Hmm. I was making a graduation cap and I made the top "flat" square part of it out of chocolate. I have a half sports ball choc. cake made.... and I was wondering if I could just cover IT in chocolate.... I thought of making a shell of chocolate using the half ball pan and then just putting the cake kinda "inside".... but I figure that won't be too easy to cut....

So then I thought I remembered seeing somewhere that you could POUR chocolate over cake..... and I wondered if it would end up being kinda smooth.... does that sound like a good idea??? Has anyone tried it??

You cake pour chocolate ganache over a cake. I don't think plain chocolate covering it would work too well.

Hmm I was thinking about candy coating.....

Bumping this up!!! Please help!

I've never tried that....

So no one has tried this? I'd love to practie - but I just got the idea and the cake is due tomorrow... and I don't have like a ton of candy stuff to lay with..... or cake.... I have some cake frozen.... but I'm running out of time....

So has ANYONE tried to cover a cake w/ candy melts before?? I swear I saw it in a Wilton yearbook or something.....

hello? is everyone asleep??

I found this recipe may be it would work. Sarah Berhardt chocolate Glaze. let me know how it works.

I made small heart cakes about 4 inches across 2 inches tall torted and filled w/BC, poured melted milk chocolate melts over them. The tops were very smooth, the sides gave me a little trouble. I used a hot spatula to smooth the bumps out. You have to work fast because it starts to set up right away if it is to cool in your work area. I think my problem was that I did not ice the hearts first and smooth out all the bumps. I think if you ice the cake and get it really smooth it will work better and maybe use a blow dryer on a high setting to keep the chocolate warm enough to spread easily. They really tasted good. Ganache would probably be easier because it takes longer to firm up. But it is possible to cover a cake in chocolate.

Hi, don't know if I'm too late to help, but I read that in a Wilton yearbook one time. They covered little "gift boxes" in candy melts. I believe it said to crumbcoat the cakes first. I've never tried it before, but fully intended to once. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I've covered a cake in melted, canned frosting once and it worked ok. It was kind of like a "ding-dong" (Hostess cake) and stayed relatively shiny and easy to cut, too. HTH

ooh I didn't think about having to cover it in buttercream first! hmmm. I just think it's hard to cover a roundish cake like the sports ball pan. I've done it - heck I did 6 of 'em for that baby Einstein catepillar..... I just thought the candy might be cool.... especially b/c I already made the cap square part of it out of chocolate and I wanted the colors to match..... maybe I'll give it a go and see ..... keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Just thought I'd give this one more shot to see if anyone else had done this! I covered the cake w/ buttercream, but I haven't poured chocolate on it yet - I read one thing in the forums about adding whipping cream to the candy to make a sort of ganache.... do you think that would be better?

I too would suggest Sarah Bernhardt chocolate glaze or even ganache. Pure chocolate will set very hard and will shatter when you cut into it.

It's not pure pure chocolate, it's candy melts.... does that make a difference?? I'm trying to do it in a green color, which is one of the reasons I was using candy melts - b/c I used them for the cap and I went the bottom of the "cap" to match the top...... and I made the square part of it out of candy melts.....

Someone said on another post to add whipping cream to melted candy melts....

The cake in my photos with the rose on it (chocolate). The woman that I did it for said it was h** to cut. I had told her to warm the knife first, but she said that she didn't hear that part. I have tried it since, and it is hard to cut and doesn't do a clean cut. So, I went to a candy class and the lady said to put candy melts on cupcakes or cakes you add a 1/3 cup of veg. oil per pound. It still set. Does a shiny finish. And is much easier to cut.

HTH

Lu

So I need a pound of candy melts and I add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil?? and that should work better? Do you think that's better than adding the whipping cream and making that sort of "ganache"?

whipping cream sounds tastier.... I wonder if it'll work though.....

UGH! What a disaster!! I made sort of the candy melt ganache w/ the whipping cream. I had covered the half ball w/ buttercream icing and then tried to pour the ganache on...... it would NOT harden at all.... so I kept letting it sit for a bit, poured more, let it sit in the fridge for a bit, then poured more....... I finally got it a little like what I wanted and started to try to transfer it to the cake....... and it toppled over...... so the top got messed up......... and it STILL wouldn't harden at all.....

so it was just a mess. I ended up just using buttercream tinted green. And it was a huge mess transporting it - the cap wasn't staying on, my tassels kept breaking.... and one of my chocolate letters broke too..... thankfully, in the end, I THINK they were happy with the cake......... but I was just thankful to get out of there!!! I'll contact them later to see if at least tasted good.....

I hope I'm not too late to help!!!!!! CHECK OUT MY PICS. I glazed the Ark in the Noah's Ark cake TOTALLY IN CHOCOLATE...NO CRUMB COAT NECESSARY.

I always use Ghiradelli because it melts so smooth. Use white, milk or dark...your choice. BUT....don't forget a bit of parafin wax. That's the secret to it!

Parafin wax is in the baking section, and is used in candy making. It's really inexpensive. Personally, I use 1/4 of a bar per 11 oz bag of Ghiradelli morsels. And make sure you use a doubler boiler method (pot of simmering water with a bowl over the top, making sure NO WATER gets into the chocolate.

Place your cake on one of those cooling racks. Ladle the warm, smooth chocolate over the cake, letting the excess run off back into the pot. The parafin wax gives it a smooth, shiny finish. It adheres perfectly to the cake, and no crumb coat is necessary. In fact, the people who I made the cake for said they all fought over the ark.

I hope this helps for you!

Sorry...I didn't read all the way through! I didn't realize you already delivered.

I'm sure it looked beautiful, and they loved it!

Thanks botanesis! Next time.....