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.
@lisabakescakes, thank you--we try! If you are ever missed, please let us know! ;0) --
@Michelle--THANK YOU!! Happy to have you ;0)
Hi Melissa:
Can you do a video on how to make a round cake not use a half sphere pan?
Because what do you do if you need more servings; and we want the whole cake to be a ball shape?
Hi Debbie---Thanks for your request. If you happen to have a bowl (larger than 6" diameter at the top) that is safe for use in the oven, that could work just as well for you and will give you additional servings. If not, then you would need to start with stacked, filled rounds and carve your shape. I would work with one half at a time, similar to what we did in the video, and add a support (or more depending on the size). -- I'm sure that we will do a tutorial on carving a sphere from round layers at some point, I just can't say when. --
**One thing to keep in mind is that if you are wanting a soccer ball that is 8" wide, it will need to be approx. 8" tall also in order to look proportional. So, the sphere does become more difficult the larger that you go.
Supplementing with matching cupcakes or stacking the 6" ball onto another cake is really common. Hope this helps!
Hi lady's trying to make the pentagon and hexagon . I got the 6 inch round just like yours but cant figure the size of the shapes please help. I figured out to get i and i 8th inch but they don't fit.
Hi Patricia-- We used the pentagon and hexagon shapes that came in the package for the pans, or you can just print off our templates. You are right, I think that it is nearly impossible to wind up with shapes that are going to fit perfectly together as you work your way down the ball, as the thickness of your fondant & frosting, etc. is going to vary. --You do however want to start out with templates that have sides that are the same size, as we discuss in the video.
I think that it is a lot easier to work with the black fondant pentagons, and then use the template to create impressions for the hexagons (rather than trying to piece a lot of shapes together.) --
I think that the key is that after covering the ball with white fondant, you want to start at the very top with your first black pentagon. Then, use your template for the hexagon to draw your impressions. If the template does not fit exactly, do as I do in the video...line up/center the top side of the hexagon template with one of your pentagon sides, mark the bottom impression of your hexagon, and then use a straight edge to create impressions for the sides to connect with the neighboring hexagons. If you watch how I make it work in the video, it will make more sense.
I found that even though there was a little variation in the size of the white hexagons (especially towards the bottom of the cake), the size & spacing of the black pentagons stays constant, which is what keeps everything looking as it should.
I didn't receive the pentagon and hexagon with my ball mold . Thank you very much, love your program , watch it all the time. you make your lessons very easy to learn, have sent many people to your sight .
Thanks Patricia! (If your pan came with an instruction booklet, the templates are printed there.) -- However, we also have a copy of these templates in our Materials list above (highlighted in blue). Let us know if you need anything else!
I made the soccer ball cake last week and had huge problems with the ganache getting soft and the cake turning lumpy and sliding apart. I have to make a volley ball cake next week and it needs to sit on a square cake. I will probably try to use buttercream instead of the ganache (could be the AZ heat is just too much for the ganache). Do you have any advice on how to dowel the ball for support? I will use a cake board between layers in the ball, but I am concerned about getting the dowel all the way through multiple cake boards.
Hi Cakechiq--- I am so sorry that you had trouble with your soccer cake!
Did you use a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to cream? The only time that we had trouble with the ganache getting soft is when we refrigerated the freshly made (still hot) ganache to cool it down rather than just letting it cool down and thicken at room temp. I know you are going to try buttercream next time but just thought I would throw that out there!
I would use a support within the ball just as in the video to hold up the top half of the ball cake, but I would put it slightly off center if you want to travel with the assembled cake and need to hammer a sharpened dowel through everything. I'm assuming you are using cardboard or foam core cake circles...so you will be able to sharpen a wooden dowel with a (new or for cakes only) pencil sharpener, and then hammer the dowel all the way through the ball and bottom tier and into the cake base below. Your cake base will need to be stacked layers of cardboard, foam core, or other material that would accept the sharpened dowel .
Also, as a side note, you really may want to trim more off of the bottom of the soccer cake than I did, to make it nice and stable since it will be stacked onto another tier...especially if you will be driving a center dowel through in addition to the other support, as the ball in my tutorial is narrow at the base.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi, I just wanted to firstly say that i find you amazing and thank you so much for your wonderful ideas and i need more occasions to try to make these amazing cakes and you are such and inspiration! I just have one question and it may be a stupid one but im new to cake making. But i want to make this for my husbands birthday but wondering how far in advance can i make it and still have it taste nice? And do i keep it in the fridge until time to take it out? Hope that makes sense
Thank you so much! :)
Just curious but how long did you cook your ball halves? I used a rose nail and your chocolate almond sour cream recipe and at the recommended time for the pan (25-30 min) it was still liquid in the middle:(. Any suggestions?
@Massiah7~ You can bake the cake layers well in advance, wrap, and freeze. Or, if you want to decorate the cake in advance..I don't normally like to decorate more than 2-3 days in advance of the event.
@Elizabeth~ For half ball pans, wonder mold, or any other deep pans, it always seems to take longer than the instructions that come with the pan suggest. My memory is closer to the range of 45 minutes...if it becomes dark, you can put a piece of foil over it and continue baking until a toothpick comes out clean or it springs back in the center when touched. Hope this helps!