We are often asked about how to use ball tins. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that the ball tins we sell have the manufacturer’s suggestions/instructions printed on the reverse of the box label so please remove it if you are throwing the box out!
If you are making a fruit cake in the ball tin you will bake the cake as one ball. Line both halves and sit the bottom half in the tin stand. Fill that half with mixture and continue to pile up the mixture effectively creating the ball shape, leaving a little gap at the top for the cake to rise. Place the top half of the tin over the domed up cake mixture and lock into place, ready for baking.
Space Shuttle from 'Quick and Clever Party Cakes'
If you are doing a Madeira or Chocolate ball shaped cake we find baking the cake in two halves works best. Line the tins as before and sit the bottom half in the stand. Fill almost to the top. Then make a scrunched up ring of foil to sit the other tin half in. Fill that one almost to the top with mixture and then bake the cakes as normal. When the cakes have cooled trim to the top of the tins and sandwich with buttercream.
Halloween Bat Cake from Party Animal Cakes
Don’t be tempted to use a soft sponge like a Victoria sponge. It’s not strong enough to hold the shape when iced, so will end up getting squashed under the weight. You can also use your tin for other things, try it out for your Christmas pudding, ice cream bombes, steamed puddings and summer puddings.
Tin for cooking a ball cake
Please help – I can’t line my ball tin to save my life! I know how you’re supposed to cut the greaseproof paper and then stick it round the ball with veg oil but my paper WOULD NOT STICK!
Had to give up in the end, relied on greasing & flouring the tin & fortunately got away with it!
Would love to be able to do it properly though – what am I doing wrong?
Also on the subject of ball tins, why can’t you get them any bigger than 6in?
Hi Jenny
My guess is that you were using baking paper, which sticks to nothing……try using greasproof paper instead. Regards the size of ball tins, I’m afraid I don’t know of any manufactuer that makes them larger, but can I suggest that you find a large circular oven proof bowl, forexample a pryex bowl, and cook your cake in two halves and then sandwich these together to form a ball.
not sure if this helps but i bought some of the wilton bake easy spray…and since using it i have not had to line one tin!!!!!!
lindy…im a bit confused about the fruit cake bit…im going to order these tins at the end of the month( pay day!) if you keep piling it up doesnt it all fall out over the sides ???
shelley
Hi Shelley
Fruit cakes don’t rise that much, so nothe mix doesn’t all fall out!
Hi Shelley
I have used this too but I’m not a fan!
Lindy
Hello Lindy, I really hope you could give me some help on this one, I have seen some beautiful small ball cakes used for a wedding I would love to recreate these, but I can only find the mini ball pans and they seem too big for the balls. Firstly,are there any other smaller ball pans available and secondly, is there a special knack to icing them, how do you manage to get them so round?
I eagerly wait for your reply. Thanks Sharon
Hi Lyndy,
is it possible to tier two sphere cakes?
Hello Sharon,
You will find some ball cakes in Lindy’s Cakes To Inspire and Desire (available on online shop at our online shop). We also supply three sizes of ball tins. Hope this helps.
Jane
Hello Aileen,
The best way would be to have the top tier as a dummy cake. This way it would not weigh down the bottom tier and you wouldn’t loose the ball shape of the bottom tier. To do this you would need to dowel through both cakes.
Alternatively using cake for both tiers, you would need to flatten the top of the bottom tier. Dowel it and place a small round cakeboard on the top. Then place the top tier on using royal icing to secure it to the cakeboard. You can find all items you need from our online shop.
Good Luck
Jane
Thanks Jane,
I might try it with cake I have plenty of practice time, I’m thinking of a snowman cake and thought of tiered spheres.
Aileen
i now use a wilton product called cake release, i have never had to line a tin since and it works perfectly every time. This is a miracle for meas i do a massive amount of novelty cakes which often require unusual shape tins, i can highly reccomend ths product, but also if you cant find i cheap, another very good and easy method to save having to line awquard tins is to grease them with butter and then use flour to coat, cover all surfaces of the tin with the flour and remove the excess by giving it a quick tap upside down and this will solve the problem, hope this helps!
Hi Lindy,
I baked & filled the ball cake. Then i put two halves together but got cylinder cake, rather the ball. Shouldn’t i cut into the layers & fill them?
Thanks
Hi Sibel,
This may have happened if you used a light sponge cake. It shouldn’t happen with a more dense cake like a Madeira.
We wouldn’t suggest cutting into the layers and filling them as this makes the cake less stable.
Marina
Hi
Please help, my friend has asked me to make the space shuttle cake for her son, no problem I said, however she would like it to be a chocolate cake !! have you got a receipe for the 6″ ball tin. Hope you can help!!
Hi Adele,
Yes for a 6″ ball tin use an 8″ round tin recipe.
Marina
Thank you for that Marina, Hopefully everything will go well fingers and legs crossed – I am going to try Mud Pie receipe !!
