German Chocolate Cake Balls

I can't take any of the credit for this recipe other than the variations we've made. The original I got from bakerella.com who is the queen of cute cake balls and such (you should totally check out her website--it's amazing what she can do with these!). The basic recipe involves crumbling up a baked cake, adding a can of frosting, and then forming it into balls and then dipping them. Her original recipe calls for Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting dipped in chocolate. We've tried a few different variations, and hope to try many, many more :) One of our favorites thus far is German Chocolate complete with homemade coconut pecan frosting. You could totally use the canned frosting for this in a pinch, but isn't homemade just that much nummier?
This is actually the only picture I've been able to snap of my cake balls. It's from my youngest son's 1st birthday a couple years ago. We had a "Ball" theme since he was so in love with balls of any variety at that point. So I tried doing the bakerella thing and making the cake balls look like actual balls (we were going for basketballs, baseballs, yellow bouncy balls, and kickballs). I think this variety was Devil's food cake with cream cheese frosting dipped in colored candy melts (like almond bark-- you can get them at joann's/roberts etc.).

German Chocolate Cake Balls
a variation of the original cake balls by bakerella

1 German Chocolate Cake, baked according to package directions
1 recipe Coconut Pecan Frosting (recipe below, or in a pinch--1 can of coconut pecan frosting)
3-4 bags Guittard Chocolate chips (or almond bark or other chocolate)*

Dump the cake into a really big bowl and break it up with your hands or fork or whatever you find useful. Stir in the coconut pecan frosting. Using your hands, start rolling the mixture into balls and placing on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or freezer paper. Make sure they're not touching, but cram as many as you can on there. You may need to wash the mixture off your hands several times while rolling these, as your hands will get very messy which makes for messy balls. After rolling a full pans worth of balls, place the pan in the freezer for at least 20 minutes (this helps them stay firm while you're dipping them in warm chocolate).

Melt your chocolates in a bowl. I just use the microwave for this. Heat it initially for 30 seconds and then stir. Then heat it for 15 seconds and stir, repeating until the chocolate is melted. During the dipping, you'll have to keep reheating the chocolates or keep them in a double boiler or a crockpot to help it stay warm and melted.

Carefully, using two forks (or official dipping forks if you're lucky enough to have them), dip each frozen cake ball into the chocolate and carefully place on a sheet of parchment to dry and set. After the chocolate has set, dig in and enjoy!

*For a full recipe, you'll need about 1 package plus a bit of another package of almond bark. It melts and dips thinner than chocolate chips. So you won't need as much as you would chocolate chips. Chocolate chips just taste tons better (especially the good kind like guittard), but they stay thicker, so you need more.

Coconut Pecan Frosting
Better Homes and Gardens cookbook

1 egg
2/3 cup evaporated milk (regular milk works fine too)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/3 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a medium saucepan, slightly beat egg. Stir in milk, sugar, and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat about 12 minutes or till thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in coconut and pecans. Cover and cool. Tastes great on German Chocolate Cake, Brownies, you name it :).