Ball Cake

Last night, I worked on the water polo cake again:)  With out meaning, this is becoming a several day tutorial on how to make a ball cake.  This project does take several days, don't expect to do it in one.  

I cut off the top of the cake (on the left).  The flat part will serve as the bottom (you'll see).  Next, take about 1/4 cup of frosting and add hot water (1 tsp) and mix well.  Frosting is usually a peanut butter consistency, and you want to add hot water a little at a time until it is the consistency of jelly.  Now, you will put on a thin layer of your thinned out frosting over the cake surface.  This very thin layer of frosting is called a crumb coat.  Think of it as primer.  Most people understand the importance of priming walls before putting on paint color.  Well, priming your cake keeps all the crumbs down and allows the frosting to go on nice and smooth.  

Let it air dry over night (that means do not cover it with plastic wrap or anything else).  This is the ugly duckling stage of the process, but it will become beautiful.

I then prepared my cake board with a pool color foil and smeared a dollop of your regular frosting in the center (FYI: you won't need the thinned out frosting anymore).  The frosting will be the yummy glue that keeps your cake from slipping off your cake board and landing on the ground.  
Because I started this project a little late, I did not wait overnight to begin assembling the ball.  Remember the cake I cut earlier on the left?  I took it and inverted it so the part I cut off was centered on the dollop of frosting (see picture below).  That flat bottom will ensure the ball doesn't roll away.  

I don't have a picture for the next step, but hopefully it will make sense.  Spread frosting or fruit filling on the top of this half of the cake.  I strongly recommend you use frosting if it is your first time stacking a cake.  I'll create a separate tutorial on stacking a fruit filled cake some other time.  There is a must do trick to keep the filling from oozing out of the cake.
Now, simply place the other half on top to form the ball.  Then use frosting to fill in the gaps where the two hemispheres come in contact.  You want a seamless ball.  

A rotating cake stand is helpful in cake decorating.  If you have a lazy Suzanne, that will work also.  Instead of you going around your cake, the cake rotates for you.  
I let it dry over night, and today I will work on it some more.  I'll blog about it tomorrow.  Feel free to ask me any questions about this process.