Sno Ball Chocolate Cake Cups
These Sno Ball Chocolate Cake Cups are a sweet little rendition on the classic Sno Balls treat. The fudgy cake is topped with marshmallow and coconut, pretty in pink!
I can’t look at a package of Hostess Sno Balls® without thinking of Mom. With soft and tender chocolate cake, marshmallow, and coconut, I knew from a very early age that these little treats tested her willpower. But she must have had pretty good self-control, as I honestly don’t recall her eating them very often. She probably hid them in the freezer and ate them after us kids went to bed. Because moms do stuff like that. Right?!
These Sno Ball Chocolate Cake Cups are a sweet little rendition on the classic Sno Balls treat. I’m positive that Mom would approve of my tinkering in the kitchen.
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I was curious to know the history behind the Hostess Sno Balls and found a great video from Food Network’s show Unwrapped. This show always captures my attention, allowing me behind the scenes to witness the making of so many food products. I learned that Sno Balls were first introduced in 1947. They gained quick popularity with Americans who were being released from the flour and sugar rationing during World War II. For more fun facts, and to see how a Sno Ball is made, click here for the short video.
If you’ve ever eaten a Sno Ball, you know that its pink tinted coconut is shredded finer than the coconut in my cake cups. As I was tinting the coconut with electric pink gel, with a super simple blitzing of the food processor, I contemplated breaking it down into small bits like Hostess does. But I liked the look of the bigger shreds, and left it at that. This was my cake, after all.
My family loved the fudgy chocolate cake cups that I shared with you last week so much, that I decided to play with that recipe further. To sweet-talk my husband, I used milk chocolate this time, his chocolate of choice. When the marshmallow creme is left to mingle with the gooey, warm chocolate cake, it’s one decadent spoonful after another. I’m not gonna lie. These cake cups are sweet. Pour a tall glass of milk!
These Sno Ball chocolate cake cups are so fun and delicious; they’d be welcome at a variety of celebrations worthy of pink. Think Valentine’s Day, Easter, baby and bridal showers, and Sweet Sixteen birthday parties. Have fun with these!
Sno Ball Chocolate Cake Cups
Ingredients
- ⅓ c. all-purpose flour
- ⅓ c. unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tsp. instant espresso powder
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ⅛ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 T. unsalted butter softened
- ⅓ c. granulated sugar
- ⅓ c. packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 oz. good milk chocolate finely chopped
- 1 7- oz. container marshmallow creme or almost 2 cups homemade marshmallow cream
- 1.5 c. shredded sweetened coconut
- pink food coloring I used Americolor gel paste “Electric Pink”.
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, beat butter with a mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Add both sugars and beat until very well blended, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until fully incorporated. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture with a spatula. Then fold in chocolate. Divide batter evenly among four ramekins (my ramekins hold approximately 7 ounces each) and then place ramekins in a 9" x 9" pan. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Let ramekins stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Uncover pan and bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until center of cakes puff and are slightly crusty on top. If you want an extra gooey center, start checking the cakes after 20 minutes of baking time, removing the cakes from the oven before they are fully puffed in the center – take care to not over bake. A longer baking time will ensure a more baked center crumb.
- Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Then divide marshmallow creme amongst the cake cups, spreading evenly. This much marshmallow creme will give you a very, very sweet tasting cake cup – if you desire less sweetness, reduce the amount of marshmallow creme.
- Finish by sprinkling the pink tinted coconut onto the marshmallow layer, dividing the coconut evenly amongst the four cake cups. Serve immediately for the most gooey, fudgy texture.
- Note: If the warm sno ball chocolate cake cups are allowed to sit for awhile, the marshmallow creme will start to soften and mingle with the gooey chocolate cake. If you wish to make these cake cups ahead of time, to serve later in the day or the following day, I would recommend not adding the marshmallow creme and coconut layers until the chocolate cake has completely cooled.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
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SnoBalls are my absolutely guiltiest treat! I totally love them – and they remind me of my dad. It’s such a special little treat. I can’t wait to try these mini ones!
I must admit I have never had a Sno Ball, but love the flavor combination of chocolate and coconut. What a fun rendition of the classic treat and how pretty for Valentine’s Day!
I’ve never had a sno ball in my life, but these desserts are so gorgeous (who wouldn’t love pink coconut?!?!) that I don’t even care about the real thing – I just want to try this version!
Thank you, Nicola!
Love these; so pretty!!!!
Confession time. I used to LOVE snoballs as a kid. That raspberry coconut topping? That marshmallowy cream coating? OMG! But then I had one again as an adult and you know what? They didn’t taste as good as I remembered. I can’t wait to try your version because I know it will be a thousand times better. Yay to homemade!
Hi Marly – great to hear from you! And thank you – these ARE fun. Just have a tall glass of milk!!
These look way better than Sno Balls!
Oh gosh I wish my Mom was alive. I am laughing. My Mom was a fab cook. So I never had store bought goodies. I got a package of pink snowballs for my birthday. Now of course I realize I ate like a pampered princess. This is too funny—homemade snowballs!
Such a sweet memory, Carol. I love this. :)