Okay, I know your thinking how could anyone mess up a cake ball. Well I did. I had some red velvet cake left over, so I decided since everyone raves over cake balls I would try them. I crumbled the cake and poured in some mudslide coffee creamer just enough to make it like playdough (didn't stick to my hands, but wasn't crumbly). So I rolled the balls and dipped them in white chocolate.

Needless to say they tasted horrible. It was like eating cookie dough or cake batter. I couldn't even taste the creamer, it just tasted like mushy wet red velvet cake. It wasn't like eating cake at all. My husband even said they were gross.

Is this how they are suppose to come out? I can't believe as much as I have heard people rave over them that they could really taste this bad.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I did wrong? Thanks

your not alone, i have never gotten them to work. I don't know maybe its a texture thing, but its just not happening for me. Or maybe i need to try someone else's so that i can see, feel and taste what i did wrong.

I only tried them once and even my teenage boys wouldn't eat them

I'm with you two. I made them at Christmas and they just tasted like straight vanilla nut coffee creamer -- a strong artificial sickenly sweet flavor & they were completely mushy. Even after they were dipped in good chocolate and chilled they were pretty foul.

Louise on her Cake Journal blog posted about cake balls yesterday...she used buttercream instead, and her cake balls look amazing: http://www.cakejournal.com/?p=170

I'll give her recipe a try next time.

Wow I am glad I am not the only one. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to be shunned from CC. Maybe we added too much creamer? That was my thought when I did it, I just haven't gotten the guts to try them again - literally.

I have been testing them out lately too and have had hits & misses. I did a S'Mores version & they were great but when I tried to make a Pina Colada version I think I added too much liquid because the white choc. kept getting hard and wouldn't stick to the balls! They tasted like really mushy cake. What I want to know is how does everyone make them look pretty when you dip them. Mine look so messy and nowhere near the quality that I would want to sell them for but my DH co-workers love to eat 'em!

I used the CC recipe once and it came out fine and nice. Lately I use a combo of 2 recipes and if I remember I will post it here next week. I cant give you quantities, but I use my crumbs/cake, melted butter, icing sugar (powdered sugar) and my liquid. If I have white cake, I add cacao powder. Then i dipped them in chocolate. If the mixture is too soggy, I use the cookie gun to get even quantities on my wax paper, put it in the freezer a while and then roll it into balls. On a hot day I keep it in the freezer and only take out a few at a time when I cover them in chocolate.

My dad is my biggest fan and always want to now if there aren't a surprise in the fridge.

I made them with creamer the first time and they got really mushy and not great. I made them again at Christmas and used buttercream for one bunch and melted peanut butter for the other. These were very popular! The second ones the mixture wasn't very wet at all, just moist enough to get it to sick together. I put in much less then I thought I would and the cake still had some texture. I had also added some chocolate chips and peppermint chips into some of them.

I haven't tried them with creamer. I make mine with frosting (canned to be exact - Oh, don't throw things at me!). I will probably use my homemade frosting now that I'm addicted to CC. There's no going back I'm sure.

Measurement wise, it's about 2/3 of the frosting tub,,, so what would that be about 1 1/4 cups of frosting? I also coat the finished balls with chocolate. They are pretty sturdy and not mushy. Be careful not to add too much frosting as they can get too soft.

Instead of using just coffee creamer, add condensed milk, or icing while the cake is still hot, and then if you want to add some of the creamer for taste, add that too!

christie

It's very easy to overdo the liquid. You want the cake crumbs to get just moist enough to hold a ball shape. I usually use BC or ganache in small quantities. People either like them or not, it's personal taste. Louise's turned out absolutely beautiful!

I know truffles are made with ganache and that is quite a mess but I never thought about using ganache in cakeballs. I should try that.
I don't like the alchohol taste in chocolate, so i'm very carefull for too much, but i would like to tr the gananche.

I'm lazy I use my kenwoods Knee hook LOL.
I'll try it out.

We buy prepared crumbs (biskuit crumbs I think it is) they use as a tart base and I used that for my truffles and it came out just as yummy as the cake.

I use a bit of my Meringue butter cream, the butter hardens when the cake balls are in the fridge, then I dip them.

I also may add a bit of liquor and a bit of fruit jam to enhance the flavor. I've never added the coffee creamer.

