Red Velvet Cake and Cake Balls

I wanted to try again at making a Red Velvet Cake. I made one for either Easter or Mother's Day last year and something went wrong as it didn't seem to rise and it was VERY dense. It wasn't as great as I expected it to be. After talking to the girl I got the recipe from she agreed that something wasn't right. So I tried again!

I did alter Hallee's a little bit as I knew I wasn't just leaving this as a cake, but mixing it into red velvet trifles and cake balls. I also forgot to soften the butter so I tried using coconut oil for the first time!

Red Velvet Cake-adapted from Hallee the Homemaker
3/4 cup coconut oil(or butter, softened)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 oz greek yogurt(I used Honey)
2 oz reg. plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 oz red food coloring

Beat coconut oil/butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar until fluffy. Stir in applesauce.  Add in the eggs one at a time beating after each addition. Sift together flour, baking soda, and cocoa. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mix alternating with the yogurt, stating and ending with flour. Stir in vanilla. Add in red coloring and beat until combined. Place in your choice of pan.(I used a 9x13) Bake at 350 for 30-35 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

**I think this one came out MUCH better than my first attempt at making the cake! It did rise and was velvety in texture. We liked the flavor much better as well. I'm not sure what happened the first time though!

Cake Balls

These have been floating around the blogosphere for quite a while! The original recipe/method is from Bakerella. I knew I was only going to need half of the cake for our Valentine's Day dessert and I also knew I had some leftover frosting that needed to be used up. Bakerella has some other super cute ideas for fun desserts with cake, so make sure to check out her blog if you haven't already!

Now the first time I made these I used a homemade cake with homemade frosting. I wasn't a huge fan because they were VERY VERY sweet! But people would rave about these. So I tried it with the yucky can frosting...and they were AMAZING! Couldn't even taste the gross frosting! So these are special treats so I'll be ok with using that stuff once in a while! (I plan on making mickey mouse ones for Q's birthday in March). This was only a half batch as I only had half a can of frosting to use.

1/2 red velvet cake, crushed

1/2 can frosting(can use cream cheese frosting)

1/2 bag candy melts(I used dark cocoa)

Mix together cake and frosting until well combined. Roll into dough balls and freeze on a flat cookie sheet. Once frozen, melt candy melts. Roll dough into chocolate until well coated. Remove excess chocolate and place back on cookie sheet. Allow to harden and enjoy!

**Like I said these are AMAZING and slightly addicting. Luckily most of the batch is going to A's preschool tomorrow for snack! (He missed his valentine's party, so he's taking in a special treat!)