Orange Scented Coconut Macadamia Cake Balls

Orange Scented Coconut Macadamia Cake Balls

1 yellow cake mix, prepared and cooled

1 16 ounce can icing ( I used buttercream)
4 ounces coconut, toasted
4 ounces macadamia nuts, finely chopped
1 naval orange, zested
2 tablespoons orange liqueur (I used Cointreau)
2 pounds vanilla confectioner's coating wafers (available at Hobby Lobby or Michael's)
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, divided
4 ounces chocolate confectioner's coating wafers
orange gel food coloring

Cut the cake into pieces and place into a large bowl. Using fingers, crumble cake pieces until finely crumbled. Stir in the frosting until well blended. Add the coconut, macadamia nuts, orange zest and liqueur; blend well.

Form the cake mixture into walnut sized balls and place on a couple of parchment paper lined sheet pans. Freeze until firm.

In a double boiler over simmering water (I use a saucepan and a medium glass bowl set over the top), melt the confectioner's coating chips with 2 tablespoons of shortening, stirring until fully melted and smooth. (See note)

Dip each cake ball in the coating mixture and place back onto the parchment covered sheet pans. Chill until set. Once the coated balls are set you can store them in a closed container in the fridge and enjoy as is, or you can proceed to the next step.

Position the cake balls close together on the sheet pan (I usually have to break off the extra coating on the bottoms, but be careful not to expose the cake ball inside.)

Take a toothpick and dip it into the container of orange gel food color. Swirl the pick in the remaining candy coating and stir...adding more dye as needed to reach your desired orange color. Roll down the edge of a quart sized zip top bag and carefully spoon the melted mixture into the bag. (It helps to wrap the bag with a paper towel because the mixture is pretty hot.) Then CAREFULLY cut a tiny hole at the end of the bag. Hold the bag over the tops of the vanilla covered cake balls and in a circle motion, drizzle the vanilla coating over the tops.
Store in the fridge.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen treats

Note: I have found that is is easiest to dip the cake balls in small batches, 12 to 15 at a time. So what I do is melt about 8 ounces of the vanilla coating with about 1 tablespoon of the shortening. Once the first batch has been dipped, place into the fridge, I melt another 8 ounces of chocolate and more shortening until smooth and THEN get more of the cake balls out of the freezer and dip as described.
Also, if you don't want to dip all the balls at one time, you can keep some frozen until you are ready to dip them later.