Feeling the Cancun Holiday Spirit

The last 2 years, my office has done something called a "Jingle Mingle." We have several floors in an office building and we rarely see others on the different floors. With this event we have the chance to eat, drink and be merry, all while wandering around the building.

Each department does a theme and sets up an area. They decorate, play music, set out food and beverages (adult and otherwise) and there is a competition for the best theme and execution of the theme.

My department opted to do a Mexican theme. We had homemade jalapeno poppers, plantains, empanadas, guacamole, salsa, homemade tortilla chips, margaritas, Malibu Rum and pineapple juice, and most importantly - Pina Colada Cake Balls!

I took a white cake mix and rather than using water, as the instructions said, I used pineapple juice. I also mixed in crushed pineapple. (ignore the Circus Cookies in the background - they weren't part of the recipe, they just wanted to be in the photo shoot.)

I used cream cheese frosting instead of my usual "regular" frosting. I need to play with the amounts - the dough ended up being pretty loose. Once I rolled it and chilled the balls it seemed a little easier to work with.

I dipped each ball in blue candy melts. I did this for 2 reasons. First, because it seemed festive and appropriate for a beach vacation theme. Second, because I wanted to finish off my bag of blue melts. I dropped each ball into the melted candy and rolled them around with a fork. Then I lifted them out and let the excess candy drip off.

I let the balls set on a tray lined with foil. Before the candy set I sprinkled each ball with shredded coconut.

After all of the balls had set I stuck a cocktail umbrella in each one. You can't have a Pina Colada without an umbrella in it, after all.

 

 

A very belated, Feliz Navidad!

FatCat