How do people get the perfect cake ball and the icing so pretty and perfect? I roll mine by hand then dip them in almond back but i never can get the ball perfectly rounded.. then how do you dip the ball so that the icing is so pretty and smooth? i never can get it pretty.. also, sometimes some of my "cake" comes out of the coating? like it expands... Please help!!! Please please please...

I've got my share of problems too but I'll share the parts I can! Use a small scoop (like a mini ice cream scoop) which will make all your balls the same size and then you have to put them in the freezer to firm up. After about 15minutes you can work with it a lot better and adjust the shape as needed. I have better luck with a cake pop and dipping it on a stick then coating a regular cake ball. I'm sure you will get other replies to help you with that part! Good luck.

Do you dip yours in almond bark? or something else?? i do freeze mine for 15 minutes.. i was wondering if maybe that's why they expanded and squished out of any holes in the coating...

I make mine by hand as well, don't have too many problems. Make sure your cake mixture is moist enough to hold together (bind) but not too much. Roll them between the palms of your hands, Freeze between 10-30 minutes. If you overfreeze the balls will crack and leak. I use chocolate coating not bark. Some chocolates are thick so I use paramont crystals to thin. I also use small parchment paper pastry bags to decorate. HTH

Oh! Forgot to add, That I use a plastic disposable fork to remove the balls from the chocolate. Works well, they slide right off. Just remove 2 of the tines first.

I use easter egg fillable ball shapes that they have out during the season. My husbands idea! And I get the perfect shaped ball every time. I also had my brother that has a soldering gun and had him put a hole through them so I can attach the stick and freeze all at once. Easily removes with the stick. It works great!

Thanks auntginn for the disposable fork trick! Def will try!

Your very welcom, anytime.

Also go to fancyflours.com and look at their cake ball maker by babycakes. $30

Babycakes machine is a lot cheaper at Kohl's. Some people have gotten it for $9.99 with their coupons. And it's less than $30 at full price even at their own website.

http://thebabycakesshop.com/products/cake-pop-makers/cp-12

http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kitchendining/kitchenelectricsnew/specialtyelectrics/morespecialty/PRD~786364/Babycakes+Cake+Pops+Maker.jsp

here is a pic of the ball I use to shape the cake pops

At kohl's great! Thanks!

Please let me know if the pic uploaded? Having some trouble with my pc. Going on my Mac and do it from there..

Nope. Go to your beautiful mac to do that. Mac lover here. lol

I know... LOL I'm getting annoyed with my laptop! I know I should have gone with a notebook... But cake boss software does not work with Mac. : [

I also use a small ice cream scoop (or a plastic tablespoon measure spoon) to get consistent sizes. Then I roll them in the palms of my hands to get perfectly round. Then I freeze for 15 minutes.

I thin my chocolate/bark with a TBS of shortening and melt it in a very small bowl in the microwave.

Then, I place the cakeball on a plastic fork with the middle two tines broken off, lower it in the melted chocolate, take it out of the chocolate and then spoon the chocolate over the cakeball to cover it evenly.

Then, I transfer the cakeball from the fork to wax paper by gently pushing the cakeball off the fork using a skewer -- being careful to not have the cakeball roll off the fork.

Then I put them back in the freezer for just 3 minutes or so -- and cut off the excess chocolate with a razor or craft knife.

I have pics of some of my cakeballs in my gallery -- they come out pretty even in size and shape using this method.

Lots of practice got me the results I was looking for.

I used to have the same issue, and it was because I didn't break the cake up enough. So now I use my mixer with the whip attachment to break up the cake and then I "knead" the cake crumbs into a "dough." If I have to, I'll add a tablespoon or two of frosting. Now my cake balls come out much better. Some others use a food processor, but I don't have one.
Good luck to you!

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Sorry for the overkill on the size of the picture. lol

laner7...using toys to make cakeballs? Ingenious! But doesn't that take long?

My husband is the creator of us 2. LOL He always thinks of the craziest ideas to do things and hey they end up working.

Sorry But I hardly go on here and I am learning how to post and reply still??? Well Good luck on the cake pops!! Hope it all works out!

I don't have cake boss. I work with graphic programs, and I'm also into databases and use Bento a lot on my laptop. I don't really have time to make cakes. Just read about them all day long. Because I've had macs my whole life I'm some kind of computer snob. I want a beautiful operating system, and so my programs have to be beautiful too. I think they're making a cake boss version for the mac, or for online use. I'll wait for that. Meanwhile...calendars, Bento, excel and drawing and photo programs will take care of what I need.

I'm more interested in Wedding Cake Design Pro, just so that I can play with already made templates.
http://www.weddingcakedesignpro.com/

But we shouldn't hijack this thread! Back to cakeballs.

I once thought about using this, but then my family decided that they don't like cake truffles, they wanted cake, so I had to buy the BabyCakes...and haven't used it yet!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=meat+baller&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12491087130709550135&sa=X&ei=7zwvTp65G4Xz0gH_6My9AQ&ved=0CD8Q8wIwAQ#ps-sellers

the reason the cake is "squishing out and expanding" and will even sometimes crack the coating is that they are packed too hard. If you make them dense, by rolling them too hard, and then either freeze them (which I do) or refrigerated them, as they warm up, after you coat them, the cake and frosting expands, there you go--Cracked, expanding cake balls and all your work down the drain.

thanks for all the info! i think i might be adding too much frosting too. the cake i use is scrap cake form weekly orders and it's super moist to begin with.. with i was breaking it up i thought to myself that it really didn't need icing to stick together.. i'm going to try again and see how they come out.. this time i might use chocolate in stead of almond bark. Does anyone use almond bark or chocolate only?
THanks again!!!