Soccer Ball Cake Tutorial

In today's cake video tutorial, I'm going to show you how to make a soccer ball cake! If you have any soccer-loving people in your life, making sure to keep this cake tutorial in mind!

Spherical cakes can be a little tricky, but the techniques that you learn in this tutorial will keep you on the right track! ;0)

In the soccer cake video tutorial, we will show you how to assemble a round cake, frost with ganache and then how to decorate as a soccer ball.

Table of Contents

Ball Cake Options

Knowing how to make a 3D round cake is a skill that you will be able to apply to an endless list of creative designs, from beach balls, to volleyball and baseballs, to cartoonish animals with round bodies...the list goes on and on!

How to keep a Ball Cake from Settling or "Deflating"

One problem that I faced in the past when making spherical cakes (and a common complaint among decorators), is that within hours or at least by the next day, my perfectly round cakes always seemed to deflate. It is hard to be excited about a deflated soccer ball cake! ;0) -- SO, we are putting an end to all of that with this tutorial.

For me, the key to creating a round cake that will hold it's round shape over time is to use a support and board within.

Frosting the cake in ganache gives an added layer of insurance as it sets up firmer than a crusting buttercream. (If you go the buttercream route, I would keep it chilled until closer to the event time, just to be on the safe side.)

As for creating the soccer ball, you will learn some helpful tips on working with templates (that don't always fit together so well as you work your way down the cake, lol) --

Materials

*For today's soccer cake, we are working with our White Almond Sour Cream (doctored Mix) recipe. Use whatever you'd like, but I prefer a cake that is somewhat dense for 3-D cakes.

Wilton Sports Ball Pan Set (aff.)

White Chocolate Ganache- (ratio of 3 parts chocolate to one part cream) - We used 1000g. of ganache.

White Fondant- (700g.) I used Liz Marek's recipe found HERE

Fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting (for filling and grass)

TEMPLATES (Pentagon & hexagon for the soccer cake)

Pre Colored black fondant for my pentagons

Toothpick and Wilton wheel tool (use one or the other or both) for impressions

Wilton Leaf Green for our buttercream grass

Grass Tip

Additional Notes

There is more than one way to make a spherical cake.

As we mentioned in the video, it is common to hear of decorators using a styrofoam half-ball for the bottom portion of their ball cakes.

This is great way to eliminate any worry of the bottom half drooping. Because of some unexpected happenings in the past week that threw our schedule a bit off, our finished soccer ball cake has been sitting on Mom's dining room table for over a week now!

It has not changed a bit. No sagging or dragging ;0)

Templates

We made a couple of soccer ball cakes in the past two weeks in preparation of the video.

Both times, we had the same result-- the templates worked well on the upper portions of the cake, but did not fit so snugly by the mid and bottom portions.

I imagine that the thickness of the ganache and fondant (or frosting), as well as how perfectly spherical your cake is will effect how snugly these templates fit together.

So, the method that I demonstrate is an easy fix to those not-so-perfect moments

Simpler Soccer Cake Design

You can use the same techniques and templates to make a half-soccer ball instead!

I've seen lots of cute designs that feature just the top half of the soccer ball stacked (with supports beneath) on a sheet cake, round cake, or on a cake board surrounded by buttercream grass.

More Sports Cakes

We don't have many sports cakes tutorials on our site, but we do have a simple Golf Bag Cake Tutorial as well as a Football Stadium Tutorial! Make sure to check these out if you have any golf or football-loving friends and family! :0)

Enjoy the Video!

Thanks so much for stopping by. We'd love for you to let us know in the comments below if you give this soccer cake a try!

Keep this tutorial in mind whether you are making a soccer ball cake, or just need a spherical shape for your next cake project.

43 Comments

Very informative. Thank you!! If you were to do a softball or baseball, what medium would you suggest for the stitching? Indentions filled with color, buttercream, red licorice, red fondant? What do you think would be the easiest to apply?

Hi Mom2three! A baseball is still on our list as well. I would use fondant for the thicker curved lines on the baseball so that it can be easily adjusted if needed, and then I would pipe on the stitches. (If a fondant cake, I would pipe with royal, and if a buttercream cake, I would pipe the stitching with buttercream). Doing it this way would help to keep things simple and neat. ;0)

Thanks for the advice and I'll be watching for the tutorial!

Very nice as always. Were the templates in the box of the Wilton Sports Ball Pan not as useful as your hexagon and pentagon templates from the internet?

Just wondering, because the Sports Ball Pan has the soccer ball templates on the instruction sheet as well as for the volleyball. They will probably have the same "fitting" problem though.

Looks great.

Hi Ms GF- Thanks! I should have mentioned that the pentagon and hexagon templates that we found online we later realized were from Wilton's instruction sheet for these pans. Very strange how they never quite worked out for me...but I guess in a way it is for the best so that I was forced to figure out a way to "wing it" for anyone who has the same problem! ;0) --

While the white hexagons towards the bottom of the ball are a little larger, I think that our eyes are drawn to the black pentagons which are the same size and equally spaced. (The lesson... charge extra for soccer ball cakes!! lol) ;0)

Great tutorial! I seriously thought the whole thing was pieced on. lol I'm glad it's not!! Many thanks to you and your mom. =)

I enjoyed this video. Very cute!! Would love to try it soon, but I am a bit intimidated by fondant.
You make it look so easy to apply!!! I'll need to practice with it more....

And by the way, your hair has gotten REALLY LONG!!!

Great tutorial Melissa...can't wait to try this. One comment...at times when you're wearing a white apron in front of a white background and working on light countertops, it's a bit hard for me to see everything clearly especially when you're working with a white cake with other white components, i.e. buttercream/ganache. If I'm the only one complaining then maybe it's just me. ;) Thanks again for a very detailed and informative tutorial.

@Luanne-- that's funny, I guess it does look pieced on because my impressions are so deep! That would not have been fun. ;0)

@Gracie - Thank you!! Yes, give it a try! -- You are right, my hair is getting long, haha ;0) --

@ForSweetsSake--I'm sorry you are having trouble! I'm wondering if the solution could be just adjusting the brightness or contrast settings on your computer? On my computer, it doesn't appear that way since Mom's countertop is several shades darker than the fondant....and my apron is several shades lighter. Let me know if the trouble continues--I want you to be able to see! ;0)