Sometimes the best things come from those little accidents and mishaps that come in the kitchen. Originally, this cake I was baking was intended to be a beautiful orange layer cake that I was going to ice in a Cool Whip/pudding sort of icing. Because…we all know that chocolate and orange just work together! Mmmm…mmmm.
Unfortunately, through no fault of the cake mix but more my spraying and dusting of the cake pans, when I inverted my beautiful layers to come out of the pan and cool…they crumbled. Half stayed in the pan…the rest fell apart onto the plate.
I admit…I cried. I put a lot of effort and ingredients into those cake layers and what did I have to show for it?
This:
But then…after some Google searching and suggestions from my friends on Facebook (say what you will about social networking…it saves my life sometimes!), I decided to gather up the pieces of my pride and my cake…and turn them into cake balls.
So…the actual flavored cake recipe comes from The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free and it was for the Orange Layer Cake. The rest of it…was all me, a trip to the grocery store, a dig-around in my pantry, and a little inspiration.
Recipe: Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Cake Balls with Chopped Nuts
Servings: 48
Time: Prep 25 minutes; Bake 24 minutes; Cool 20 minutes; Dip 15 minutes
Ingredients for cake:
- vegetable oil spray, for misting pans
- 2 tsp rice flour, for dusting pans (I used Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour)
- 1 package (15 oz) yellow gluten-free cake mix (I used Gluten-Free Pantry Old Fashioned Cake & Cookie Mix)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp orange juice (I used freshly squeezed)
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
Ingredients for cake balls:
- 1 container (8 oz) vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
- 1-1/4 tsp orange zest
Ingredients for coating:
- 2 squares Ghirardelli 100% dark chocolate baking squares
- 14 Bakers Semi-Sweet baking squares
- chopped hazelnuts
- chopped walnuts
Directions:
Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable oil spray, then dust them with rice flour. Shake out the excess rice flour and set pans aside.
Place the cake mix, sugar, orange juice, butter, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest (if using) in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are just incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the batter until smooth, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans, smoothing the tops with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side-by-side.
Bake the cake layers until they are golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 19-24 minutes. Transfer the cake pans to wire racks and let the cake layers cool for 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each cake layer and give the pans a good shake to loosen the cakes. Invert each layer onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the layers are right side up. Let the layers cool completely, about 20 minutes longer.
Take cake layers that fell apart when coming out of the cake pan and put them in a big bowl. Crumble with hands. Add cream cheese and orange zest. With your hands, blend into the cake mix until it is well incorporated.
Take chunks of cake mix and roll into balls, placing on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
Melt Baker’s chocolate and dark chocolate in the microwave. Stir.
Drop cake balls into chocolate and coat. Lift out with a fork and shake off excess. Place back on parchment paper.
Top with nuts (optional).
Cool in the fridge.
~*~*~
So…here is a fine example of making something work…even if it wasn’t what you set out to do in the first place. On the plus side…these cake balls are very, very decadent, light, and delicious. The combination of chocolate and orange is so refreshing. So…a note to the weekend bakers…don’t cry over a broken cake. Just make cake balls. No sense wasting perfectly good cake, right?
The Celiathlete 