Cake Bites...

...are not as easy as they seem, but they are lots of fun to make! Your kids will love it, too!

Last weekend I took a stab at making a batch of these little bites, and it took much longer than I thought it would, but it WAS a lot of fun making them and decorating them!

Here is what you need:

• 1 box cake mix
• 1 can frosting
• Toothpicks or popsicle sticks
• Patience
• Lots of time
• Chocolate bark
• Decorations like sprinkles, crushed cookies, coconut, chopped pecans, etc

Here is what you do...in a pictorial:

Make your cake like it says to on the box. Cool completely.

Crumble cake in a large bowl then mix with half the can of frosting. You want your cake and frosting to be similar colors. I used yellow cake mix and cream cheese frosting. This picture shows the end of the batch. (I forgot to take a pic at the beginning of the process.) (This is the part your kids will love to help with...just make sure they wash their hands REALLY REALLY REALLY well before they dive in. lol)

The cake mix should be a mold-able consistency. Roll small amounts of the mix into small little balls, about the size of a nickel in diameter. Any larger and its just too much to handle in one bite. Plus, they are way too rich.

Place one toothpick or popsicle stick in each cake ball and place them in the freezer (covered) overnight. This is crucial! (Thanks for the tip, C!) I only let them set in the fridge for an hour and 15 minutes and it wasn't enough time. I struggled when it came time to cover them in chocolate and decorations.

The next day when you're ready to finish the process, get all of your decorations in one place and prepare your chocolate for melting. (The toothpicks are in this pic because I put them in the cake balls when I took them out of the fridge. But, you'll want to do this step the night before when you put them in the freezer.)

Cover each cake ball in chocolate and then put them back in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the chocolate to set a little bit...but not too much! You want it to be just long enough that you can handle them without the chocolate falling off the cake part but you want them still soft enough that your decorations will stay in place. (And, a good thing about adding decorations: if your chocolate isn't "pretty" then the decorations will cover any imperfections!)

**The chocolate didn't work out for me...couldn't get it smooth enough. So, instead, I used the other half of the can of frosting mixed with a little milk (about 1/3 cup) and powdered sugar (about 1 cup) to make a glaze. I had to put them in the fridge for a long time so it would set up.**

When you're finished decorating them, put them back in the fridge until you're ready to serve them.