Hi Lindy,
Im going to have a go at novelty cakes. I have bought one of your books for beginners. There are alot of cakes that need spherical cake tins. Ive been looking online for them and have found some but in your book you state the size in litres/cups/pints. Would you be able to tell what size these are in inches please. Then i can order them.
Thanks
Pam
Hi Pam,
I have added more information for you on the sizes of the Silverwood Ball Tins, please see the bolded typing.
An easy way to create a ball/ sphere cake.
The tins come in 3 sizes:
Large ball tin
16cm (6 1/4 in) diameter, ideal for novelty cakes eg footballs = 4 pints/2 litres.
Medium ball tin
12.5cm (5in) diameter, ideal for smaller novelty eg teapots and the Christmas bauble = 2 pints/1 litre.
Small ball tin
10cm (4in) diameter, used by Lindy to create the small ball cakes on top of her wedding cakes = 1 pint/ 1/2 litre
I hope this information helps you.
Marina
Can you share some information about the shuttle atop the sphere? Thanks!
Hi
I am just about to make my first ball cake. How do you attach a ball cake to its cake board, will it just sit there and not move?
Lynda
Hi Lynda,
You need to cover the ball cake first and then attach it to the board using Royal Icing,
Good luck!
Marina
Eileen
The shuttle and moon cake is from my ‘quick and clever party cakes’ book. I don’t have copies to sell but you can still find them if you search….
Good luck
Lindy
I baked a cake in each half of the ball pan.placed it on the ring stand and then on a cookie sheet as per instructions on the box., but the cake was undercooked and took double the time to get fully baked. Please tell me what I did wrong. How to we adjust the baking time to suit a ball shaped cake. The recipe I followed was for a 9′ square pan.
Hi Mary,
What size ball tin did you use?
Marina
hi please can you help? i have had the same problem, long cooking time and the cake just does’nt look right. i am using the wilton football cake tin but cant seem to find a recipe for it anywhere
thanks
siobhan
Hi Siobhan,
If its not coming our right, then you could fill the tin with water and transfer this to a regular cake tin. By doing this you will see how much mixture you will need and can tweak your recipe accordingly.
All the best,
Marina
Hi, i’ve bn asked to make a ‘golden snitch’ cake (its an item from the harry potter films). i have decided to use a ball tin for this and just wondering if any1 has any advice on making this. (I am pretty new to making novelty cakes)
Hi Amanda,
A Golden Snitch cake sounds great!
All the tips that we have for using a ball tin are on this blog.
Is anyone else able to offer anything further to Amanda?
Best wishes
Marina
Hi Lindy
Is it possible to bake a sponge cake in the spherical tin without baking it in two halfs?
Many thanks
Natalie
Hi. Could you suggest the best chocolate cake recipe for the Silverwood 6″ spherical tin? Would it be better to bake the two halves separately, or assembled? I’m hoping to try a 3D Dora the Explorer head (eeek!)
One more question… the instructions for all Wilton 3d tins (3d stand up teddy bear, egg, car etc) warn against greasing with only butter or oil; they recommend shortening and flour, or Cake Release etc. What happens if one only butters/ oils such tins?
Thanks for your great site:)
Hi Natalie,
We recommend baking a sponge cake in two halfs when it is in a spherical tin.
We have tried doing it in the whole tin and the mix spilled out of the top and left a hole in the middle.
Happy baking!
Marina
Hi Aurora,
The best chocolate cake recipe we recommend for the spherical tin is in each of Lindy’s books. It is rich and firm, so will keep its shape well.
Lindy always lines a ball tin with baking parchment and there are instructions show in her books, picturing how to do it easily.
May the cake be with you.
Marina
Hi Lindy and all, Just baked a cake in the ball mould and used Lakeland”s cake release it was great. Just fell out onto my hands.
Trudy
Hello all
How can I make a big apple shaped cake ? Like the big apple for New York.
Thank you
Susan…
Hi Susan
You could use Lindy’s ball cake tin. Please see the link below if you would like to buy one.
Happy Baking!
Zoe
http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/OnlineShop-Tins.htm#balltins
Hello,
I am interested in making one of your sphere cakes. Please can you tell me how to keep the bottom round??
Will the wait of the cake, esp if made in fruit, not make the bottom go flat??
Thank you very much,
Jane
Hi, I have two halves of your ball cake in my oven as I type – I have been asked to make a Zumba booby cake for a charity fundraiser for a disabled childrens nursery which has had its funding cut. Need to make a woman’s torso with a strappy ZUMBA top. Am using the two halves for boobs and a traybake tin for the torso, fingers crossed! Hope it works, will let you know how it turns out!! ‘
Hi Jane,
These tins will ensure that the cake is round. The weight won’t affect it.
Enjoy your baking!
Marina
Dear Helen
Good luck with the Zumba cake. Let us know how it turns out!
Zoe