Fudgy Cranberry Gingerbread “Cake Balls”

If you can make cake balls, you can make these! Aren’t they just adorable?!

I am entering this recipe in the Creative Holiday Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups! Good luck to me! J

I can’t think of one thing that isn’t improved upon by adding “fudgyness.” These have a really great fudgy texture with tangy pieces of cranberry, and a nice hint of molasses and spice.

The perfect holiday treat. And fancy enough to give as a gift! Imagine a dozen of these little guys nestled together in a cute little Christmas tin. 

For ease,  I used a doctored up boxed gingerbread mix (lots of different brands are available, use your favorite),  or certainly make your own cake from scratch. You must, you just must, make this frosting. 

Fudgy Cranberry Gingerbread “Cake Balls”

1 box gingerbread cake mix

½ cup natural cocoa powder

½ cup milk

8 Tbs salted butter, room temperature

4oz plain cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup cranberry sauce (homemade or canned, whole berry)

12-15oz milk chocolate

¼ cup very finely chopped dried cranberries

1 Tbs very finely chopped crystalized ginger

Make the gingerbread cake by first following the direction on the box, plus adding the cocoa powder and milk. Bake accordingly and then allow the cake to completely cool.

Put your cranberry sauce onto a cutting board and run a knife through it a bunch on times to chop up the cranberries; whole berries are just a little too big for these guys.

To prepare the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until combined and smooth. Add in two cups of powdered sugar and beat for 3-5 minutes on high. Next add in the last cup of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and the cranberry sauce; beat again for several minutes or until smooth. The frosting should be fairly loose.

*Depending on which cake brand you used, you may have a different volume of cake. To make these come out perfectly, you should use a ratio of 4:1 cake to frosting. For all you mathematically challenged bakers, that’s 1 cup cake crumbs to ¼ cup frosting. Aaaand, 1 cup crumbs plus 1/4 cup frosting makes about a dozen little gingerbread men. 

Crumble the cooled cake into a large bowl and use your hand to make sure it is really broken up into a fine crumb. Add in the frosting and mix with a fork until everything is combined; the crumbs should be moist and stick together easily when pinched together, if they are not, add more cranberry sauce to moisten until they are. Err on the side of too moist rather than not moist enough.

Dump out the crumbs onto parchment paper and form them into a large flat mass- no rolling pin necessary. Press them firmly together and aim for somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2” thick. Go at it with your cookie cutter- I used about a 2” tall little gingerbread man, which turned out just perfect!

Keep your cut-out men covered with a damp towel as you continue to cut them out and prepare the chocolate coating. If they dry out too much, they may loose an arm, or a head, oh my! 

We don’t want any casualties.

Make sure your cranberries and crystalized ginger are chopped super small and ready to go. Melt your chocolate (I used chocolate chips, melted in the microwave, stirring every 10 seconds) and get ready. Also, I did have to reheat the chocolate for 8 seconds several times to keep it runny.

I found it easiest to set the little man in the bowl of chocolate and use a fork to push melty chocolate up around his sides, then flip him over. Then I slid the fork underneath him, supporting his entire person and then gently tapped the fork on the side of the bowl to even out the chocolate and get rid of the excess chocolate. Lastly, I dragged the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl to remove the excess chocolate on the bottom. Then I used a paring knife to slide the man off the fork and on to parchment paper to dry. I hope that all makes sense…

The first one I did, I did not have his head properly supported and well, let’s just say it didn’t end well for him.

Add a little sprinkle of the cranberries and ginger- before the chocolate has a chance to set up, of course. 

Happy Baking & Merry Christmas!