I know what you’re thinking. It was JUST Christmas and now it’s already Valentine’s Day? Sheesh, can’t a girl get a break from all the gift-giving? Don’t stress! I have a super-simple idea for last minute Valentine gifts that you are sure to enjoy too. Stay away from the card aisle, forget the cheap Valentine’s Day chocolate and make your own sweet treats, packaged in homemade wrapping. Valentine cake balls are just about the easiest thing to make and are sooo very delicious. With a combination of red velvet cake inside and dark chocolate outsides, these are the perfect last minute valentine gifts. While we don’t normally do recipes here at FaveCrafts, decorating and arranging these cake balls encourages creativity!
To make the cake balls, you barely need to bake at all! But because of the time needed for cooling and freezing between steps, prepare at least on Friday or Saturday morning for low-stress last minute valentine gifts. You will need:
- one package of red velvet cake mix (or white cake mix and a few drops of red food coloring)
- one carton of icing (any flavor, cream cheese or vanilla would both be nice)
- one package of melting or baker’s chocolate (I would recommend dark chocolate for Valentine’s Day.)
- wooden skewers
- wax paper
Bake the cake according to package directions and let cool for several hours or overnight. Crumble the cooled cake into a large bowl. Add 1/2-3/4 of the carton of icing until the mixture sticks together well. Roll into balls with your hands and place on the wax paper. Place in the freezer for 15-30 minutes. You want them firm but not frozen solid. Meanwhile, melt chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave or in a double-boiler. When cake balls came out of freezer, dip in chocolate one-by-one with the skewers. Let dry on wax paper.
Once the cake balls are finished, you can present to your valentine(s) in a number of ways. Here are wrapping ideas for your last minute valentine gifts:
- Wrap in Homemade Paper- Wrap the cake balls in red tissue paper and place in a sturdy box. Take a sheet of white paper and decorate the paper before wrapping. Squeeze some acrylic paint into a large plastic lid and use a cookie cutter to stamp hearts onto the wrapping paper. Wrap the paper as normal and add a big red ribbon.
- Arrange the Cake Balls as a Bouquet: Fill a terra-cotta pot with small pebbles or other weights. Place a piece of foam on top of the weights. Stick the wooden skewers with cake balls at one end into the foam piece arranging as a bouquet. Fill the top of the pot with red tissue paper. Decorate the pot with a heart stamp, cut from a regular kitchen sponge, and red acrylic paint.
- Make the Cake Balls a Game– If you have small jewelry boxes or other small boxes lying around your house, turn the cake balls into game. Place one cake ball wrapped in tissue paper into it’s own little box with a small piece of paper. The piece of paper can be a romantic sentiment, a funny memory or a line of poetry. Arrange a group of these boxes in a heart shape on the table.
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