Cake Ball Nightmares

I made something Bakerella again, only this time, it's cake balls! (Not cake pops... Get it? *awkward silence* Hahaha).

We were invited to a party by one of my mother's friends. The host and her husband live with her brother-in-law's family and her other brother-in-law was invited too. Together, they have more than a dozen kids! We couldn't think of an adequate present that would suit and please all of them, so I decided to bake something as a present. Cake balls seemed perfect because they wouldn't be messy and look so cute.

The cake balls I made this time were burger cake balls from Bakerella's website. They look absolutely adorable and are perfect for kids. Man, I have to tell you. However easy they were to make for Bakerella, they were not easy for me. It wasn't that the process was hard or difficult to understand. It was just that there was so much frustration involved, that I almost felt as if I would never make them again!

The cake balls after the first coating.

The terrors of cake balls that Bakerella never tells:

First of all, I had not even decided to make burger cake balls until last minute. I had a bunch of candy coating so that was fine but I had already made my cake balls and I hadn't shaped them correctly. For burger cake balls, they have to be shaped slightly rectangular so they look like buns. Well, I started shaping them after they had hardened and some of the balls started cracking or crumbing. That was annoying.

Despite all the difficulties I ran into, I was so pleased with how they turned out. What do you think?

Then, I had trouble with the candy melts. I made a makeshift broiler so that I could melt the candy melts. I just boiled some water in a skillet and set a bowl with my candy melts on top. They melted just fine but they were too thick. I had to keep on thinning the melts down but they would never become the right consistency. Once, some water got into my candy melts. Oh, the horror. It was terrible; my candy melts jammed up and became unusable. I had to throw them away. What a waste.

They tasted so good... Mmmm.

Of course, the trouble didn't just end there. I didn't have time to make the cake balls until the evening, so I had to work away into the night. It started getting chillier and the cake balls with candy coating started drying right on my spoon! I had to pull the cake ball off the spoon and a layer of cake ball and coating would stay stuck on the spoon. Then, there would be crumbs inside the coating and so on...

Sometimes the cake ball would get heavy with coating and fall right off my spoon and right back into the bowl. All my careful dripping gone to waste. That was a problem I had with my cake pops too; the cake would get too heavy and fall of the stick.

Can you see the few yellow "sesame seeds?" I had to handpick these from a colorful sprinkles variety.

I ran into problems dipping the second and third layers of coating too. When I held the cake ball to redip it, the candy coating would start to melt from my body heat. It would also melt from after coming in contact with warm coating. When I lifted the cake out of the bowl, the two coatings would be mixed. I would find lettuce popping out of the bun. xD

♪ We're going on a picnic.. Na na, na na, na na ♫

Still, when the kids saw the burgers/cakes, they were so excited. Their mothers were so impressed. It was worth it. And of course, I can't resist exaggerating. It wasn't so bad, I probably only ran into these problems once or twice before I would improvise or solve the problem. I don't want to scare you guys from making cake balls. So, try making Bakerella's cake pops or balls and remember to tell me or show me if you do!

Love, Wardah

Behind the scenes with Wardah. ;D

P.s. Do you guys like the new banner and background? Is it too tacky?