Cake Balls

• Make basic cake balls by crumbling baked and cooled cake into a bowl. Mix with icing to bind the crumbs together. How much icing you need will depend on how dry the cake crumbs are. You should use just enough to hold the cake into a dough-like consistency. If you use too much icing, the balls will be too moist and will not hold up to dipping. Roll the cake mixture into 1-inch balls, then dip in melted chocolate or candy coating. At this point, you can serve the cake balls as a treat, or decorate them to match the theme of your celebration.

Types of Buttercream

• Buttercream icing falls into two basic categories: simple buttercream -- also called American buttercream -- and meringue buttercream. American buttercream is made with shortening and powdered sugar, and closely resembles the frosting sold in a can.

  Meringue buttercream can be further categorized into Italian, Swiss and French meringue buttercreams. Italian buttercream begins with egg whites that have been whipped to stiff peaks. Slowly incorporate hot sugar syrup into the egg whites to form a meringue, then add the butter. The sugar syrup provides sweetness, while the egg whites make this buttercream lighter and more airy than its American counterpart. Swiss and French buttercreams use the whole egg, rather than just the egg white.

Using Italian Buttercream for Cake Balls

• Italian buttercream icing can be tricky to make, but once the emulsion has formed it is quite stable. Use Italian buttercream just as you would any other icing. You may need to use less Italian buttercream than you would American buttercream or frosting, because there is more liquid in this type of icing. Mix small amounts of icing into your cake crumbs and incorporate fully before adding more icing.

Storing Cake Balls Made with Italian Buttercream

• Store cake balls made with Italian buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If the balls are too warm, the chocolate or candy coating and the fat in the buttercream will melt, causing the balls to fall apart. Bring the balls to room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.