Dark Rum Chocolate Cake Balls

(Can also be used to make cake pops)

Cake Balls:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge cake Mix

(any ingredients called for by cake mix directions)

½ cup Dark Rum or Kahlua (I used Kahlua last time & it was great) which you will substitute for ½ cup of the water called for in the cake mix

1 teaspoon pure Vanilla

Icing (use the recipe below or you can always use 1 cup pre-made, but honestly the one below will make your cake balls much better).

Icing:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. Mascarpone cheese at room temperature

1/3 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup Honey

1 tablespoon dark Rum

Coating:

1 large package chocolate Almond Bark-Melted (I also used a vanilla flavored candy coating for the white cake balls, which can be colored with Wilton’s gel edible food coloring for variety).

Any other sprinkles or decorations you would like to add.

Directions:

Preheat oven as directed. Follow cake directions on the back of your box, but reduce water & add additional ingredients. Bake cake according to directions. Remove & cool on a large rack. Once cooled, remove cake and crumble into fine crumbs in a large mixing bowl, removing any crispy or hard edges.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, mascarpone, cream cheese, confection sugar, and honey together. Once combined, add rum. Set aside 1 cup. The remaining icing can be refrigerated and used at a later date. Add icing to cake crumbs, mixing well, until the entire cup of icing has been absorbed by cake. Set into freezer to chill for at least 20 minutes.

Remove and measure out equal scoops of cake mix to obtain uniform measurements for cake balls. Once all of your cake balls are measured, roll and form into smooth balls, and set onto parchment paper, and allow to chill in the freezer while you melt your candy coating or Almond bark. Remove cake balls from freezer, and dip into candy coating. I found that setting each cake ball into the coating, then scooping in onto a fork while the excess coating drips off, then pushing it carefully into the parchment paper with a skewer stick cut in half, was the best technique. Add any sprinkles or decoration now so that it will set. I stored the cake balls in Tupperware overnight, but they are good at room temperature, covered for up to 2 days. Enjoy!