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Sorry - wrong board and can't delete!!
I made my first batch of cake balls over the weekend. The balls were easy to make until I had to coat them in chocolate. I don't know why but they came out so sloppy looking. Anyone have any helpful pointers on how to easily coat the balls with chocolate? I was going to make these as gifts for the teachers at school and I am sure happy I did a test run first, lol!!! I bought the confectionary chocolate wafers at Michaels and melted it in the microwave. I tried to keep the chocolate warm using a small crock pot. It just doesn't seem like the chocolate is thin enough or something. How am I supposed to get all the excess chocolate off the balls before putting down on the wax paper? they came out sooooo messy. I only coated a few of them as a test run and have more in the freezer waiting to be covered in chocolate. i thought these would be a quick and easy project but it seems like I am going to get really frustrated with this.
Thanks for any tips you can provide.
Re: Sorry - wrong board and can't delete!!
It's ok. We like cake and balls over here. Maybe BBE can help?
BBE MAKE US CAKE BALLS!
If you really want them to be perfect like from a store, you need to pour the chocolate over them while they are on a rack.
I refuse to do this. I use a shrimp fork to stab it, swirl in chocolate, then use another fork to slide it off (putting the part that had the shrimp fork in it facing down). I also find that decorating the tops hides a lot of imperfections - sprinkles, sanding sugar, cake glitter, or a drizzle of a contrasting color chocolate are all good options.
If you really want to thin the chocolate, you can add a teaspoon of shortening while it's melting (or still hot). This also works if it seizes up and gets clumpy. I find it disgusting, but I have done it in a super pinch.
Equally disgusting is adding a tiny bit of parraffin (which I cannot figure out how to spell correctly) to the chocolate, like maybe a 10:1 ratio. It makes the chocolate thinner and smooth and gives it a little bit of a crinkly cracking when you bit into it. It's flavorless, and you can find it in the grocery store kitchen gadget section. The wax take a bit longer to melt than the chocolate, so I either give it a head start or chop it up very finely before adding it in.
I've always wanted to try cake balls, but they scare me.