Snowball Cake

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!