Eurypterids and Cake Balls



Fossil cake!

 The other day one of my friends did his oral exam for his PhD. There is a tradition in the paleontology group to make special cakes for big events such as this. This time, we made an giant eurypterid cake. Don't know what a eurypterid is? Also known as a sea scorpion, it's a creature that lived long ago and no longer exists, thank goodness. I mean, it would be terrifying if they did, since some were huge. Anyways, a standard Google search produces decent images. I used cake mix to simplify things, and made one rectangular red velvet cake, and two round chocolate cakes. Do various cutting and piecing together, you get the beauty on the right. Below, is the frosted, decorated final objet d'art. We ran out of frosting, but it did make for a nice two-tone effect. Cashews for eyes, Twizzlers Pull n Peel for...the other parts.

The dead dinosaur on the bottom is a running joke.

I think he enjoyed it :) His advisor stopped by, and seemed happy, though noted there were not enough plates on the back. Yeah, it's generalized. But the recipient was able to guess the genus, so I don't think we did too bad!



Leftover cake pieces to be repurposed!

After all this, there were some miscellaneous pieces of cake left. A proponent of "waste not want not," I decided I had enough to try making cake balls! I had never done so before, though I have enjoyed a few made for me. I checked out Bakerella's site for the basic info. I pretty much decided the key was in the cake to frosting ratio. I made about one cup frosting for what I deemed was about one cake's worth. They were harder to coat than I anticipated, but didn't look as ugly as I thought they would, haha. Notes:

1. Great use of shaved tops of cake!
2. I used my bigger cookie scoop, and made about 21 balls, they were a bit big, next time will use smaller scoop. Chilled scoops for a bit before rolling.
3. Used about 6 blocks of chocolate coating. If you have a little extra, again, "waste not want not!" Surely there is something in your pantry that can get coating and make a nice snack later - pretzels, marshmallows, graham crackers, nuts...
4. Chilled balls easier to dip, as the coating heats them up and harder to tap off excess coating. Freezing them makes the coating stick to the dipping apparatus.
5. I made half a batch of Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting - it's my favorite chocolate frosting. Not that I've ever made any others. Not that I need to.
6. By the way, I *do* waste sometimes...but why waste when you can make cake balls?!

   

   Frosting! I sometimes add extra vanilla in place of some milk.

   

   The cake crumbs pretty easily by rubbing between your hands.

   

   Mixed crumbs and frosting



Scooped balls, stuck them in the fridge for a bit...

...then rolled them.



Coating, fun sprinkles, and Wilton dipping tools.

Look pretty messy, but a little nicer lined up. Plus coated oatcakes.



Cute and tasty!

Springtime colors :)