" die on the vine, I papered the walls and ceilings, then noticed some of the edges did not stick properly. Of course the ultimate solution to solve the problem was the coat the entire surface with polyurethane. No problem until about a year after I created this situation when I got sick and tired of it. We were going to have some people over so I thought it would be a good idea to take down the mess and start over with a fresher approach. I started peeling...no luck. Got a scraper and started scraping...fiercely. if you don't already know let me inform you that polyurethane coated National Geographic maps put up quite a removal battle. In the end I got all the maps removed, but those suckers did not come down without a fight and they absolutely took the hide off the sheetrock. I would up having to put up a repair paper and re wallpaper the entire stairwell/ceiling with legitimate wallpaper, but first I had to put up a special correction wallpaper to cover gouges.

Fortunately I have not done anything really stupid this time, its just a boatload of small unfinished things, like bathroom vanities that have no doors, light fixtures that have not been put up, area rugs that need that foamy waffle looking under pad to keep the rug from moving on the hardwood floors and so forth. I would like to tell you that I slaved away at all those minor repairs, but it would be an out and out lie. Jerry or St. Jerry of Hardware came today to finish up all the loose ends that require nails, screws, hammers and skills. Thank's Jerry. You managed to fix all my procrastinations in a matter of hours, leaving me the time to get a small party need out of the way.

One of the food items for the party is cake balls. If you have never had them let me explain what they are like. Try to imagine a bite sized cake truffle encased in chocolate. There is no real recipe so I am just going to tell you how to form it. Make a cake according to your favorite recipe or the directions on the back of the mix box. Take the baked cooled cake and crumble it up finely. Add 1 cup of icing ( buttercream) in the flavor of your choice. Take all that good and chill for about 1 hour. Using a very small ice cream scoop or melon baller form chilled cake goo into balls. Put them on a lined cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer until they are frozen on the outside, but still unfrozen in the center. Melt some melting chocolate in a tall coffee mug ( it's the best, I promise), and insert a lollipop stick into the center of each goo ball. Holding the stick end, dip them into the melted chocolate to cover. I found sticking them into a styrofoam "brick" was the perfect place for them to dry. Pam was helping me do them
We made yellow cake with butter cream icing coated in white chocolate and devils food cake with chocolate icing and dipped in melted dark chocolate . If you try these be a little more experimental than I was with flavors. Chocolate covered strawberry cake with sour cream icing? White chocolate covered orange cake with vanilla ( dreamsicle flavored ) You are only limited by your imagination.

Pam arranged them in alternating colors stuck into a new styro cone she brought with her. We put the filled cone on top of a tiered cake plate and filled in all of the empty places with paper daisies. ( Ask me another time what you can make with coffee filters and a bright yellow high liter) The result is a really pretty dessert/ centerpiece. A picture will follow, but I had to cover it for now and had to construct some support to hold the cloth i have covering it.

So get your ducks in order, have a party and make cake balls.