a ball of cake by any other name would taste just as sweet

Cake Balls, Cake Pops, Balls of Bliss. Whatever you call them, they are amazing.

I first saw these on the Pioneer Woman blog. Simple, creative, oh-so-cute.

Here's how:

First make a normal chocolate cake. Boxed is fine, I guess, but I prefer the Betty Crocker recipe from scratch.

Then make a batch of vanilla buttercream frosting. If you must, you could also use a tub from the store.

Now comes my favorite part. Totally destroy the cake by chopping it up into smallish bits in your largest bowl. Don't worry about getting the pieces super small. You'll need to save your upper body strength for later.

Mix in almost all of the frosting. I usually leave out about 1/4 cup of frosting.

The cake should absorb all of the frosting, combining to be a heavenly, homogeneous mass. Try not to shovel it repeatedly into your mouth. Remember your family, remember your guests who hope to enjoy this later.

Roll a tester ball to see if the cake is wet enough. It should not have dry bits of cake flaking off, neither should it be so mushy that it looses its shape. Add the remaining frosting if you need more moisture.

When you've got a good consistency, roll several balls. You can get about 28 golfball sized balls, fewer if they are bigger. Lay them on a cookie sheet or cutting board covered in wax paper. Added bonus: the butter in the frosting is a killer hand moisturizer.

Chill. Not you, the balls.

After an hour or so in the fridge, pull them out and insert a lollipop stick into each. Melt a cup or so of chocolate chips, put into plastic baggie, snip off a tiny corner, and pipe some fun designs onto the cake balls. You have permission to get creative here.

Chill the balls again to set the chocolate designs.

Here are some that served as birthday treats (white chocolate with red food coloring).

Here are some extra-large ones for a Girls' Night In.

And most recently, some for a concert potluck.

Go ahead, get crazy.

The little musicians will gobble them up allegramente.