Okay so I did not go back and read all 75 pages of this thread, so if this question has already been asked please forgive me I was wondering though what else can be used as a binder instead of frosting? All the recipes I have seen on Cakecentral use frosting, but has anyone tried using simple syrup? Just wondering as the frosting seems to make them to sweet for my taste..... I am really new to cake balls but would like to get into them. My daughter fell in love with them at a specialty grocery store the other day and they were getting $4 a piece for them!!!!

I rarely use frosting as my binder, experiment and have fun with it

I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I'm on pg 15 of this thread so I'm trying to find answers on my own. Today, I just don't have the time. Please forgive.

Has anyone used the flat paddle or their kneading hook to mix the binder into the cake crumbs? Also if anyone has the scraping flat paddle, it's yellow with rubber spatula attached have you tried that?

Thanks
MaryAnn

sorry my previous answer was so short, I was talking and typing and it looks like I stopped typing too soon. For my red velvet cake bites, I use cream cheese with a little bit of powdered sugar. For my coconut cake I mix coconut, coconut milk and powdered sugar in a processor, and use that. I have used liquer (Starbucks coffee) in chocolate cake with no sweetener added at all, it was a very sweet very moist cake and just needed a touch of zing for flavor.

When I mix binder with cake, to the extent that I do not use my fingers/hands, I will on occasion use a wooden "paddle" that came with a stir fry kit to sort of fold it all together. Hands work best though because I can feel if I need more or less moisture as I go along. Each batch of cake is slightly different in its moisture content and therefore needs a slightly different amount of moisture added.

I made chocolate covered strawberry cakeballs using strawberry cake, strawberries from canned strawberry filling (without the extra gel), and half a can of cream cheese frosting. Then almond bark chocolate with semisweet choc chips added. Melted this in my crockpot on low....VOILA! The real strawberries added that extra special touch for an authentic strawberry dipped taste!
For my son's birthday recently I made Trix cakeballs with funfetti cake, a cup of finely crushed Trix cereal, and classic white frosting. White almond bark coating dyed for colored swirls with various fun colors. Very tasty! Good luck guys!

So that's what you do with all that left over cake....and here i was o.d.'ing on pudding parfaits....makes total sense....something new to do...fun!

Does anyone have an exact recipe? Exactly how much icing to add to a full cake mix?

scratchdog, the easiest thing to do may be to check out this link.....http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/

she gives her recipe for red velvet cake balls. she also has tons of ideas for them, and it is easier to maneuver around than 75 pages of this thread.

Once you do one batch you can see how she meant for them to be and the experimenting is easier from there. Good luck.

Hi everyone,

I am new to cakecentral as well as to making cakeballs. Have been making them for about 8 weeks now and selling them at the markets here in Australia. Getting rave reviews and they are moving along nicely for my daughter and I.

How many of you ladies/gents make your cakes from "scratch".

I am quite happy to share cake recipes with you all. We are currently making orange, lemon, mango and coconut, chocolate, coffee, ginger,mixed berry, caramel and lastly banana.

I make my cakes from scratch as well as the binders. My current favorite flavors are red velvet, strawberry, coconut, and almond.

We also make all ours from scratch as well as the binders. Have found a brilliant citrus cake recipe that you use a processor for and use the whole orange or lemon, what ever you are making.

Also have a great chocolate cake recipe, have been told that when made up the cake balls taste like mud cake.

did you get the recipe from this site? or do you share?

My red velvet recipe is from the Cake Man Raven (you can google it) only I add 2 T of cocoa instead of 2 tsps. Fro the binder I use 12 oz of cream cheese with 2 cups (or so) of powdered sugar. I add that to the crumbled cake until I get the consistency I like.

For the Strawberry one I use the strawberry cake recipe I found on this site (http://cakecentral.com/recipes/15348/summers-scratch-strawberry-cake) and then used a pint of fresh strawberries, a 1/2 C of dried (well dehydrated) strawberrieswith a 1/4 C of strawberry preserves and about 2 C of powdered sugar, and again add to get the consistency I like.

