Game of Thrones: House Stark cake balls

So yeah.

'Game of Thrones'.

I'm a little bit obsessed.

If you haven't had a chance to read George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series, drop whatever you're doing and speed to the nearest bookstore to give them ALL YOUR MONEY. Trust me, the cashier won't mind if you're the crazy lady in curlers and a bathrobe, or the dude in bunny slippers and boxers. Pants are of little matter when it comes to 'Game of Thrones'. Just buy it, love it, obsess over it. Then you may join the thousands of fans who are eagerly awaiting the fifth book, 'A Dance with Dragons', which has been five looong years in the making. I have it pre-ordered for my Kindle and raring to download at 12:00:01 AM on July 12th.

The idea for 'Game of Thrones' themed cake balls occurred to me while sitting on the couch between my best friend and my boyfriend as we were watching the (AMAZING) HBO series. I thought to start with House Stark since it seemed the easiest. I debated crafting fondant dire wolf toppers to match their sigil, but decided I wanted to focus more on representing the houses through flavor instead. The world of Westeros offers a myriad of deliciously-described food and drink - so what would cake (or a cake ball) from Winterfell taste like? I knew I wanted something all white that reminded me of cold winds and winter.

So, naturally, I started with white cake. Aaand, naturally, ended up dumping way too much peppermint extract into the batter. I thought I had ruined my very first batch of cake balls. Still, I popped it into the oven, hoping that the baking process might soften the nasty Crest toothpaste flavor.

It didn't. Instead of toothpaste-like batter that tasted like toothpaste, I was left with a spongy minty mess that tasted like toothpaste. I had the choice of either chucking the cake in the garbage or cutting the flavor with something else. Since I really hate wasting food, I whipped up some chocolate frosting, chopped up about 20 frozen Andes Mints, tossed it all together and hesitantly tasted.

Huzzah! Thank goodness for the chocolate mint combination! While a dark interior was not in line with the stark white effect I was going for, the chocolate tempered the mint and the Andes candies gave the inside a nice depth. I refrigerated the batch overnight, coated with white chocolate and sprinkled with a touch of clear sugar crystals, to hint at snow.

Here is the final result:



To me, the flavor is light and refreshing without being disgustingly minty. I'm curious to know what my taste-testers (also known as my team at work) will think about them.

As for the other 'Game of Thrones' house cake balls, I have plans for the Lannisters, Targaryens and Baratheons. Great, tasty plans...

...and the best part? I won't make you wait 5 years. ;)