I add a little extract most times.

I also put the mix into shapped silicone molds and put a stick in mine.

Wow, I never expected such a response. I will definitely try again with bc or peanut butter. I really didn't want to have to have a whole recipe, just a combination to throw together whenever I had leftover cake.

I love the idea of the molds. I'll have to give that a try also. I'll keep everyone updated as to whether I can crossover to being a cake ball junkie.

You added too much liquid. Cake balls should have the consistancy (sp?) of wet sand. If the cake scraps are moist, do not add any liquid to it, just roll and dip. If the cake scraps are dry add a little bit of liquid at a time in order to be able to control the consistancy better. *If I really need to add a liquid for extra flavoring I sometimes have to spread out cake crumbs on a cookie sheet and let them set out for a little bit so they air-dry up some, or put them in the oven for a short period of time*

There is no exact way of doing cake balls, it's all played by ear. One time making them will be different from the next. It all depends on the dryness/moistness of the cake scraps, amount of scraps being used, the amount of liquid being used and if you are using any other add ins also.

I make cake balls a lot. That's my #1 selling item actually. When I started my small dessert business I could have sworn it would have been my mousses or specialty cakes....nope, cake balls won.

That is good to know. My cakes are very moist. I made another batch with some vanilla cake with peanut butter cream and they were a little better, but I think I need to let my cake dry out some first. Thanks so much.

I think you guys are using way too much liquid. I use about two tablespoons of icing for a bowl of cake balls/truffles. It really doesn't take that much at all. Put food gloves on, squeeze it in your hand pretty good so it gets nice and solid, and then roll in a ball. I couldn't imagine using a cup of icing, too much liquid, IMO.

I have yet to try it but...
Reese's now makes a sundae peanut butter topping that I am sure would work great, it's not real thin but not too thick either so I think it would work well and taste really yummy!

Fo light on the liquid. I use chocolate cake scraps,vanilla coffee creamer, and International Swiss Mocha Coffee bout TBS. I get a great response. Keep trying and you will find the right combo.

Sue

We have the cutest darn avatars! Two in a row! *sigh*

I echo the too much liquid sentiment. Also, if you think they are too wet, add more cake or just let the balls sit out (not in freezer) for an hour or so. Freezing them can make them sweat later.

I'll refrain from the jokes.

That's my problem, Michelle & everyone. I didn't realize it was only 2 T or so. I think I used about 3/4s of a carton.

No wonder they tasted so foul.

I can't tell you how glad I am to find this thread. I am just chuckling at the comments about being shunned and how hard can it be to make a cake ball!!!! Being a Newbie, I thought these sounded so good, but after my first attempt, I was devastated and too embarrassed to ask what I did wrong. I have been waiting for this thread forever!!!! This last week, I tried again using a new recipe for Dark Chocolate Banana Nut cake which has more texture to it, and I added just a little of Shirley W.'s Peanut Butter Filling recipe ( just terrific). I used my pastry blender to mix it so I wouldn't squish it quite so bad and they are really terrific. I am still grinning from ear to ear to know I wasn't the only one having problems. Would anyone share with me what you charge for these things. I weigh each one at 1 oz each, but that may be a little small for selling, but that way I get them even looking.
Thanks everyone for all the great information. I have learned so much this past year and it is so much fun.
Lily

Thank you eveyone for all of your info! I found 2 candy dipper sets-- one from plactic, one made of wood and steel. does anyone have these? which do you think is better. At first i think the cheaper one, but maybe the otherone will last longer....I just don't know. Any opinions/advice? Here are the links to what I am talking about
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat733850&PRODID=xprd388412&source=search

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3253&PRODID=xprd388343&source=search

I just bought Wilton's plastic set, but haven't used it yet. I made a mess of my cake balls by using a spoon, so I figured I can spare $2.99 to hopefully make them look a little nicer!

I bought the Wilton plastic set first - It was not long before they all snapped on me. I now that the wooden handled metal ones.

Is the wooden one Wilton too?

Someone on one of these threads said the best tool for dipping was just a regular plastic fork that u break the center two tines out of. I have used the tools for years that u are talking about, but I decided to try this as nothing was working the greatest. I wish I had seen this years ago, because it works great for me. Things you are dipping don't stick to the plastic as much, and if you break it, just throw it away and use another one.
Lily