Are you a fan of peppermint bark? These peppermint bark cake balls are the perfect combination of chocolate, white chocolate and peppermints.
Chocolate cake pop mixture is dipped in both semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate, then sprinkled with crushed peppermints.
These babies will make THE perfect Christmas dessert or snack for that person who just can’t get enough peppermint bark…(like me).
Peppermint bark seems to be one of those things that people either love or hate. I’m guessing since you’re here reading this post that you either love it or know someone who loves it.
I’m in the camp that loves it. I’m pretty much the only one in my family that does, but hey that just means I don’t have to worry about anyone eating my stash of it.
During the holidays, sometimes you just want to make a dessert that’s more of a hand-held treat. By that I mean people while people are walking around and chatting, sometimes you just want to grab a quick sweet treat and not have to dig out a plate and cut a slice of pie or cake and then walk around with the plate etc. These are handy because you just grab a couple and go.
We’re also going to use two types of chocolate with these…semi-sweet and white chocolate.
You’ll also need to get a bag of peppermints to crush. You can crush them with a meat mallet or a rolling pin (I did this to break up the big pieces) and then pop them into a food processor to crush completely. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can just crush them with your rolling pin or mallet.)
Frustrated at all the lines while shopping for Christmas gifts? Just take all your frustration out on those peppermints and beat those bad boys til they’re crushed.
Alright, if you’ve made cake pops or cake balls before, then you know they’re pretty easy to make. They are time consuming though, but totally worth it to me. Basically I’m saying to leave yourself enough time to make these without stressing yourself out.
Ok let’s get to the recipe…
Recipe:
Peppermint Bark Cake Balls
Ingredients
- 1 baked chocolate cake crumbled (can use a mix or homemade)
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract optional, but it pumps up the peppermint flavor
- 3 tablespoon vanilla buttercream (can use up to 4 tbsps)
- ⅓ cup crushed peppermints (to mix into the cake)
- ⅔ cup crushed peppermints (for sprinkling)
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted)
- 6 oz white chocolate chips (melted)
Instructions
- Make your favorite chocolate cake batter (mix or scratch) and add in ½ teaspoon of peppermint extract. The extract is optional, but it does add a little more peppermint flavor.
- Bake and cool your chocolate cake.
- Crumble the cake and add to a large bowl.
- Add in about 3-4 tablespoons of buttercream and mix well. You’ll likely have to use your clean hands at this point. Try three at first, mix and check the consistency by rolling the mixture into a ball. If it’s too crumbly, add another tablespoon of buttercream and mix again. If you add too much buttercream, the mixture could become too mushy and it will be harder for it to hold its shape.
- Add in ⅓ cup crushed peppermints and mix well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
- Use about a tablespoon size of cake ball mixture and roll into a ball using the palms of your hands.
- Place on wax paper that’s on a cake board or baking sheet.
- Keep rolling until all the mixture is used. You’ll have around 60 cake balls.
- Set the cake balls in the fridge to chill while you melt the chocolate.
- Melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave for only about 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between. You may need to add in a teaspoon of shortening to thin the chocolate a bit for dipping, but be careful not to add too much or the chocolate won’t firm up as much as it needs to.
- Once the chocolate is melted, dunk the chilled cake balls into the chocolate, roll around and lift out with a fork. It helps to use a plastic fork with a prong or two broken off. (That helps the melted chocolate drip off better.)
- Set onto wax paper.
- Coat all the cake balls in semi-sweet chocolate and chill in the fridge until firm.
- Melt the white chocolate and spoon over the chilled chocolate covered cake balls.
- Sprinkle on crushed peppermint over the tops of each one before the white chocolate firms up.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
How to Share
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TOOLS & SUPPLIES USED FOR THE PEPPERMINT BARK CAKE BALLS:
- KitchenAid Handheld Mixer
- Peppermint Extract
- 13×9 inch baking pan
- Peppermints
- Food Processor
- Vanilla Buttercream
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