About two weeks ago, I made cake balls for a dessert fellowship at church and also for a co-worker's birthday. For that particular batch, I used Nutella instead of icing to mix with the baked cake. They turned out delicious - if you ever wanted a variation using a wholesome chocolate-hazelnut spread (which totally cracks me up in the commercials...as wonderful as Nutella is, let's be honest about it's nutritional deficiencies).
Anyway...after we got home from church, my mom had an idea to make them ghost-shaped using orange flavored cake mix (I had no idea this even existed!) and vanilla almond bark. We also made a vanilla cake version and colored the icing with food coloring so those ghosts would be orange inside too (I would recommend coloring the cake itself too - so the color is a little more vivid).
Here's how...
Ingredients
1 cake mix - any flavor
Oil, eggs, butter, water - whatever your cake mix package requires to bake the cake
1 can icing - in a complimentary flavor to your cake (and not the whipped version - though if it's all you can find you can use 1 1/2 containers to make it work)
1 package vanilla almond bark (chocolate works for regular cake balls but wouldn't have the ghost effect needed for these).
1 T shortening or canola oil
miniature chocolate chips
white sanding sugar (optional)
cupcake liners (for serving ease, also optional)
Directions
Two days prior to serving, bake your cake mix according to package directions - adding food coloring if desired. Cool completely. Crumble cake in a large bowl. Stir in icing until completely incorporated. Using a small serving spoon (meaning the big ones in your silverware drawer you can't exactly eat with due to mouth size restrictions, but not the large ones you use for serving up Thanksgiving dinner), place some of the cake mixture in your left hand (unless you're left handed, then you may want to use your right). Roll like a snake so that the mixture compacts. Set the bottom of your snake in the palm of your hand so the base flattens, then using the fingers of your opposite hand, shape into a ghost. I liked how the indention of my fingers made the ghost shapes more draped like Pac-man ghosts. Place formed ghosts back in the pan you baked the cake in (I'm all about less dishes, folks). You'll likely need an extra container depending on the size of your ghosts because they don't stack as well as balls do (now there's a sentence I never expected to type). Chill overnight.
When you are ready to cover and decorate...Melt almond bark in microwave according to package directions. I like to add the shortening or canola oil between an interval of melting. I found it makes the almond bark smoother and a little shinier too. Lay waxed paper on your work space while bark melts and get your ghosts/balls/whatever shape you molded (I won't judge) from your refrigerator. If coating balls, use two forks or a spoon or whatever works best for you, to dip and completely cover, then set on waxed paper to harden. If you made ghosts (or I imagine this would be true with snowmen too), I found it easier to set them about an inch or so apart and then drizzle the melted bark over them with a spoon making sure they were totally covered. This allowed a thinner coating (stretching our bark) and created a neat draping effect that I thought worked well for the ghosts. Sprinkle with sanding sugar and use mini-chips to create the eyes and mouth. Alternately, you can also poke holes in your ghosts with a toothpick and insert the pointy side of the chip. My mom found this to work better since the bark seemed to melt the chocolate chip. Chill overnight. Place in cupcake liners to serve (unless it's family, then save a tree and just set them on a platter).
I hope you enjoy!
