Oh no denying, there are horrible fondants out there, but there are less horrible ones too, and if you were doing the caramel coating it might not be noticeable because of the richness of the caram...

also, maybe an isomalt caramel would work better? http://www.starchefs.com/events/studio/techniques/AAdri...

What about a thin coating of marzipan or fondant? Do you think the additional flavors would ruin the effect? Alternatively, what about rolling the apple balls in crushed nuts beforeha...