Thank you so much.... that info IS very helpful info... just what I needed... how much shortening do you add to the chocolate in order to thin it?

I keep saying I'm going to record the amount of shortening/paramount crystals I use. Most times I use about 1 or 2T of the crystals. Local cake store owner told me that vegetable oil is also an option. I've tried it a few times and it seemed to work for me. I didn't measure it, I just added a little at a time until I got it thin.

Can you use poured fondant instead of chocolate to cover them???

Thanks... I don't have paramount crystals with me.. (need to order them) but I will try the shortening..... just curious about poured fondant...

I've never tried pour fondant (or used it for that matter). If you have some extra cake how about giving it a try and letting us know how they turn out. You just might stumble onto something new. It's funny how you come up with new ideas by "playing" around.

Poured fondant would certainly solve the problem of getting the balls out of the chocolate - stick, skewer, toothpick, fork, etc! Looking forward to see how it goes.

I will do the cake balls as Bakerella says... and try a few with poured fondant to see how they turn out.... will post pics... cake just finished baking... waiting for it to cool off so I can start rolling balls hehehe

Ok...I made my cakepops last night...they came out pretty good although I think I used to much binder. I'm going to try them again tonight minus the binder overload.

Question: How do you get the cakepops round on the top end...and how do you get the chocolate to stay on the top...when I rest the rounded end of the cake pop on the wax paper to dry it flattens it and the chocolate spreads and flattens on the top. I thought about putting the sticks down in a styrofoam board but the chocolate dripped and ran down the stick...extremely messy...Any thoughts? I would greatly appreciate the feedback before I try them again this evening...please and thank you!

I've played around with the way you described in your post and I also tried just making them as I would cakebites and after the chocolate set up I dipped my lollipop stick into the chocolate and pushed it into the cakebite and added a little bit of chocolate around the outside of the stick. I like the second method better for me because I can get the bites done quicker and less mess. I haven't had any client to complain about them falling off the lollipop stick. I hope that makes sense.

I am loving this post!! I do have a question. I need to make purple and green grape clusters. What do you all think would be the best...

1.Way to get the color (add color to white chocolate or get the wilton color waffers?)
2. Stick them together like they were grape clusters? (melted chocolate, toothpicks??)

And thank you.. I cant wait to make these

I sure you will probably gets lots of ideas and I'm looking to hear them! What's fun to me is using your imagination and just going for it

I don't use the Wilton disc (but I'm sure many do), I use white chocolate from our cake store (Merkens is the brand they carry) and then color my chocolate with purple candy oil or if you can use powders. I'm starting to get into the powders because I can get a ratio of powder to chocolate. Yeah, I'm corny like that....lol

I try not to use tootpicks, so I probably would have to get in there and experiment on how to do this. Will the grapes be on a cake, some type of platter/plate/dish or something else? Is it for decoration only or will people be actually eating them?

Good luck and keep us posted.

Auntie Ra Ra .. the people will just be eating them. So the cake IS the grape cluster...

These are regular chocolate truffles in a cluster, but may help with visualizing.
http://www.cateringmaine.com/album/index.html

Catering in Maine makes lovely displays of food.

NICE.. So how do I hold them together like that if they were chocolate dipped??

I'd put them all on toothpicks, then make a fondant base in the general shape of the grapes and stick the toothpicked cake balls into the fondant.

That's awesome! Yea toothpicks and fondant base

Hi all! after the cakeballs are made, should they stay at room temperature or in the refrigerator??? I made them tonight but I need them for Friday afternoon, thanks in advanced!! cbya

anyone???

I usually leave in fridge.

well I leave them in the fridge but I'm worry about condensation, I have to put them in favor boxes tomorrow afternoon and is getting hot here, any sugestions?

condensation shouldn't be a problem, but they will be fine if you leave them out

Speaking of shelf life....my mom just pulled a ball out of her fridge last week from CHIRSTMAS! umm ya and actually ate it.... She said it tasted as good as the first one she had. I wouldn't recommend it to my clients, but interesting to know

mmm cupcakeheart that's good to know! thanks a lot

I just made my first batch I used strawberry Jam with the chocolate cake and that was my binder!

CBYa- I usually keep them in the fridge after I coat them just 2make sure they firm up, if I do it in the summer I would probably keep them in the fridge more often cuz of the heat..but in the winter i think they are fine out.

hello everyone I just wanted to share with you my first attempt to make cake balls...I used three types of binders: bettercream, Ghirardelli chocolate flavor sauce, and creamy egg nog...everything was fine, I left the cake balls for almost 30min in the fridge then melted the chocolate and started to tip..here comes the problem...since the only chocolate I had handy was the one from wilton it did not wonrk very well, I did not like the chocolate at all, I had some ghiraldelli semisweet chocolate and tried some with this and it was perfect....I will never buy wilton chocolate again!!!

how do you dip your cake balls, do you use any specific tool?

what do you do when the chocolate does not spread very nice?

thank you!!!

I'm sad I didn't get to make my topiary, but time was short & so they just went on a platter---but it saved me from going insane & running out of time to do the rest of the preparations for my dd's bday party.

But I just used scraps from her cakes: lemon was a HUGE hit! And the other was a white citrus (white cake w/ a citrus flavoring---but not too strong). I didn't like those, but I'm thinking maybe a different binder next time would work better. I just used the cream cheese icing.

But my last few batches haven't had that "snap" when you bite into them. I used 1/2 almond bark & 1/2 Wilton wafers. I don't have any other problem w/ them though. Is there anything I can add to get a snap? I've done Crisco before but it just softens the chocolate. I didn't know if paramount crystals would work or not.

Cristi-Tutty this is what i do: befor I melt the chocolate i place a peice of wax paper on the counter where im working, then i melt the chocolate. Then I dip each piece in the chocolate & take it out with a fork and place it on the wax paper. If this dosnt work another thing you can do is place the cakebites on a cool rack then pour chocolate on top with a spoon.