Once you cut the block into logs, are the logs the same height and width?
They should all be about the same.
Mine isn't quite as mushy as hers but I can pick it up (carefully). I can't roll it as many times as she does or it will fall apart.
I had the same issue with my turning out to be squares. I spoke with Jennifer and the problem is not enough "dough" in the roller. I didn't realize there is a certain way the frame should be put together. Thank goodness for her patience in trying to get me to understand this. Well, adding more dough, I did get round bites...yeah!! Sill have to work on how many times to roll the top so they don't break on me. Oh so close!! Hope this helps someone
Hi everyone, I've just recieved on of these rollers over in the UK!!
Me and my wife have been rolling the cake balls by hand for some time now, and as the orders get bigger, we just needed something to speed up the process!
Hence my posting on this great forum.
We use the cake recipe from Bakerella's book. All the sponges are fresh baked, with buttercream to bind the mixture.
This works fine for hand rolling.
When we both tried the cake roller, the mix just broke apart after about two or three 'rolls'!
More buttercream was added to the mix and this helped a little, but they still broke apart. Any more and the mixture became too greasy with the butter content.
We even increased the thickness of the slab when rolling in the guides, to no avail.
I have sent Jennifer a mail to ask for advice/recipe that she uses with the roller. But maybe due to time differences, no reply as yet.
Would anyone be able to post or pm(if you want it kept secret) a recipe that works with this roller please?
I believe that there are only a couple of these rollers in the whole of the UK so far, so no information on any of our forums as yet!
Thanks for any help given and sorry for such a long first post.
Steve and Joanna.
Not sure if I have any answers, but it sounds like to much frosting. I do a lot of cake bites, but I do not use Bakerella's recipe. Jennifer also email her facebook page about the cake pop roller and it may have some good informatiom. It surely helped me!
https://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=2272384173355#!/pages/Best-Cake-Pops/154001857991125
Good luck!
I just received my cake baller (in Scotland) the other day and I had some spare cake pop mix left in the fridge, so me and my fiancee set about making some cake pop (mega excited) but after about an hour we gave up. I don't know if it's my recipe or what, but the balls either were square or just fell to pieces. Firstly I thought it was the consistency of my mix being too dry, so added more buttercream but it didn't help. I ended up binning my mix out of sheer frustration. I am putting off trying it again, because I don't want to find out that the over £200 toy I just bought isn't going to work for me!!!
I just received my cake baller (in Scotland) the other day and I had some spare cake pop mix left in the fridge, so me and my fiancee set about making some cake pop (mega excited) but after about an hour we gave up. I don't know if it's my recipe or what, but the balls either were square or just fell to pieces. Firstly I thought it was the consistency of my mix being too dry, so added more buttercream but it didn't help. I ended up binning my mix out of sheer frustration. I am putting off trying it again, because I don't want to find out that the over £200 toy I just bought isn't going to work for me!!!
Did you watch the youtube video I posted above? You may justneed to adjust your frame and only roll once or twice.
I just received my cake baller (in Scotland) the other day and I had some spare cake pop mix left in the fridge, so me and my fiancee set about making some cake pop (mega excited) but after about an hour we gave up. I don't know if it's my recipe or what, but the balls either were square or just fell to pieces. Firstly I thought it was the consistency of my mix being too dry, so added more buttercream but it didn't help. I ended up binning my mix out of sheer frustration. I am putting off trying it again, because I don't want to find out that the over £200 toy I just bought isn't going to work for me!!!
We share your pain!!
I did get a very nice e-mail from Jennifer about the mix she uses.
It is linked on her facebook page with pictures.
I have copied the mail sent direct to me...
Hi Steve!
I actually don't use any frosting in most cases (No frosting at all in the cake pics)! You will need to raise the frame if you start making squares instead of circles. If it breaks up in there its either one of two things.. . Either you are sliding it back and forth too much, you really only need to do it a couple times, or you just need to Knead the mix more before it goes in. I spin my cakes with no icing at all in the food processor (I use a Betty Crocker cake mix) for less then a minute and it crumbles and kneads it pretty good. If the cake is dry and not coming together after the minute in the food processor, I will add 1 TBS of frosting at a time until it does. I posted a discussion and photos and a new video in on my "best cake pops" Facebook page, but I will attach it here too!
