I just made my first batch of cake balls. I did them as instructed including freezing them first. I melted the chocolate to dip them into and pulled the cake balls directly from the freezer to dip. Worked great but the chocolate sweat afterwards when firming. Did I do something wrong? Any suggestions are helpful...thanks so much!

Well I am not sure what recipe you used. But here is the famous recipe I believe alot of us here use..
Here is Cookieman's recipe...


2 cups crumbled cake scraps
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (if cake scraps are not chocolate based)
1/4 cup chopped almonnds (or any other nut you like, or mini-chocolate chips, or M&Ms, you get the idea!)
2 generous shots of amaretto (or any other liquer you may like, a good non-alcohol substitution is any flavored coffee creamer)

Put all ingredients in a mixer and mix on medium speed until the ingedients form a ball. If the mixture seems too dry, add a bit more of the liquid used to make it moist enough to form into balls.

I use a tablespoon cookie scoop to make the balls uniform in size. Roll the scooped dough in your hands to form a nice smooth ball. Allow cake balls to set on a parchment lined cookie sheet for a couple of hours, then dip them in chocolate(following) or roll them in confectioners' sugar or cocoa.

Melt 1 lb. of candy melts and add approximately a tablespoons of crisco to make it a bit more smooth. Also, put the container (in my case, a pyrex measuring cup) of melted candy melts in a very hot (I use amost boiling) water bath to keep the chocolate fluid. dip balls into the chocolate using a spoon and a dipping fork (in my case, a plastic fork with the two middle tines cut out) Don't worry if the dipped balls have a "foot" at the base after drying. You can break some off after they have hardened and once they are in the little cake liners, no one will notice. Also, you can decorate the tops with just about anything, sprinkles, candy confetti, chopped nuts, etc. before they dry. Or after they've dried, pipe designs with royal icing or melted candy melts of differnet colors!

Good Luck!

This topic originated a while ago but I am having this same problem tonight. I have made the cake balls before but did not freeze them first. This time I froze them for about an hour and then starting dipping them. They were very hard to get off the fork and the are sweating and cracking as they dry. Yuck! and this for a party tomorrow evening!

Do you think the freezing is what is making them crack? Is there something else I should do?

C

I think its the freezing...the chocolate is trying to dry and all the moisture from this defrosting cake ball has to come out at the same time...

I always freeze my naked cake balls before dipping them. Mine do have a little bit of condensation on them after dipping, but that has never caused me any problems, and Ihave never had them crack.

I can't tell you why that is happening, all I can do is tell you about my experience with them. I have done severalbatches this way.

I am so sorry to hear about all of your sweaty ball problems.

This whole thread is reminding me of that Saturday Night Live sketch.

I had mine crack before too....I think its because I refrigerated them before dipping. Normal things contract when cold and expand when warm so I can only guess that is what happened. Next time I will have to just keep them room temp.

I have the same problem w/mine cracking, and I think it is the change in the temperature. Maybe not a problem for everyone but now that I know, I won't do that again!

Lotsoftots you are too funny...I thought the same thing Thanks for the laugh this afternoon, I needed it!

Mamafrogcakes--you are most welcome. Weren't you just half expecting someone to mention that not only were their balls sweaty, but that they were salty too? I can't read this thread with a straight face--clearly, I'm entirely too immature. Hey--we had a snowday on Friday, which means I've been with all the kids for three straight days--I think their idea of funny is rubbing off on me.

I thought the same thing especially since my husbands fav show is Southpark!

--lotsoftots thank goodness I'm not the only twisted one in here. I love that sketch. amy

It's condensation from where it is thawing out. Are they not hard enough to dip with out freezing them? I think the only way to keep them from sweating would be not to dip them froozen. What about putting them in the fridge for a while instead?

I only put mine in the fridge and they cracked anyway. Maybe I have a cold fridge!

what kind of choc. are you using? i freeze mine everytime, then dip them in the wilton choc. and never have any problems with cracking.

love the sweaty balls comment.....made me laugh this morning!!!!!

melody

lotsoftots~~~~~~~ YOU NEED A SPANKIN' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My, my, this is turning into an interesting conversation!

Anyway, I let the cake sit out until it got to room temperature before dipping and I did not have anymore problems (other than wanting to eat them before we made it to the party).

From now on I think I will just keep them at room temp.

Thanks,
Cindy

I remember reading a post about someone dipping strawberries in chocolate.......someone replied saying that you can add something to the chocolate to prevent it from cracking. I think it was some kind of crystals? Sorry I can't be of more help.

The reason the chocolate is sweating, IS because it has been too cold. You should never refrigerate your chocolate or dip frozen items. It causes condensation, which in turn breaks down the chocolate and could make a big mess.

You should dip the cake balls at room temperature. They are easy enough to handle at that temperature.

The only time you should freeze your chocolate is when what you are dipping is going to stay frozen until eaten.

If you do it to speed up the setting process, you should only put it in the fridge for a few minutes at a time.

If chocoalte has been tempered correctly, when you start dipping, whatever you are dipping, It will start setting within minutes of setting the dipped item on parchment. If it takes longer than 5 minutes to set, your chocolate was not tempered correctly.

Chocolate can be difficult to get it just right. Just melting real chocolate does not work.

On the other hand if you are using almond bark it just needs to be melted and it should set really quickly.

Hope this helps.

Beany, are you thinking of Paramount crystals? I put a little of those in my chocolates when I'm melting them also.

The sweaty balls and the cork (wine) skit are 2 of the funniest from SNL.