I have probably read through all the cake ball threads as well as visited many blogs who have GORGEOUS looking end results. (jeaaaallloouuus)
so all was going well... cake balls were formed, chilled and my chocolate coating melted. or so I thought until I started to coat those pesky things. my coating was still quite thick even after thinning.

I found that the cake balls were sticking to my utensils and when lightly tapping to remove excess the cake ball was falling between & sticking to the tines of the fork and creating these #$^$##$ craters in the cake balls! wth??!! I almost tossed everything in the garbage I was so frustrated but managed to slowly finish about 20 of the 34 I rolled up.

has anyone else experienced this? I think this is my first and last attempt at these things... so frustrated right now *sigh*

would love if you could help.
Dina

Maybe you should thin your chocolate even more.

And you should try putting sticks into the cake balls and then freezing them for a little bit. Then dip them. If you want to remove the sticks later, you can.

good luck!

what kind of chocolate are you using?

I did my first batch of cake balls this past week (yummy) I had your same issues, my kept falling off my fork when I was dipping in the chocolate, I ended up having some fork spots after dipping in the chocolate so i added colorful sprinkles to them which covered up my "mess" haha... They were just for my family. They were super yummy but I took one to my neighbor who has made them forever and she said I didn't put enough icing in the mix which can cause them to fall and I made them too large, I made them about golf ball size and she said they need to be more like melon ball sized even if they are just the balls not the pops. So those were my two issues Not sure if they were similar issues or not. But I feel your frustration with those little suckers... they are hard to get them just right! I will try again after my next cake! haha...

I never have an issues with dipping them. I use the spiral dipper (cheap and very easy) and Mercken's choc. candy melts.

If you need help, yell... PM me.

Jen

My method is a little different than the other ladies on here, but what I do is when I roll the cake balls, before freezing/chilling, I stick a toothpick in each one. Then I take a few at a time out of the fridge, dip, twist to roll off excess, then place on some wax paper. Perfect little balls. Then after the chocolate has hardened, (you can put them in the fridge to speed that up,) I slowly remove the toothpicks. They are perfectly smooth round balls after that. I just cover up the little hole from the toothpick with my decorations or drizzled chocolate.
HTH!

hmm all good tips, thanks everyone! the good news is the cake part was GREAT lol it was the dipping part that wasn't quite working - rawrrr! I'll try your tips next time around.

thanks again!
Dina

Great tips...I have the same problems with the dipping. I like the toothpick idea inserted before chilling as the toothpick inserted when dipping does not work. The ball falls off and swivels around.

I have used a spoon, a fork, a two prong plastic fork (broke out other prongs), the plastic dip fork from Wilton (does not work) and I am at the point where I am thinking about not doing them any more as I can't get the dipping to meet my standards.

I also might have to check out the spiral dipper that Jennifer talks about. Wish she would have told us how to use it.

I had those problems when I first made cake balls. I increased the amount of icing I put into the cakes crumbs and let them freeze longer. I used better quality chocolate for dipping and no longer had issues.

I have had some cake scraps for a while that I need to turn into cake balls. Hope they are not stale...
Anyway thanks for all the tips, I have never made them so this is a thread I probably needed to read!

I roll out all the little buggers, then ( i buy toothpicks in bulk lol) stick a toothpick in each one. Then chill them/ freeze them with toothpicks in them. Then dip by holding the toothpick. The toothpick is also chilled and that helps a little I think. Then just take out the toothpick and toss.

Thanks!

I don't know if this helps, but the first time I made cake balls, I had the worst time with dipping too. I tried using toothpicks, they fell off. I tried freezing them, the chocolate cracked when it dried. I tried using a fork, but I didn't like how it left so many ugly marks in them. I read a thread about a lady that used a plastic fork, but without the two middle prongs. But....I didn't have any plastic forks. lol.

I went all over our kitchen, looking for a better way to dip em. We go out to eat at an asian fast food place here, and DH always picks up a couple of extra sets of chopsticks and saves em if he ever needs em. So I just took the chopsticks, held them like you would if you were eating with them, and dipped the cake balls that way. It worked great for me! Just a thought for using different stuff around the house.