Ball bearing

Ball bearings were a type of sweet, often used to adorn cakes.

The Fourth Doctor offered K9 a bag of sweets and asked if he would like a ball bearing. K9 asked him not to mock. (TV: The Invasion of Time)

The Fourth Doctor also ate edible ball bearings on Dronid, mentioning that he'd gotten a craving for them. (PROSE: ''Shada)

The Tenth Doctor thought the commonly seen Earth cupcakes with edible ball bearings were "genius". He said "No other species in the galaxy has ever bothered to make them." Rose Tyler later handed him a cake adorned with ball bearings. (TV: Fear Her)

When a police force were trying to uncover Mamps, Cosmo and Leeb Slitheen from their stone prisons with a want conduit, the Doctor stopped them and arranged that the conduit could only be turned on by thinking about sunflowers and ball bearings. (PROSE: The Slitheen Excursion)

Behind the scenes

 * In the short 1978 sketch Merry Christmas Doctor Who, K9 Mark II told the Fourth Doctor and Romana I that he wanted "enough ball bearing to last out the series" for Christmas.