Cake Balls

We had heard about these before, but when we had them at our Halloween Party, we thought they were really great. The lady who made them for that party, is a pastry chef. We asked her about them and she gave us some hints about how to make them. We decided to try them for Halloween. They aren't super hard, but take some time. We made chocolate cake and went from there. I like red velvet cake so the red velvet ones were a bit better, in my opinion. You can also put them on a stick and they are called Cake Pops.

Cake Balls

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) (or any flavor of cake mix)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.) (we made our own)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot.

Link to original recipe at Bakerella (as well as other ideas for decorating cake balls/pops) here.

Jack O Lantern Casserole

We were all surprised at how good this casserole was. Scott and I had it at our Halloween party and thought it was okay. Since it wasn't cold on Halloween here, we decided to try it and see what we thought.

Jack O Lantern Casserole

1 medium pumpkin

1 lb. ground sausage (I used chipotle sausage and it make it taste really good)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 can cream of chicken soup

1.5 to 2 cu. cooked rice

1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts

1 cup sliced almonds

Clean out pumpkin. Brown sausage. Mix in remaining ingredients. Put pumpkin on cookie sheet. Fill pumpkin with mixture. Place in oven and bake pumpkin with lid on for 1 hour at 350F or until pumpkin is tender. Ladle on to plates out of the pumpkin.

We did double the recipe, but I didn't add any more sausage. The kids really liked this as well. It was really tasty.