Despite being oil-free, these crispy and crunchy eggplant parmesan rounds from the air fryer. All because of an air fryer. They taste great straight from the air fryer or topped with marinara and mozzarella cheese. They are wonderful in either case.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- floured cooking spray
- ¾ cup white sugar
- several drops black food coloring, or as needed
- 1 (15.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
- 1 (16 ounce) container vanilla frosting
- 12 black licorice whips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 2 1/2- to 3-quart oven-proof bowl with floured cooking spray. Place sugar into a bowl and stir in black food coloring until desired color is achieved. Set aside.
- Prepare cake batter according to the package directions. Pour batter into the prepared bowl and bake in the preheated oven until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cake cool for 15 minutes in the bowl, then invert and let cake cool completely, about 30 more minutes.
- Once cake is completely cool, trim flat side of cake and place onto a cake board. Trim edges into a ball shape. Spread frosting all over cake. Using a toothpick, draw a pentagon in the center top of the cake. Surround the pentagon with five hexagons. Repeat over entire cake.
- Cover lines with black licorice cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Fill the pentagon shapes with black-colored white sugar.
- Use your favorite flavor of cake mix.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 571 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 115 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 546 mg |
| Sugars | 85 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this cake for my son on his 10th birthday. I made a field using a 9×13 cake pan and a ovenproof bowl to make the soccer ball. I used the white frosting II/wedding cake icing recipes from this site to frost and decorate the cake. Used a paper pattern to cut out the hexagon and pentagon shape. Traced onto the cake with a toothpick. Used a regular tip to draw the outline on the ball. Used another reviewers suggestion to color dessicated coconut green to make grass for the field. My son’s expression when he saw his birthday cake made all the effort worthwhile. NOTE: I ended up decorating the cake with a chocolate icing, since when I tried to make black colored icing it turned out a strange grey/purple mess. I used white frosting II recipe from this site, but my forsting came out very gritty. Maybe I did something wrong, but the kids loved the cake and ate it without any hesitations.
I have the soccer ball cake pan and it worked perfectly for my husbands scary eyeball birthday cake that my kids wanted me to make. Fun!
I used the Wilton Ball Pan to bake my cake. It took about 50 mins to bake. I put a buttercream crumb crust on first. I totally overlooked the toothpick trick and used clear gel and the template to put my markings on the cake. I’m sure the toothpicks would’ve worked better. I only decorated half the cake because the icing was warming up and I was getting worn out! Please ignore the “grass” as I’m missing the correct tip. I’ve just purchased fondant that I’m going to try out. I think the pattern will turn out better that way.
I made this for my son, Michael’s 4th birthday, and he LOVED it! Everyone was complimenting it all day. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I made this for a friend’s birthday party in a local restaurant and all the staff were amazed. Really easy to make. I used cherry laces, but it still looked good.
What a great idea – I’m no great cake decorator but this worked well even for me! Cooked the ball in a metal pudding basin, and a field in a large rectangular pan. Pressing shapes of pentagons/hexagons into white icing with a toothpick made it easy to pipe the black lines and they did not run. Looked fantastic & very popular with all at my son’s 8th birthday party.
I used the bowl and cake directions to make this cake. Instead of the licorice I searched the net for something different. I used the white frosting II/wedding cake icing recipes from this site to put a thin layer of icing on first. Used a paper pattern to cut out the hexagon and pentagon shape. Traced onto the cake with a toothpick. Used a regular tip to draw the outline on the ball blue (colored small amount of icing). Used a star tip to fill in all the white parts of the cake with the remaining icing. Lastly, I placed coconut in a ziploc bag and put in some green food coloring to coat. (the grass around the ball). My 15 year old son who LOVES soccer LOVED this cake for his birthday
thanks for the idea im going to make it with my mom for my 13th b-day
I made this for my son’s soccer team. What a hit!
I love this idea. I made a baseball cake instead, but equally fabulous. Once the cake came out for the team party all the cameras started snapping. The possibilities are endless with a half round; you can make any type ball or even shove a doll in the center and make it a dress. Imagination is a good thing.
What an exellent and innovative idea for a cake! I think I will try it.
I tried it out just recently for my son!!! thanks sooo much!! Where did you come up with this idea? Have you ever made it for someone (when?) -what was the response?