New Video (I think you probably just need to knead it more (the smoother and tighter it goes in the better results you will have)
The mix in this video seems so soft and workable.
We have some big orders coming in for cake pops and need to get this right!
We always make our sponges fresh and do not use the packet stuff.
Could this be part of the problem?
I may just try and get some packet mix to compare.
I think we'll end up making some sponge batches and testing to get the correct 'mix'.
I'll let you know if we have any success!!
Steve and Jo.
We share your pain!!
I did get a very nice e-mail from Jennifer about the mix she uses.
It is linked on her facebook page with pictures.
I have copied the mail sent direct to me...
Hi Steve!
I actually don't use any frosting in most cases (No frosting at all in the cake pics)! You will need to raise the frame if you start making squares instead of circles. If it breaks up in there its either one of two things.. . Either you are sliding it back and forth too much, you really only need to do it a couple times, or you just need to Knead the mix more before it goes in. I spin my cakes with no icing at all in the food processor (I use a Betty Crocker cake mix) for less then a minute and it crumbles and kneads it pretty good. If the cake is dry and not coming together after the minute in the food processor, I will add 1 TBS of frosting at a time until it does. I posted a discussion and photos and a new video in on my "best cake pops" Facebook page, but I will attach it here too!
New Video (I think you probably just need to knead it more (the smoother and tighter it goes in the better results you will have)
The mix in this video seems so soft and workable.
We have some big orders coming in for cake pops and need to get this right!
We always make our sponges fresh and do not use the packet stuff.
Could this be part of the problem?
I may just try and get some packet mix to compare.
I think we'll end up making some sponge batches and testing to get the correct 'mix'.
I'll let you know if we have any success!!
Steve and Jo.
Yeah I have to say I most definitely won't be using a packet mix (and please I don't mean to offend anyone who uses one, but the whole premise behind my business is home made scratch recipes). I really hope that there is a scratch recipe that will work with this or I've just forked out a whole load of cash for something that isn't going to work for me.
However with all that said, I am pretty positive it's just about finding the right balance between recipe and practice...........fingers crossed!
Well, just picked up a couple of packets from Co-op!
Its in the oven now.........
It uses 75ml of veg oil in the mix with 3 eggs and 250ml of water.
I wonder if its the oil that helps to achieve the 'binding' and shine that we se in the video?
All will become clear later.....
I did notice on her website that the comment section wasn't "enabled" for customers to leave feedback. That would be helpful before you make a decision to spend that much money on something that you can only exchange and not return. Just curious....
Yeah I have to say I most definitely won't be using a packet mix (and please I don't mean to offend anyone who uses one, but the whole premise behind my business is home made scratch recipes). I really hope that there is a scratch recipe that will work with this or I've just forked out a whole load of cash for something that isn't going to work for me.
However with all that said, I am pretty positive it's just about finding the right balance between recipe and practice...........fingers crossed!
I don't think that should be too hard. From what it looks like the key is getting what looks like a doughlike consistency. There are certainly scratch recipes that are moist enough to produce that consistency.
I am pretty sure based on the email that was linked and the videos that have been linked I could never use this roll out cake balls as I use just enough binder to hold crumbs together. I could never kneed the consistency of the mix I use.
OK good news people - I've finally mastered it.
I changed my recipe - I was using a vegan recipe (not because I'm vegan, but it is a super tasty recipe) anyway there was no eggs or milk in it obviously (it's still super moist) but I thought that perhaps that was why it was crumbling.
Anyway I used this recipe here:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/17277/hersheys-perfect-chocolate-cake
and never used any buttercream at all!!! Basically, as soon as it came out of the oven, I shoved it in my stand mixer and mixed it until it came together (seconds really). It was really doughy, but the longer you knead it, the more together and smooth it becomes. Then I put my frame at the smallest height - the two biggest notches together (if that makes sense) and then rolled it exactly the way she does in the video, one roll forward, one roll back, a half roll forward and a then a couple of nudges. Worked a treat.
