I originally posted this back in June, but thought the “snowball” theme would be fun for our final days of “25 Bakes of Christmas” series! Tint the coconut an icy blue and you have yourself a themed winter wonderland version of this dreamy cake.

Inspired by a beloved childhood lunchbox hostess snack, my new Snowball Cake has the perfect taste of every familiar taste and texture. Chocolate coconut cake rounds, marshmallow filling, coconut buttercream, and that familiar pink coconut exterior are all here! Let’s dive right in, because I know so many of you have been waiting!

Inspiration

My NEW cookbook (set to release in Spring 2023 — feels like forever but hang in there, guys), has another Hostess-treat-inspired cake – Chocolate Hostess Cupcakes with that signature swirl on top. Y’all are going to LOVE it.

In the meantime, I thought I’d find another Hostess treat to create a cake from. The pink, fluffy, marshmallow, chocolate bite in a Snowball had me hooked! I knew it needed to be a cake for sure.

Snowball breakdown:

If you haven’t had a Snowball, let’s break it down:

Here’s a link to the Snowballs on Amazon in case you want to try them! (or just make this tasty cake version :)).

Chocolate Cake – Soft, tender, rich chocolate cake. Not too dense, but light and full of gorgeous chocolate. I added a touch of coconut to the cake layers to add even more coconut flavor to our cake. I used my usual doctored box mix cake recipe (you are going to LOVE it – comes out perfect every time and non one will know the difference other than… it tastes AMAZING!). No dry chocolate cakes around here, friends.

Marshmallow Filling – Technically, the snowball treat here has marshmallow around the OUTSIDE and cream on the INSIDE. I didn’t want to mess with whipped cream this time, so I opted to echo the marshmallow flavor on the inside of the cake with a marshmallow filling using marshmallow fluff. I found the marshmallow fluff at my grocery store right next to the marshmallows. If you’d like to make your own marshmallow, that’s totally fine! I’m just saving a step and keeping this cake as simple and approachable as possible.

If you add in the marshmallow filling by itself to the cake, it will be too sticky and pretty hard to slice. The way I get around this is is by adding a little buttercream to the fluff. It helps it have a little more something to cling to, while still keeping that marshmallow consistency.

Coconut Buttercream – The coconut buttercream is based off my vanilla cake buttercream, but I added a touch of coconut emulsion/extract. I LOVE the emulsion, so if you can find that (I find it at my local craft store), use that.

Pink Coconut – This is my favorite part because it makes the cake look like our Snowball treat! The way I got the perfect texture and color is by using my food processor. The shredded coconut that comes from the store is typically still too stringy and long. By chopping it up in a food processor, you get more of that signature crumbled coconut texture, and it’s super easy to get ALL the coconut tinted pink just by adding it to the food processor with the coconut. I used two drops of pink and it worked beautifully.

As for the slicing of the cake – I always recommend keeping your cake cold, and slicing into it with a HOT SHARP knife to get the prettiest slices. Then again, no one is going to care what this cake looks like because the TASTE is something truly special.

For the little dollop/balls on top, I used a Wilton 1A piping tip. After piping them along the outside rim of the cake, get your finger wet and immediately tap the top of the point of the dollop. This will mound the dollop into a little ball – just like the shape of the snowball treat. Easy!

Here’s a video of the process:

All in all, I hope you LOVE this new cake just as much as we did. It was eaten in record time around here, haha!

As always, if you make my new cake, I’d love to see it! Make sure tag me @bakingwithblondie or #bakingwithblondie so I can join in on all the fun and see it :).

Happy Baking!

xo,

Mandy

Get the Recipe: Snowball Cake

Rich chocolate cake layers filled with marshmallow buttercream, frosted in coconut buttercream, and covered in pink shredded coconut!
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Ingredients
 

Chocolate Coconut Cake Layers

  • 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 3 whole eggs , room temperature
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 Tablespoon coconut emulsion or extract
  • 1/8 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup cake flour or all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, *optional
  • 1 15.25oz Boxed chocolate (I used Dark Chocolate Fudge, but you can use any chocolate) cake mix, I used Duncan Hines, but anything similar will work fine.

Coconut Buttercream

  • 1 1/2 cup (or 3 sticks) Unsalted Butter, left out at room temperature for 10 minutes
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons coconut emulsion or extract
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 7-8 cups powdered sugar

Marshmallow Filling

  • 1 cup marshmallow fluff , In a container, usually in the baking section next to the marshmallows
  • 1/2 cup prepared coconut buttercream (See below)

Pink Coconut

  • 1 package (2-3ish cups) shredded coconut
  • 2 drops pink coloring gel

Instructions
 

For the Chocolate Coconut Cake Layers

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees convection bake (if doing traditional bake, you'll just need to leave the cake rounds in the oven a couple minutes longer). Prep three 6" cake rounds with a swipe of shortening and a dust of flour). Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, hand-whisk together all the ingredients, except for the cake mix. Sift in the cake mix, and gently fold together until fully incorporated. Don't overmix. Split the batter between the prepared baking rounds.
  • Bake the cake rounds for 25-27 minutes, until the centers have finished baking. Flip the cake rounds out onto a cooling rack until completely cooled. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until assembly.

For the Coconut Buttercream

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter until it's light and fluffy. Add in the salt, vanilla, coconut emulsion/extract, and heavy cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to combine.
  • Slowly add in the powdered sugar with the mixer speed on low until all the powdered sugar has been added. If the buttercream looks too thick, add in a couple tablespoons of heavy cream.
  • Turn the mixer on the highest speed, and mix for about 2 minutes to lighten the texture and incorporate air to make it light and fluffy.

Marshmallow filling

  • Reserve 1/2 cup of the prepared coconut buttercream above. Add it to a bowl and stir in the marshmallow fluff until it's fully incorporated. Add to a piping bag without a piping tip and set aside.

Pink Coconut

  • In a food processor, mix together the pink gel coloring and shredded coconut until a smaller coconut texture forms and all the coconut turns pink.

Assembly

  • Using a cake turntable and cardboard cake rounds, place down the first chilled cake layer. Spread on a thin layer of buttercream with an offset icing spatula. Pipe a strong dam with the coconut buttercream around the outside rim of the cake. Pipe in the marshmallow filling. Add on the next cake layer, repeat.
  • Crumb coat the cake and freeze for 3 minutes.
  • Add on a final layer of buttercream with a straight icing spatula, then smooth out the top and sides with a cake scraper.
  • There are two ways you can add on the coconut. Option 1: Place the cake onto a cookie sheet and gently press the pink coconut onto the wet buttercream, letting the coconut fall onto the cookie sheet (prevents a mess). Option 2: Add another 6" cardboard cake round on top and roll the cake onto a cookie sheet with the pink coconut spread out.
  • Using a Wilton 1A circle piping tip, pipe large ball dollops on top. Get the tip of your finger wet, then gently pat down the tip of the dollop to make it rounded.
  • Enjoy!

Originally posted 6/2022. Reposted 12/2022