Seriously. We’ve all burned the heck out of our chocolate, lost a cake ball off the stick, had our beautiful cake pops crack 5 minutes later, or had them leak weird stuff everywhere! It’s sooo frustrating!
I look back on my first cake pops (if I’m even allowed to call them that) and they are sad. See the picture at the end of this as proof. Let’s just say, practice makes perfect and now I’m obsessed with cake pops. I think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Dang Bakerella, look what she started. Just kidding, I love her.
This can happen for a couple different reasons. I think the most common is thick coating and it is dragging your cake pop down. Smooth coating is one of the most (if not
Make Cookie Pops From Leftover Sugar Cookies!
Additionally, huge cake balls = heavy cake balls. So try to make them moderate size (1″) and use a spoon (small cookie dough scoop, coffee scoop, melon baller) or something to measure an even amount for each ball. I bought an awesome coffee scoop at Target for $5 and it gives me perfectly sized and consistent cake balls every time.
When I first started making cake balls I would use the whole container (16 oz) of frosting. Now, I start with adding 1/3 of the can and typically use up to 1/2 cup (8 oz) of frosting. You could probably get away with even less than that, but I found this amount is good for me and rolls out smooth. Cake balls that are too gooey won’t stay put!
Also, when dipping your cake pops, dip the stick in the coating first and insert into the cake ball. Then, when dipping the cake pop make sure that you don’t bump the bottom of the cake ball on the bowl/cup. Finally, don’t swirl the cake pop around in the coating, just dip and get out!
Our Neck Of The Woods: Homemade Living: Failed Cake Turned Into Cake Pops
This is probably the easiest problem to fix and it begins with baking your cake. Do not overbake. Simple enough! Second, trim off the edges and (if you’re obsessed like I am) leave out the bottom of the cake, too. Mix
With frosting. Thoroughly, as in: dig in using your clean hands to mush the cake and frosting together. Finally, roll, roll, roll. The smoother they look as uncoated cake balls, the better they will look when dipped. Voila.
They look perfectly fine, then magically they look like they experienced an earthquake. Super frustrating! Typically, this is caused by the difference in temperature of the coating and the cake ball itself – the coating is hot and the cake balls are too
Why Your Cake Pops Are Cracking (and How To Prevent It)
The cake ball expands, and now you have cracks. While I do like to chill my cake pops in the fridge (sometimes freezer for a few minutes, but be careful – there is a fine line between keeping them firm enough to stay on the stick and too cold where they crack), make sure you pull them out before dipping and that your candy coating isn’t TOO hot (let it sit for a couple of minutes after heating).
Cracks are the biggest challenge I have found with other cake poppers, too, and sometimes – even with the perfect conditions – cracks happen.
Some call it cake pop *poop*, which I think is a good word for it. After all, this was my initial reaction for it when I began making cake pops a couple years ago. This happens when the cake is pushing it’s way out of the coating through a weak spot, a tiny hole, or a bubble that resulted in a hole. Make sure you coat the entire cake ball in coating. This issue can also be caused by the cake ball and coating temperature difference – see the “cracks” problem. But in my opinion, leakage is better than cracks, so if you have a leak – pull the excess cake off and cover the hole with a little bit of additional coating.
Common Cake Pop Issues & Tutorial
The cake can also be very oily, causing oil to seep out the coating and even down the lollipop stick. If this happens, remember, you can always substitute apple sauce or greek yogurt for oil in your cake recipe!
Using less frosting = less oil. Again, you can seal any holes up with a little candy coating, but despite all of that, I still have some cake pops that are oily and the stick literally absorbs the oil and I’m fine with that, as long as they don’t crack and leak! Colored lollipop sticks would help hide any oil absorbed (these can be purchased online or at specialty cake supply stores).
Air bubbles happen, but you can prevent them. These are usually caused by stirring your chocolate too vigorously. To prevent air bubbles, create a smooth “spot” with the back of your spoon before dipping your cake pop. It helps drastically! Just run your spoon (in a back and forth motion) over the coating between dipping each cake pop. If you notice the air bubble upon pulling your cake pop out of the coating, just give it a second dip immediately.
What To Do When You Break A Cake
You may have scorched your coating. This is a very common issue and happens when the sugar particles become too hot, causing them to caramelize or scorch. When using the microwave, be sure to follow the instructions on the package and heat the entire block of CandiQuik for an initial 60 seconds, then stir very well and heat in 15-second intervals. If using less, adjust the microwave times accordingly. Remember, you can’t go back in time if you scorch your coating, so it’s better to start off slow. Of course, microwaves can heat unevenly and cause hot spots, so using short intervals and stirring between each one will help this. If your microwave has a turntable, try placing the CandiQuik tray away from the center, this way all parts of the tray are moving at all times and help even out any uneven heating. If melting on the stove top, make sure you have the burner on low heat and stir constantly.
And of course, I suggest using CandiQuik Candy Coatings. I don’t have to add anything to thin it out and I get a nice, smooth, palatable, thin shell of coating (versus a thick, gloppy mouth full of thick sugar particles).
If you notice the coating is thicker than normal (commonly caused by humidity/climate), add a teaspoon-tablespoon of solid vegetable shortening (ex: Crisco) to the melted (16 oz) coating. Begin by adding a little and add more if needed.
Incredible Uses For Leftover Cake
*If just a tiny section has burned, scorched, or became too hot, I have been able to save the rest of the coating by carefully scooping out all of the coating that was burned! Simply spoon it out and allow the rest of the coating to cool slightly, then continue heating in short time intervals. This is usually a microwave heating the coating unevenly.
This is usually caused by overheating. See the tip above on thick and clumpy coating. However, whenever I have added oil-based or powdered food colorings (the only kind to use with candy coatings), it simply dries faster. I cannot explain this, but it just means you have to work faster! It can be good in the case that you don’t have to wait so long when tapping the excess coating off, but it can be hard when making character pops. Also, whenever adding a lot of coloring to your CandiQuik, I add a little Crisco to the coating as well; some brands of the oil based food colors cause it to become slightly thicker than normal.
Versus powdered food colors if you have the option. I have had issues with the powders leaving little specks in the coating.
What's Wrong With My Cake? 10 Common Baking Problems Fixed!
For smooth cake balls, trim off the edges and bottom of the cake. Mix crumbled cake thoroughly with frosting. For best results, use your hands to thoroughly combine the cake and frosting together.How did a fail batch of cupcakes turn into an artisan treat? Well, I took a tip from a blog post by my professional baker friend, Rosy Choi, on how to turn baking disasters into new delicious treats 🙂
My original plan was to make green tea matcha cupcakes. I wanted to make a chiffon cake instead of normal cupcake because I wanted to capture the Asian essence of the green tea component. I played around with using only egg whites…well it didn’t turn out so well.
The cupcakes came out in such an odd form. The cupcake itself was “straight.” Usually, cupcakes have a muffin top. The muffin top didn’t just not appear, it shrunk. Yes, a huge crater formed on the top AND the bottom of the cupcake. The middle of the cakes were 1cm less thick than the walls. In short…this batch was absolutely not presentable.
How To Fix A Broken Cake (or Make Use Of The Crumbs)
So what did I do with this fail batch of cupcakes? Usually, I would’ve just given them all to my dad to eat because he eats anything. BUT, after reading Rosy’s post, I decided to take her awesome advice to make cake pops out of them!
What a genius idea! It’s so simple that I wonder how I never thought about that myself. Cake crumbles, icing, chocolate, it’s such a simple recipe that makes such a good treat! I’m so glad I didn’t have to waste a whole batch of cupcakes, and instead, make something that was even more delicious. Thank you so much for
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