a little something I just discovered...let them sit at room temp for a bit, if they get frozen little ice crystals appear on them as they are reaching room temp and then you get these little tiny bits of hard chocolate from when the crystals hit the hot chocolate. Just doesn't give a nice smooth finish. It does make the family happy as they end up with the rejects.

I just used buttercream to decorate my last batch and they are so cute, I will post pictures as soon as ds gets home (I am technologically challenged and can never remember how to transfer the photos from the camera to the computer)

Superwawa, I love your turkeys. And thanks to everyone who's posted here for your wonderful suggestions. I haven't had a chance to make any truffles yet, because I've had a few unexpected cake orders. Of course, I now have so many bags of them in the freezer ready to coat that everybody's looking at me and saying nasty things under their breath about how I should get my &%*! balls out of there so they can put something else in. Just bustin' to try some of the flavor combos and decorating ideas I've seen here!

I am in the process of filling an order for a baby shower and my chocolate pops are all leaking. I have no idea why this always happens to me. They sat on the counter from the freezer until all the condensation was gone and I let the candy cool a bit and they are still leaking!! Very frustrating!!

I don't really get this leaking problem! I mean, I feel awful you guys are having this problem, but I've frozen mine (and dipped immediately after removing from freezer) I've refrigerated them and dipped... I'm afraid when it does happen to me, it will happen in a big way!

I just wanted to share what I've come up with as far as the chocolate coating. My family has fallen in love with cakeballs, my kids just finished the most recent batch last night and immediately asked when I'm making more in a tone that sounded as if it's been a long time since they've had any. I'm way too cheap to use expensive chocolate for all that dipping, so..... I've started to combine: 2 oz (1 chunk) choc. almond bark, 1 oz. unsweetened Bakers choc. squares, and 1 oz. bittersweet or semi sweet Ghiradelli baking bar. This gives it a better quality choc. flavor w/o the expense. We also tried it w/just the choc. almond bark and the difference is very noticable.

I also just made Eggnog cake truffles for the grown ups:
Eggnog cake (replaced liquid in WBH yellow cake w/eggnog + dark rum), binder is creamcheese frosting thinned with equal parts eggnog + Bacardi.

kerrym - how moist is your cake ball - my first batch leaked as soon as they thawed because they were too moist. I'm still in the process of learning - but that has been my experience. When I think they're too dry - they are just right.

FullHouse- those eggnog truffles sound delicious! I like the idea of adding the rum to it Now I gotta go buy myself some eggnog!

Yum I can't wait to try to make these. They sound delish and dangerous. LOL

Ooooo, never thought of eggnog and rum! If only I had more reasons to make these! Perhaps I shall try some for my family Christmas. SO many yummy ideas!

If kids are eating them add rum extract to your batter. Rum flav without the tipsy On my way to the store to try the new chocolate combo!

I love eggnog and often find you don't get a lot of eggnog taste as its a delicate flavor. I like it to be more bold. Your truffles sound so yummy and would love to make them. Do you think this recipe would be right for me?

Pattycakes, the rum flavor is more prominent than the eggnog, since eggnog is such a mild flavor it doesn't really take center stage when used as an ingredient. Maybe try omitting the rum and use only eggnog in the batter+ some rum extract, go heavier on the nutmeg and then use only eggnog (with maybe a bit of rum extract) as the binder w/o the cream cheese icing & rum. Of course, the main appeal to me is the rum content, gotta have a way to tolerate the in-laws . I also highly recommend the eggnog/rum spike cream cheese frosting as a filling for cake, it was so delicious I could have sat down and eaten it by the spoonful.

I am now experimenting with a peanut butter cake, family request!

I did get the cake balls with the buttercream decorations up, as well as a tree made of the cake balls.

I am thinking I should do the tree with a batch decorated to look like ornaments. Maybe in my spare time;~)

deMuralist- I made peanut butter ones and they were a hit. I used CMD peanut butter cake and Ina Garten's peanut butter buttercream.
I finished my baby shower order and I used your Coconut cake recipe and made some coconut buttercream and they are so good!!! Thank you for posting it!!
I was complaining earlier today about my leaky cake pops ...well...I dipped them again and they were good. I noticed that the greasy stuff comes out of the air bubbles and the bottoms but after a while some of them stopped leaking .... I am thinking that they do not need to be so cold when being dipped.

