Sno-Ball Cake
The real life size version of your favorite Hostess Sno-Ball cakes. This tastes just like the original but is so much more fun!
I shouldn’t love these so much, but Hostess cupcakes are/were/still-somewhat-are regarded as an integral part of my childhood. It’s sick, it’s terrible. I know. I’m over it. I just love them. Or is that loved? Semantics.
There was a systematic method to the madness of eating a SnoBall.
Step 1 :: Peeling off the coconutty marshmallow top.
Step 2 :: Eat the creme filled chocolate cake first.
Step 3 :: Devour the the coconut crusted mallow top last.
I was clearly a disturbed child.
The depths of my snacking depravity can be pin pointed in the chocolate and faux-conut flavors of this darn snack cake – it was always my dad’s and my favorite. He was just lucky enough to be visiting yesterday when I made this, so I made sure to send him home with a slice. I’m hoping it reminds him of those fun good ol’ days just like it did for me.
Instead of the rando colors, in ominous shades of green, blue or pink I wanted classic white. It’s winter, it’s almost Christmas and there are some things – even Sno-balls – that are sacrosaint and should look like, ya know, a snow ball. Even if its a snow ball with a chocolatey creme filled center.
For the cake, I morphed my all time favorite chocolate cupcake recipe from Manic Mother. I used this cupcake recipe in my Triple Irish Cupcakes a couple of years ago and this time I figured it had to be included in this bohemoth beauty. Kind of like Hostess cupcakes, every one secretly loves a boxed mix cake. This chocolate cake tastes identical, no foolin’, to a boxed cake – without the chemical after taste and heebie jeebies.
For the inside of the cake I went right to my trusted Cook’s Country magazine where they featured their recreation of this cake. I borrowed their filling and frosting recipe and put Manic Mother’s chocolate cupcake recipe to the test in real cake form. It was a cinch.
I’m in full on cake love here folks. Knock, knock – your childhood food sin is calling!!
Sno-Ball Cake
- Prep Time: 45 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 Cake 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake::
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup simmering water
Marshmallow Filling / Topping ::
½ cup Cold Water
1 package unflavored Gelatin (2 tsp)
10 Tbsp Butter, room temperature
2 tsp Vanilla
Pinch of Salt
4 cups Marshmallow Creme
2 cups Shredded Coconut, roughly chopped or pulsed lightly in a food processor
Instructions
For Chocolate Cake ::
Preheat oven to 350. Line two 9-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and simmering water. The batter will be very thin, don’t worry.
Divide batter into two cake pans, place on middle rack of oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans half way through, and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let rest in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
For Marshmallow Filling:
Sprinkle gelatin over the cold water and allow to sit for five minutes so the gelatin activates and “blooms”. Microwave for 30 seconds until the gelatin dissolves. In a large bowl, mix together gelatin, butter, vanilla and salt. Let rest until just warm. Whisk in marshmallow until the mixture is smooth. Place in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes.
To assemble ::
Cut one of the two rounds of cake into 8 even wedges. Line a medium round mixing bowl with plastic wrap, allowing the edges to meet in the middle. Press the edges all together so the cake is secure in the bowl. Fill with 1 to 1 ¼ cups of marshmallow mixture. Place the other round of cake on top and press down to secure the cakes together. Cover and place in fridge for one hour to set.
Invert the set cake onto a cake plate or dish and remove the bowl and plastic wrap. Cover cake with the remaining marshmallow frosting. Sprinkle with coconut, and gently press into the marshmallow to ensure it sticks.
Slice immediately and serve or lightly cover and chill until ready.
Keywords: SnoBall, Cake, Chocolate, Marshmallow, Coconut
I’ve never had a sno-ball cake. I know, it’s like blasphemy. But I was always eating Tasty Kakes and so was a deprived child. However, I’d still eat this homemade version! It looks fabulous!
This is perfect… in every.single.way!
This cake looks like so much fun to make and looks absolutely delicious too!
This is the most beautiful winter cake I’ve ever seen!!!!!
This is so cool!! And pretty. Love it!
So, I’ve actually never had a Hostess Snowball….I clearly grew up under a rock. But, I’m not missing out on this cake…so beautiful!
I am in love with this goregous cake. It’s my inner kid meets my grown up desire to be a classy lady. Also, your pics are stunning–just pinned to my food photography love board (AND my dessert board)
This cake is gorgeous!! Pinned!
Oh man.. let me tell ya… I LOVE this.. that cake is beautimous!!
I want to devour this cake. I need a spoon so I can scoop out the filling. Yum. Pinned.
This is a BEAUTIFUL CAKE and I want to face plant it. OK maybe not because I truly do want to eat it.
I can’t wait to make this. I’m glad I wasn’t the only weird one when eating snowballs as a kid. 😉 I might have to make it for work if only to save me from myself, I’m liable to eat the whole thing.
What I love about this cake is what an awesome birthday cake it would make for anyone whose favorite childhood treat was the snowballs. It would just make such a cute surprise for them!
I love Cook’s Country too… i am making their Wellesley fudge cake as I write this 🙂
Dang it, I’m going to be dreaming about this cake until I make it myself. Holy moly, it looks amazing!
I want to stuff my face in this cake like yesterday omg why isn’t it in front of me?!
Left alone in a Snoball factory, there would have been nothing but chocolate mounds everywhere. I would have eaten every Snoball wrap in sight. That was the only part I liked. I always thought the cake part tasted so, well… not cake like and the cream was grainy. But, oh, the wrap was heaven!!
I can’t wait to make this cake! The “wrap” may not be the texture of the original Snoball, but I can’t imagine anything here will disappoint.
