Red Velvet Raspberry Snowballs
Friday, February 11, 2011 at 3:13PM in baking, cake, chocolate, cupcakes, desserts, holidays, recipes Who here has had the pleasure of tasting a Hostess Sno Ball? Come on, raise your hands! I know some of you have. For those of you that haven’t, a Sno Ball is chocolate cake with a creamy center, coated in a marshmallowy icing, and coated in coconut. Usually pink, sometimes white, and sometimes color coordinated for holidays. They’re about what you’d expect-not extraordinary, but sometimes? You’ve just gotta try to get a few minutes of childhood back, so you stop by the nearest convenience store, grab a pack of Sno Balls and a Diet Pepsi, and then be on your happy way.
I’m not sure what pushed me to make these, but I was a woman on a mission. They’re so cute for Valentine’s Day, Easter…I mean, like Hostess does, you can color coordinate them to whatever you're celebrating. And don’t feel you have to make large ones like I did. Pull out your mini muffin pan, and you can make sweet little teeny snowballs. You can also tailor these to any color you want! Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, July 4th, etc!
Sno Balls are traditionally chocolate cake. I love chocolate, but decided on red velvet for these Valentine’s Day treats. How could I not? And if any of you are true food snobs, please avert your eyes now…
I used a Cake Mix Doctor recipe for these snowballs. Yes, I really did. I’m all for making things from scratch, and not using processed foods. And 99% of the time? I strictly follow that plan. But sometimes, you know, you don’t exactly feel like whipping out all of the ingredients, carefully measuring, taking steps…you just want to toss everything in a bowl, turn on the mixer, and walk away. That’s how I felt the other day when I was planning to make these. So I indulged myself in a little bit of laziness. I won’t apologize for it, either. It makes a damn tasty cake!
I know that Hostess Sno Balls have a creamy center, but since I was adding a good layer of icing, I figured adding cream to them would just be overkill.
Red Velvet Raspberry Snowballs
makes 13 large cupcake size snowballs
Your favorite Red Velvet Cake Recipe. For these, I used a Cake Mix Doctor Recipe.
Icing:
16 oz powdered sugar
7 oz Marshmallow Creme or Fluff
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp raspberry extract, or vanilla
2-4 tbsp of milk
Toppings:
seedless raspberry jam
14 oz bag shredded, sweetened coconut
red food coloring
Prepare the cake as directed. Divide the batter evenly among your cupcake pans. I used my pumpkin cupcake pan from Wilton for the "domed" look of the cakes. This makes 8, and I had enough to make 5 more large cupcakes using a jumbo muffin pan. If I'd had more time, I'd have made 2 batches in the pumpkin pan.
Prepare the icing:
Beat everything but milk on medium speed for a few minutes. Add milk a tablespoon at a time to get the right consistency. I used 3 tablespoons in the end. Set aside.
Tint the coconut:
Place the coconut in a large zip top bag, and add drops of food coloring, a few at a time. Seal and shake the bag up. Repeat until you get the color you like.
Let the cupcakes cool, then remove from pans. Set on a cooling rack over baking sheet lined with parchment or foil. Spread a light layer of raspberry jam over each cupcake. At this point, I had to run out for some errands, so the cupcakes sat for about an hour, but I don't think it's necessary.
Now, when you ice them, it's going to be mess--I’m not going to lie. And the jam may swirl into the icing. THIS IS OKAY. You're going to be coating them in tinted coconut, anyway, so it won't matter. Spread the icing over each cupcake, and then coat them with coconut. Set them in the fridge for a while to set. I’d serve these with a fork, unless you make teeny ones that you can pop in your mouth.
- These taste so good! I love the raspberry jam with the coconut and the hint of chocolate from the cake.
- Feel free to use another icing, if you like.
- And they’re so pretty!
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 27 Comments tagged Sno Balls, Snow Balls, Valentine's Day, coconut, cupcake, holiday, pink, raspberry, red velvet, snack
Reader Comments (27)
Those look ridiculously delicious and all too perfect for Valentine's Day! Thanks so much for sharing, Elle!
Oh my gosh those are awesome! I would love one (or two or three) for Valentine's Day.
These look fabulous! Love them! And so adorable.
Love the snowballs!! So cute and fluffy looking. :D
What a coincidence, I have posted a red velvet cake today :D These sno balls look terrific and the coconut raspberry topping must have tasted great as well . Happy V day !
LOVE these! Cutest treat ever!
Love, love, LOVE! So pretty, and such a blast from the past. You really outdid yourself. :-)
These are so cute! I had totally forgotten about snowballs!
I LOVE these! They are really pretty and perfect for V Day but growing up I had a HUGE weakness for Hostess Snowballs so these are doubly tempting. Forget sharing these with a valentine, I would probably end up eating them all myself! Fab recipe, Elle!
I loved snowballs as a kid. Very cleaver to remake them with a cake mix. They look adorable and perfect for Valentine's Day. If you like red velvet cupcakes, I've made a skinny version using a mix too!
They are soooo lovely!
Awesome! And just in time for Phillies spring training. :)
I can honestly say that I have never had a SnoBall. Hubs LOVES Rasberry Zingers, though. He might be thrilled if I swapped the red velvet cake for a yellow sponge-like cake. Hmmm...his birthday is coming up. :-)
These are so darn pretty - perfect treat for Valentine's Day!
Oh these are so fun! And they totally match your blog! Hee hee :)
What a creative idea. I had no idea you could tint coconut like that. I am going to remember that and give it a try sometime.
Hi Elle! I stumbled this post but I would prefer to down one of these pretty pink and red snowballs instead! These look so incredible that I can almost taste them! Awesome job Elle!
On another note, I 'd like to take a moment to say congratulations!!! You have been awarded the hightly coveted "Stylish Blogger Award" for great content and supurb style. I could not be happer for you Elle and could not not included you to be in the company of other such prestigous "Stylish Blogger Winners". To find out more and to pay this award forward, visit:
http://kudoskitchenbyrenee.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-first-stylish-blogger-award.html
Congratulations again Elle and Happy Valentine's Day!!!
These look so great and fun to make!
I'm currently doing the 14 day trial at Squarespace. While checking on how to move my stuff from Blogger I came across your site in the forums. I'm so happy I did! Your place is awesome. I'll be back!
The color is wonderful, perfect for Valentine's, these I bet will be a huge hit.
girl, i used to tear these up as a little girl! sooo good but caused so many stomach aches... these looks so adult-like. Gonna tease myself and make them when I get off this "diet"! :)
the way i figure it, the only thing better than coconut-covered cake is pink coconut-covered cake. very festive, elle!
i do love coconut but oddly enough, it wasn't the snowballs i went for as a kid - it was the hand pies!! now i will say that if we'd been offered RASPBERRY snowballs, i'd probably have snapped them up in a hurry - LOVE THESE!
Wow, these snowball with raspberries and red velvet cake look so pretty...perfect for V Day and anytime...so pretty :-)
oh my gosh, how cute are these?? Love them!
Oh, those look fantastic! I can't get my hands on food dye here, do you think there would be an alternative? Would beet juice throw off the flavor?
Jules
Hello, Jules!
I found this thread at Chowhound that has some pretty good info: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/371028
I've never tried a substitute, so I'm not sure which is best, but I hope that link helps!