Cake Ball Problems

Decorating By Charmed Updated 3 Aug 2010 , 1:01am by frogcooke

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Charmed Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 8:03pm
post #1 of 7

Asking cake ball pros please help me with this I made cake balls, froze them for few hours and took them out to thaw slightly not completely:
1- they are bumpy and not smooth and not round and nice
2- the color of candy coating (merckens)( white coating tinted different colors) aren't bright they are dull
3- the coating doesn't melt smoothly even after I added crisco to make it flow nicely
4- the coating cracks and it doesn't cover the cakes completely I can see the cake thought the coating
I don't know what is happening. My husband told me they look cartoonish icon_cry.gif
well he is not going to get any balls today icon_biggrin.gif

6 replies
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kansaslaura Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 8:22pm
post #2 of 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by charmed

My husband told me they look cartoonish icon_cry.gif
well he is not going to get any balls today icon_biggrin.gif




Ok, now that I've wiped up the water I spewed....

If they're not round, they're probably too soft. Did you put a lot of liquid/frosting into them? Are you dipping them frozen? Moisture could very well be getting into your chocolate, causing it to seize. = lumpy and not covered.

Let us know what you put in them, etc and we can help more.

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deMuralist Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 8:29pm
post #3 of 7

Ok, lets see what we can figure out...

first I am going to assume your cake balls are not coconut or something that has lumpy things in it.

When I make my balls, the dough-for me-is easier to portion out if it is chilled. I use a small scooper and press the cake mixture into the scoop by pressing it against the side of the bowl. Then when I drop them onto the parchment paper, if there is anything sticking up or not nice I smooth it out. I do not try to make mine round as they will roll around on the serving plate.

If I want tinted colors I use ones that are already tinted- whatever you use to change the color will eventually change the texture. Personally I use Merkens for the coating and just use Wilton colors for the drizzles.

I have never had to thin Merkens chocolate-however i have not used their white.

I put a handful or 2 into a heat safe metal bowl which then sits atop my saucepan with water. I turn the burner off and on to keep the water just below boiling during the entire process of dipping.

It is likely that the cracks occur because the balls are still too cold. I just use the drizzle to hide cracks when they happen.

I suspect it looks see through because you thinned it, add a lot more chocolate.

To get it to flow nicely it needs to be the right temperature-too cold it is too thick, too hot it actually starts to thicken back up. I think the top temp you want to reach is less than 106 degrees, basically the chocolate should be body temperature.

This link is to one seriously very long but information packed thread on making cake balls, everything I know I learned from this thread and trial and error.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=658476&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

have fun with them, even the mistakes taste yummy.

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kansaslaura Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 8:31pm
post #4 of 7

PS Be careful what you tint your chocolate with. The coloring can have absoltuley NO water in it. I buy powdered food color for just this purpose.

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Charmed Posted 2 Aug 2010 , 8:49pm
post #5 of 7

the cake ball are chocolate cake and I used ganache for binding the cake balls and I don't think I put a lot of it just enough to bind them. I tinted the chocolate with paste colors but I used a product called flo-coat from americolor that allows you to color chocolate with any kind of color. Next time I will use pre-tinted chocolate.

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Dayti Posted 3 Aug 2010 , 12:45am
post #6 of 7

When I made them, I weighed out a lump of chilled mixture I needed for each ball (20g in my case), and then rolled it in my hands to make the sphere. This makes the balls smooth before dipping. I lightly press them onto a parchment covered cookie sheet so they don't roll around. Chill again, then dip. If they are too cold or frozen when you dip, the chocolate will crack. Same will happen if you freeze after coating too.
As for coating, I have only used Wilton candy melts and it was a terrible experience, but they were all I could get at the time.
I have since tried colouring white chocolate with powdered food colour fairly successfully, especially if you mix the powder with a little oil (like a drop to 1/4 tsp) before adding it to the melted chocolate to mix.
There are pictures in my gallery but I found the whole process so much of a pain that I don't want to have to make any more any time soon!

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frogcooke Posted 3 Aug 2010 , 1:01am
post #7 of 7

^^ I chill my mixed up "dough" mixture before I scoop it out as well. it makes it easier to scoop and form i think.



the most recent thing i noticed with mine, was that when putting the balls down on the wax paper after coating, when they were dry there was a spot on the bottom that didnt have chocolate on it.

Though when i coated them it was covered and i kind of rolled them off the spoon, they werent very high off the tray when i rolled them off. so its not like they went splat and pushed all the chocolate out from under it. Also noticed this time they came off the spoon better than the first two times.

I didnt thin my chocolates either. it happened with both my white and dark chocolate. I dont believe i had this issue the first or second time, just the 3rd time. buti dont recall if i checked the bottom. Could have been in the differences of the chocolate. I know the first batch i think i did add extra flavor to it and it was a mix of chocolates.

but then again it was so warm that my chocolates wouldnt set up unless they were in the fridge. ha. I did temper the latest batch properly though.

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