Bourbon Cake Balls
This recipe, developed by my husband, is based upon the basic Cake Ball recipe and is different than the traditional Bourbon Ball recipe. If I may be so bold as to say, they are tastier and even easier to prepare than the traditional recipe.
This recipe, developed by my husband, is based upon the basic Cake Ball recipe and is different than the traditional Bourbon Ball recipe. If I may be so bold as to say, they are tastier and even easier to prepare than the traditional recipe.
- Carbohydrate 0.49895160656 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.5908764158819 g
- Fiber 0.345594200094584 g
- Protein 0.330114446764444 g
- Saturated Fat 0.222476257470476 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (5g)
- Sodium 0.0176507936507937 mg
- Sugar 0.153357406465416 g
- Trans Fat 0.121497956142857 g
- Calories 29 calories
Step-by-step
- Soak nuts in Bourbon while you bake and cool the cake.
- Bake the yellow cake mix in a 9x13 cake pan as directed on the box. Allow to cool.
- Break it up into the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer.
- With the paddle on a slow speed, add the nuts and Bourbon, as well as the entire tub of icing. Slow, so you don?t whip it out all over your kitchen - trust me on this one!
- Allow to mix completely. This will have a moist, pasty consistency and will look somewhat unattractive.
- Spread this mixture back into the cake pan from whence it came. Chill well in the fridge, two to three hours. It will be somewhat firm to touch when chilled properly.
- With a sharp knife, cut into seven rows by nine rows, to ultimately make 63 Bourbon Balls.
- Using a fork, pull each cube out of the pan and roll it into a sphere with your hands.
- Place each sphere on a wax paper (or parchment) lined cookie sheet. It will actually take several sheets, probably three or four. Don't let the spheres touch.
- Chill again in the fridge for a couple more hours.
- After the spheres are chilled, prepare your favorite chocolate bark as directed.
- NOTE: Prepare to work quickly and uninterruptedly at this point. You will want room for the cookie sheets to be placed next to the dip. You will return the dipped spheres to the wax papered cookie sheets, so keep the wax paper intact on the cookie sheet. Have your toothpicks and pecan halves at the ready.
- Using a toothpick, dip each sphere (one at a time) into the coating, allow excess to drip off and place carefully back onto the waxed paper cookie sheet. Again, don?t allow the spheres to touch each other.
- QUICKLY place a pecan half on top of the freshly dipped sphere and press down a bit to help it adhere to the Bourbon Ball. This will also serve to cover the unsightly toothpick hole.
- Allow to chill in the fridge. You want the coating to be firm.
- If you are so inclined, place the Bourbon Balls on little cupcake papers and package in boxes. Alternatively, you can just eat them right off the cookie sheet and pass out under the kitchen table. It is completely up to you.
Why is this mixture so sticky right after combining? The high sugar content in a sixteen-ounce tub of white icing combined with a half cup of bourbon creates a wet paste that resists shaping at room temperature. Chilling the mass directly in a nine-by-thirteen-inch pan for at least two to three hours transforms the soft matrix into a workable medium. Cutting the chilled block into a grid of seven by nine sections yields sixty-three uniform portions before any hand rolling begins.
Soaking chopped pecans in whiskey beforehand softens the nutmeat and distributes alcohol flavor throughout the crumb. When incorporating the nuts and liquid into the broken cake using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, maintain a slow speed. High speeds throw wet crumbs across counters instantly. The resulting texture should look dense and unattractive rather than light and fluffy.
Dipping chilled spheres into melted chocolate bark requires absolute speed because the cold interior hardens the coating almost instantly. Use a toothpick to submerge each ball completely, tap off excess coating to prevent pooling at the base, and place the piece onto wax paper. Pressing a pecan half onto the warm surface immediately hides the toothpick puncture.
Traditional Southern bourbon balls rely on crushed vanilla wafers or graham crackers combined with powdered sugar and bourbon, then cured for days. This variation utilizes a baked yellow cake mix instead. Storing the finished treats in airtight containers in the refrigerator maintains structural integrity for up to one week.
