I have to admit – over the past week or so – I’ve learned that I MAY have baking potential!

Scary realization – I know. (and “may” being the operative word!)

But that’s not to say that I haven’t had some trials and tribulations along the way.

For example – breaking my measuring cup with my brut strength while trying to measure out Earth Balance:

OR

Trying to make Angela’s Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies and falling in love with the smell – only to realize THAT MAYBE, I shouldn’t get too overzealous with my baking attempts!

These smelled wonderful, and actually tasted amazing – but were way too wet.   I’m not sure what I did wrong – but I’ll definitely be making another attempt!

(also – please note – random hair tie on the table, and random dog butt in the bottom corner – it’s just how we roll in the GDW household )

Since Bakerella’s book’s been out – I’ve been absolutely infatuated with cake pops & cake balls.  So while brainstorming all the things I was going to bake for Thanksgiving – the cake pops definitely made the list!

I didn’t have time to go out and get sticks for the “pops” – but I’m always up for making balls instead!

I decided to not make the cake according to directions (hey – remember why I can’t bake?! ) and instead, try my favorite Weight Watchers Cake trick – 1 box of cake mix plus 12 ounces of diet soda!

That’s it – that’s all you mix together – no eggs, no oil, no water – NADA!

Just the box of cake mix and 12 ounces of diet soda!

Rule of thumb for the trick – use a diet soda the same flavor/color as your mix. 

• Yellow cake?  Diet Sprite, Squirt, Fresca, etc.
• Chocolate cake?  Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Diet Cherry Coke, etc.
• Strawberry cake?  Diet Pomegranate 7-Up seemed a good fit!

When you pour the pop into the mix – it will fizz – just give it a second.

Mix together for 2 minutes with hand blender:

Pour into baking pan, and bake according to package:

After baking – remove from oven and allow to completely cool (I waited about 2 hours).

Once cake is completely cooled – pull out chunks (use your hands – it’s fun! ) and crumble it into a bowl.  Here’s where I differed from Bakerella…

Once your cake is crumbled up into the mixing bowl – you are supposed to add a full can of frosting to the mix (see here for visuals – my hands were WAY too dirty to be taking pictures) – so that you form a sticky enough dough that you can roll out balls.

Because the Weight Watchers Cake Trick makes the cake so moist – you do NOT need a full can of frosting!!!  You need one small scoop – IF THAT!

Once your dough/cake/frosting mixture is ready – roll out into balls, and then put them in the fridge to set for an hour or so.

Then comes the most entertaining, and simultaneously MESSY part!

I melted semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave, and then covered each of the balls in chocolate!

Hint – this is SERIOUSLY messy!!

I finally got it down to a science using a spoon and fork to help me roll it around, and then drip off the excess.

Once shell chocolate was starting to dry – I melted a tiny bit of white chocolate in the microwave, and mixed in a little bit of almond milk – to make it a little more “liquid-y” – and then drizzled over half of the cake balls!

Not too shabby for a non-baker – right?   You can top with whatever you like!  You could even do a piece of dried fruit or candy (or something more creative) – I just stuck with pretty sprinkles!

I will say – these turned out EVEN better then I had imagined!  Because of the Strawberry cake mix/Pomegranate pop – they tasted like chocolate covered cherries or strawberries!

Plus – they were fun AND inexpensive to make!