White Trash Yum: Chocolate Bacon Cake Balls w/ recipe

Today is Hubby's birthday!  To celebrate, Sugar Snap and I made chocolate bacon cake balls.  That's right.  Chocolate.Bacon.Cake.Balls.  Cake balls and cake pops are all the rage, and are really easy (albeit messy and labor-intensive). I have found the "WOW" factor on these little treats make them worth the trouble.  I have made them many times for all sorts of occasions and in many different flavors, but for Hubby's special day we decided to combine two of his favorite things:  chocolate and bacon.  If I could have infused it with Shiner Bock beer, that's the only thing that would have made them better as far as Hubby's concerned.  Here's how we did it:
Following the directions on the box, bake one chocolate cake.  While the cake is baking, fry your bacon to crisp.  I made 32 fairly large cake balls using one cake, and used about 16 slices of bacon.  Drain the bacon on paper towels:

Allow the cake to cool.  While the cake cools, crumble the bacon, saving 32 small pretty pieces for decoration.  Set the bacon aside. Crumble the cake into small crumbs in a big bowl.  Add 3/4 of a can of chocolate frosting and 3-5 drops of liquid smoke and mix together.  Refrigerate for an hour or so to get the mix firmed up, making it easier to handle.  Once it's firm,  make 32 more or less equal balls.  Roll each ball nicely, and using your thumb, make a hole in the middle and fill with crumbled bacon, and wrap the dough ball around it, fully encasing the bacon inside:

Once all the balls are all made, chill a while and in the meantime melt in the microwave your chocolate chips.  I used about 2 1/2 bags of chocolate chips to cover all of the cake balls.  Getting the chocolate on the balls is a messy messy process.  There is no way around that.  So, put your apron on and roll up your sleeves.  I hold the ball in one hand and use a spoon to coat the bottom half, and then place it on wax paper to coat the rest.  After you completely coat the ball, top it with a bacon piece and let dry on the counter.  Do not put them in the fridge or freezer to hasten the process.  They will weep and discolor.  It's best to just let them sit.  Voila!

Chocolate Bacon Heaven!