Thank you for turning your “disturbed” behavior into a mighty fine recipe and sharing it with us! 🙂
Now, THIS is why we are friends!! Seriously, I’m flying to Washington right meow for a slice!
I literally gasped when I saw this cake. SO MUCH YUM (AND CUTE).
This is genius! I saw it on your FB page and have been wondering when it would make an appearance! Today is the day–yay! 🙂
This is cake will be on my holiday table and that is a fact!
I have loved the snowballs in the little 2 pack All My life and I am sure excited to have the recipe for the cake. I am going to make it as soon as possible. I want to thank you for sharing this beautiful cake! It looks just like the snowballs I grew up with.
This is such a fun cake and so perfect for this time of year!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! This is perfecta and I want the whole ball/cake. It is like a dream!
Wow. Amazaballs!!! This is like an Alice in Wonderland version a sno-ball!! Love your version of how you eat them.
It is so beautiful – Your eating process was a little daintier than mine. I would flip my pink snow ball upside down, lick the white cream out, eat the chocolate cake out of the marshmallow outside and THEN eat the fluffy goodness, letting it slowly dissolve in my mouth! What memories!
Have a fab-u-licious day and Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Tina
I’ll bet your dad was thrilled to have a slice of this pretty cake. This is so perfect for the holidays!
you are a genius. seriously.
BOI-OI-OING! That’s my eyeballs jumping out of my skull. Wowza, Megan. If ever there was a cake that could sway this affirmed Pie Girl to the Crumbly Side, this is it. I want to face plant in that fluffy mound of chocolate & coconut gorgeousness.
Oh my gosh, dying over this cake. DYING!! Love snoballs — love as in, I’d marry them. Obviously, this cake has fabulous awkward potential written allll over it 🙂
Love, love, love this cake!!
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What a neat idea! Have you tried making a giant Hostess cupcake? I guess it’s sorta the same thing, right? (Minus the coconut. But who wants to leave out coconut? Okay, scratch the Hostess cupcake idea.) I linked to your post on my blog at http://www.rawinthemiddle.com/link-love-5/ (I’m on Facebook & Twitter, too.) Have a wonderful day!
What a super fun cake!! I want a slice for breakfast!
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I love this idea 🙂 so much fun!
Do you have the original recipe for the cupcakes? I made them before and loved them. I planned on making them for my daughters’ first birthday, but i can’t find the recipe.
So the cake itself tastes like a friggin brownie- SO GOOD! So saving that Chico cake recipe. My cake was not nearly as pretty as yours- the narahmellow stuff stayed pretty darn gooey- my husband and the kids thought it tasted good, I was kicking myself that I used real vanilla- which I’m not a huge fan of the taste of unless it’s blended in w other flavors better. The next day it tasted better though. The frosting goo stayed pretty gooey and didn’t want to cover the top of the cake well- just kept oozing down the sides. Maybe I didn’t chill it enough or something before spreading it on… I also thought it’d be a little more marshmallow like with the added gelatin and that was not the case. My husband has been devouring the left overs so there is that 🙂 overall I probably won’t make it again as is but I’ll totally be using that brownie-tasting-cake again for sure!
I’m glad the taste was a hit, but I’m sorry that the marshmallow didn’t stay as well. Thank you for the final report!
Hi.
I’m trying as I write to make the topping/inside cream. Mine is not fitting up so I can frost the cake. It will just slide off. I check and my gelatin is new date and other ingredients brand new as well. I followed your directions exactly. I’m ending up trying another gelatin envelope. Not sure if it will work.
Was so looking forward to this cake (snowballs was and is one of my favorites treats)
If you have any ideas why this would happen or how to correct I’d love to hear it. This was heading to a friend house but may have to purchase a store bought cake.
Was the frosting supposed to be runny??
Thanks for help
Laura
Hi Laura, I’m so sorry it didn’t work!! A whipped meringue can be really finicky! You may need to be it longer, or, there may have been some residual fat from a previous baking project, that just got stuck on the beaters or bowl? It happens to me a lot, that even the most stringent of cleaning doesn’t get it all, and with meringues if there is a trace of fat it can make things fall. Fingers crossed that it all worked out in the end!!
can you make this ahead and freeze it???
I have not tried to make it and freeze it. It might work, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and then foil to keep any air out.
Is there a trick to getting the marshmallow frosting to set up? Mine is still runny after sitting overnight in the fridge, was I supposed to whip it into a foam or does this mean something else I used is ruining it, should I have put more that 2 tsp of gelatin?
I already poured an amount into the center thinking mine might just be taking more time to set up but after inverting it’s started to run out of the cake slowly. I feel like I just ruined the whole cake.
Hi Megan,
I’m so sorry that it didn’t work out for you! It may need to be mixed with a whisk attachment in a stand mixer to aerate it and stiffen the mixture. I’ll have to try this recipe again to see if I can get the same results.
Sadly, a waste of ingredients. Followed the recipe EXACTLY and the marshmallow filling and frosting was a sloppy mess. HUGE disappointment. Will not be making this recipe again. I dont know how you got yours perfect like the picture. Must’ve been a different recipe. Not happy.
★
Oh Cindy, I’m so sorry you didn’t have the same success. I used America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for this. I do hope you try again. Sometimes the filling needs to be whipped longer, and marshmallows can be finicky.
May I ask what kind of Marshmellow cream do you use my husband realy wants this fore his Birthday.
Hi Kathleen, I’m sorry I am just seeing your comment now! I just use the regular marshmallow fluff you can find at the grocery store. I have used both the name brand and generic versions with good results.