Only on page 6 of this thread. Will have to finish it tomorrow. I have never EVER made cake balls.. After around page 2 yall had me wanting them!!! lol.. I am going to have to bake cakes just for this..

Need to start with an easy one first..

Boobookitty- What I found last night when I made a batch (one from a cake mix) was that a previous poster's recommendation of about 3 spoonfulls of binder per cake mix is right on. You'll get the perfect cake/binder consistency. Mine turned out kinda fudgey in texture and wasn't greasy/slimy in the least.

The cake balls that I made last night were for my Dad for his birthday. He's a closet chocoholic so I made him chocolate mint truffles, chocolate hazelnut truffles, and chocolate kahlua truffles (yum!). They turned out great thanks to the tips in here

*funny story- I had the truffles sitting out on the counter all night so the chocolate could set up. This morning my 2 yr old son comes into my room chattering away and holding his hands up (he doesn't like to be dirty). I didn't see anything on his hands, but then I seen the ring of chocolate around his mouth. I was thinking, "you turkey, you got a truffle. OMG you got a truffle!!!" I had him breathe into my face to see if I could smell alcohol on his breath. LOL. Luckily he got one of the chocolate hazelnut truffles. I definately have to guard those better. And of course my husband just laughed. I love my husband, he brings me joy

SAMBUG- do you refridgerate at all??....I am afraid to leave them out for too long. I make my frosting with butter and milk in it so I am affraid it will make the milk go bad. Maybe I have nothing to worry about seeing they are covered in chocolate?

Gosh I use at least a cup or 2 of binder, but I make my cakes from scratch and they are a tad bit bigger than a box mix.

I don't worry too much about refrigeration between the sugar and the chocolate they hold up as long as they last. Although I would probably put them in the fridge if they were going to be overnight, cant hurt right?

So I've been making these cake truffles and selling them by word of mouth, so far. They've been a hit and I am happy with the feedback that I've been getting. Someone my sister works with requested that I make some for her as holiday gifts which I am very happy about, of course. However, she asked if I was willing to package them and mail them out for her because she "doesn't know how to do it". I am just starting out and was kind of taken back by the request. What would you all do? I feel like I am being taken advantage of since I am not selling these by mail order. But then I feel like i'd be screwing myself if I didn't do it because I'd potentially lose a customer.

Please help!!!

If you aren't ready to start sending them through the mail (you don't have the right packaging, or knowledge or whatever) I would be honest about it and say so. The chances that they would melt or get crushed seem pretty high, and then you would lose her as a customer anyway.

p.s. what do you sell them for? I am just getting ready to start doing the selling part and wondering what everyone is getting for them.

I just dropped off some samples to area businesses, daycares, etc. I am asking $12/doz-packaged in a gold cand box w/ clear lid. I can get the boxes from a candy store for $1.50. But......haven't gotten any orders yet, but that is what I will be happy selling them for. Set a 2 doz mimimum per flavor.

Hey ladies i made 3 cake ball trees....let me know what you think of the outcome




http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1532357

they look fantastic. Do you use candy to decorate the cake balls?

I have actually been charging $6/dozen as an introductory price, if you will. However, I have upped my price to $10/dozen boxed and no one has had a problem with the price yet. It's not worth doing for less than that.

I just posted pictures of the baby shower favors. Take a look!

sweettooth, those are really great trees.

Do you mind me asking what your price was?

I am having trouble getting a nice white coating on a dark truffle, such as oreo. I am using almond bark, (not thinned) which just doesn't cover in one coat and I really don't want to spend the time to double dip! I double dipped a couple and the area where it sat on the cookie sheet after the firts dip-was not covered in bark and then let dark crumbs into the white coating-ug! I am using a plastic fork with the middle tines removed, tapping to remove the excess and coaxing off the fork with a toothpick. Each truffle always has a mark/nick (even if a toothpick is not used) where there is no coating and that's where a little oil develops. So..
Is there a better coating for white?? How to eliminate the little bare marks &/or oil???

i just used melted chocolate for the drizzle on the cake balls, i wasnt pleased with the gapping between the cake balls next time i will def use white chocolate as a binder and place them closer together. As for price i only charged 100 b/c it was for a family event. other wise i would have charged $165= 50 small tree 55 med and 60 for the lg tree