Egg Nog Cake Bites

These egg nog cake bites are one of the most viewed recipes on my blog right now, so I thought I would repost the recipe. 

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Cake bites, cake pops, cake balls...whatever you call them, are everywhere now. But, my favorite come from a bakery in Salt Lake called The Sweet Tooth Fairy. On my last visit to SLC I had the chance to try the peppermint, pumpkin, gingerbread and eggnog cake bites. My favorite was the eggnog. So, I decided to make my own when I got home.

I just followed the basic idea for making cake bites/pops which is  1.) bake a cake 2.) mix cooled and crumbled cake with frosting 3.) roll cake/frosting mixture into balls 4.) chill cake balls 5.) dip cooled cake balls into melted chocolate.

These take a little time, but cake bites are super simple to make and assemble. And you can make them in any flavor you want (chocolate peppermint cake/dark chocolate coating, spice cake/white chocolate, strawberry cake/ white chocolate, you get the idea). Plus, they make great neighbor/friend gifts!

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Ingredients

Vanilla cake mix , Egg Nog, Nutmeg, Rum, Frosting, Candy Coating

Make a vanilla or white cake mix according to the box, substituting the water or milk with Egg Nog. Add in fresh nutmeg and rum extract for that classic egg nog flavor.

 Bake that wonderful batter.

 Once cake is cooled slightly, coarsely crumble.

 Mix crumbled cake with canned or homemade frosting. It seems like cream cheese flavored frosting is the favorite with the recipes I've seen. I had a Trader Joe's vanilla bean cake mix that only made enough to fit an 8 x 8 inch pan. So, I used a little less than half a container of canned frosting. Most cake mixes use a 9x13 pan, so when you go to mix the cake only add about half a can of frosting and then more as needed so you don't end up with gooey cake. Chill this mixture before rolling into balls.

The cake balls go into the freezer so they are nice and firm to dip in the chocolate.

 Melt white candy coating until smooth and pourable.  I heated mine in a pan over really low heat. I let it cool just a tad, but it still had a runny consistency.

Tip:

Cut chocolate into even pieces so it cooks quicker and doesn't burn.

 Dip chilled cake balls into melted chocolate. I choose white chocolate because it paired well with the egg nog flavor, but of course you could use any combo of cake/chocolate coating.

 Use tooth picks to dip the balls into the chocolate and then to get them on the baking sheet. While the white chocolate is still soft you can smooth out the little hole the tooth pick leaves or you can drizzle more chocolate on top and add sprinkles.

 See. No hole. 

 I didn't have a chance to cut one open and show how moist and yummy they looked inside. Once my husband got home, him and the kids devoured an entire tray and the rest went to neighbors. Speaking of which...

 I packaged the cake bites in these cute little holiday boxes.

And bundled the cake bites with some hand crocheted kitchen towels. Very cute!

Egg Nog Cake Bites

1 Vanilla or White Cake Mix

3/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1 1/2 tsps. Rum Extract

1 can cream cheese frosting

White chocolate coating

Bake cake according to package directions. Substitute egg nog for any water or milk called for and add 3/4 tsp fresh nutmeg and 1 1/2 tsps rum extract to cake mix. Cool cake. Crumble cake in a large bowl and mix in one half of canned frosting. It's best to just get in their with your hands. Add frosting as needed until you can roll the cake into balls. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Freeze for a half hour.

Melt candy coating in the microwave or on the stove stop. Dip chilled balls into melted chocolate, coating all sides evenly. Place balls on cookie sheet. Let stand at room temp until coating has harden. Repeat with remaining balls and chocolate. If desired, drizzle more chocolate on top of each ball and top with sprinkles.