Some of the cake balls were a tiny bit squarish, but it takes about 1 second to give them a final roll in your hand. I got 50 balls out of that recipe and it took me about 10 minutes. I know I'll get quicker at it though so I'm really chuffed!
They are cooling in the freezer right now and will post pictures once I've dipped and decorated them.
OK - here are a few of the pops I made tonight. Some of them aren't perfect circles, but that's my fault - plus I did ask my fiancee to hand roll the ones that weren't round enough, but he didnt!!! lol.
Thanks - here are the others - these ones are better, more round. I can probably still get them a little more round, but I'm getting there
[/img]
Good news on the 'non packet mix'!
I think it must the veg oil thats making the dough pliable.
I have been playing with the B/Crocker packet mix for an hour or so last night and it does roll easily.
Trouble is they either came out squre or a funny shape!?
Just need to get the thickness of the 'slab' correct before cuting into logs.
Here are the very first pops we ever made for a friends engagement party...
Sorry about poor lighting - it was dark and just stopped snowing outside.
Good on all y'all who can make this &$@^ roller work. My third attempt and NO LUCK AT ALL. The dough just breaks apart. The best result I ever got was square balls. pffth. It's about to join the %!^ cricut.
I just got my fabulous bill from customs with the extra £60 bill!!!!
I absolutely hate customs!
Leah, did you try using the cake recipe I posted above - I used it straight from the oven, while still hot and didn't use any buttercream. It worked a treat and while not as perfect as the balls that she gets on the video, I know it's more just a case of me practising.
Fingers crossed that you get it to work!
Good on all y'all who can make this &$@^ roller work. My third attempt and NO LUCK AT ALL. The dough just breaks apart. The best result I ever got was square balls. pffth. It's about to join the %!^ .
Seems you just don't have a lot of luck with new gadgets. It does take patience and practice to master new technology, maybe you just need to give it more time and not expect instant results.
I've never claimed to have a lot of patience. But one night I tried for nearly 3 hours using different consistencies of dough. That's when I got squares. I tried mixing the dough in the mixer this time. I've tried different heights of the block of dough. I've tried rolling many times and 2-3 times.
Baking a cake specifically to roll it into balls completely defeats my purpose of using the cut off dome from wedding cakes so that they get used and become income producing.
Will keep trying, because I really, really need it to work.
Oh and the little feet fall off and now one is lost.
I never really thought about cake scraps Leah - that makes sense. I agree that it shouldn't be this difficult.
I know that she states that she doesn't accept refunds and I don't know about consumer laws in the USA, but here in the UK our consumer laws prevent someone from refusing a refund if the product does not work like it says it will. I'd be pretty hacked off if I spent a good whack of money on something and it didn't do what it promised it would.
It sounds like you've tried pretty much everything, but have you tried rolling it to the smallest height and then taking the frame off and rolling it a bit thinner?
Have you tried adding chocolate ganache to the dough instead of buttercream - just thinking this might help it stick together better because the ganache would set firmer and maybe give a better hold.
I actually haven't made cake pops using scraps and hadn't really thought about, although I will be trying it once I have some scraps to try it with and I'll let you know how I get on.
[quote="tiggy2"]Are you packing the frame tight?[/quote]
Well, I think so.
The problem with all of us working independently, is that we can't watch and learn from each other in person. Therefore, tiggy2, you need to come over to my kitchen right now. Yes, I've watched the videos.
I've never claimed to have a lot of patience. But one night I tried for nearly 3 hours using different consistencies of dough. That's when I got squares. I tried mixing the dough in the mixer this time. I've tried different heights of the block of dough. I've tried rolling many times and 2-3 times.
Baking a cake specifically to roll it into balls completely defeats my purpose of using the cut off dome from wedding cakes so that they get used and become income producing.
Will keep trying, because I really, really need it to work.
Oh and the little feet fall off and now one is lost.
If you go to the Best Cake Pops facebook page there are many tips and tricks and it sounds like a similar problem others reported then they changed the height of the frames and it worked. There is even a photo gallery showing how people should try to change the frame height. Hope that helps!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%