For Coconut I use a coconut cake recipe I got in a Vikings cake class (I will look it up if you are interested) and add a binder that is pretty much the inside of a mounds bar.

For the Almond I use the recipe on the can of almond paste. I am still experimenting with the binder.

These are the only flavors I have gotten to a place that I am think are so spectacular that people beg for them, and that I therefore feel comfortable selling.

Red Velvet I dip in milk chocolate, coconut and strawberry in dark chocolate, and almond I can't decide which I prefer. For me generally if the inside is one of the sweeter flavors then I use dark and if it is not so sweet I use milk. And my red velvet is not too sweet.

I have not done any in the white or colors.

I use "Merkens" discs for the chocolate, for the colors I just use the discs from Micahels and I only used them for decorative drizzle so far. I do use the discs from michaels for making modeling chocolate as well.

p.s. any chance you would share the recipes?

I know this is probably a crazy question, but when removing the cake balls, do people just remove the cake ball, or the cake ball with the toothpick? I guess I'm trying to figure out how it stays upright when people pull from it.

Thanks!

Sorry, I should be more clear... I'm talking about the awesome cake ball trees on the floral cones.

thanks! I'm going to try to make one of these sometime this weekend and wanted to make sure I was doing it right.

I am trying some for a wedding and really liked german choco cake mixed with chopped toasted pecans, caramel italian buttercream and caramel...I liked the folding of ingredeints insted of a giant clump...I'm having problems sticking them to the sticks... if I put in freezer overnite, they dip fine but then the coating chocolate cracks...if they aren;t in the freezer long enough, then they fall off the stick while I'm swirling them around....anyone got ideas for better dipping ways?? or a different coating you may use on top that you don;t have many problems with??

When I want to put them on a stick (cake pops), I dip the bites first and let the chocolate set up. Then I put some chocolate on the stick and put a dab or two of chocolate where the stick is going to be inserted. Next, I insert the stick into the bite and just let it set up. It is very rare I put them in the fridge, unless I'm in a big hurry or it is a couple of days before they are eaten and I want to get them out the way. By the way, I use the Merkens chocolate I get at my local cake store. HTH

I got the recipes from another site.These are Australian measurements and temperatures

All the cakes we make are quadruple the batch and we use a tray from a bain marie to bake it in.

Easy Chocolate Cake

2 cups of water
3 cups sugar
250grams butter/margarine
1 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda
3 cups of self raising flour
4 large eggs, lightly beaten.

Grease and line base of 26cm x 33cm deep baking dish as this cake sticks. Combine water, sugar, cocoa, butter and bi-carbonate of soda in a large stock pot as this mixture froths when heated.

Stir over heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat to very low and gently simmer for 5 minutes.

Take off the heat and cool in the pot for 25 minutes. Whisk in the sifted flour first then the eggs.

Pour mixture into the baking dish and cook at 180C for 55-60 minutes or until cooked through.

This is the recipe we use for our orange or Lemon cake.I tend to cut the orange and lemons into 1/4's to de-seed and remove the pith.

Whole Orange Cake

1 whole orange (2 lemons if doing lemon cake)
180grams melted butter/margarine
3 eggs
1 cup of caster sugar
1 1/2 cups self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180C
Grease and flour a tin
Process the whole orange until well pureed
Add all the other ingredients and process until well mixed
Bake 40-45 minutes.

Is 'caster' sugar something different from 'usual' sugar?
What am amazing-sounding recipe. Can't wait to try it! Thanks so much for sharing!!

thanks for the recipe.

I have not used chocolate to help the balls stay on the tree, just the toothpicks. And I used a square of double sided tape -not the scotch tape kind but the white that comes in squares- it is a bit stronger- on the bottom of the cone to help keep it in place. the toothpicks pretty much stayed in the cone.

I don't dip with a stick, and actually have not done them on a stick yet so...

Thanks for the recipe. I assume a Cup is a Cup the world over, the rest I can figure out. Thanks

darthbeader, thank you for the recipes. I have a few questions. How much cocoa do you add for the easy chocolate cake?

And for the orange/lemon cake, do you zest the orange/lemon first and use it? TIA