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Last Updated on March 13, 2025 by becky
Festive green cake balls with peppermint buttercream, white chocolate, and Saint Patrick’s Day sprinkles. One of the best green desserts for Saint Patrick’s Day!
Why Make These Green Cake Balls?
Cake pops, like ice cream cones or chocolate chip cookies, are one of the quintessential treats of childhood. Cake and frosting? Dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles? And served on a stick? It’s easy to see why kids love cake pops. I’m pretty sure my niece has never left a Starbucks without one of their classic pink Birthday Cake Pops in hand. Let’s just say that I can definitely understand the appeal!
These green cake balls are just like cake pops, but with a grownup twist. They start with a classic vanilla bean cake (tinted green for Saint Patrick’s Day, of course!), which I’ve combined with a homemade, peppermint-infused buttercream frosting. Finally they’re coated in white chocolate and finished with festive sprinkles. And they’re served and consumed like a chocolate truffle, rather than on a lollipop stick.
Unlike many cake pop recipes which call for store-bought cake mixes and tubs of grocery store frosting, both the cake and the buttercream in this recipe start from scratch. (Making your own cake and frosting does require a bit more effort, but the results are well worth it!) I’ve done my best to capture the essence of a cake pop, but with slightly more sophisticated components.
These green cake balls really are just like cake pops, but for grownups!
Special Ingredients for Making Green Cake Balls
This Saint Patrick’s Day cake ball recipe requires a few special tools and ingredients, including:
- Vanilla Bean Paste – Nielsen-Massey makes favorite vanilla bean paste. You can also use the scrapings from a vanilla pod, or substitute a good quality vanilla extract instead.
- Green Gel Food Coloring – I developed this recipe with Chefmaster’s Leaf Green gel food coloring. Neon Brite Green would also be a good choice.
- Peppermint Oil – Opt for natural peppermint oil, not extract. And go sparingly! A little bit of peppermint oil goes a long way.
- White Chocolate – You’ll need a good-quality white chocolate couverture, suitable for tempering and enrobing. Do not use chocolate chips. For alternatives to tempering, see my notes below.
- Sprinkles – You’ll need Saint Patrick’s Day sprinkles, shamrock sprinkles, or homemade sprinkles, for decorating.
Other Ways to Enjoy This Cake Ball Recipe
I themed this particular batch of cake balls specifically for Saint Patrick’s Day. However, this recipe can easily be adapted to fit your holiday or event of choice. Just vary your color and sprinkle choices accordingly. Try red cake and heart-shaped sprinkles for Valentine’s Day, or pink cake and egg sprinkles for Easter.
If desired, you can also swap out the peppermint oil in the buttercream with another flavoring, such as cherry or lemon. Or, just make a classic vanilla version instead
Which Chocolate Should I Use for Coating Green Cake Balls?
A good-quality chocolate couverture will make all the difference in this recipe. My go-to white chocolate for tempering and enrobing is Callebaut 28% white chocolate. Valrhona, Guittard, or Cacao Barry are also good choices.
If you do not like white chocolate, enrobed in your favorite milk or dark chocolate instead.
A Tempering Alternative
I’ve also chosen to enrobe my cake balls in a high-quality, tempered white chocolate for an added element of elegance. But if you aren’t familiar with tempering, feel free to use confectioner’s coating to coat your cake balls instead.
Unlike couverture, coating chocolate (also known by a range of other names such as melting chocolate, melting wafers, confectionery coating, candy wafers, or dipping chocolate) is pre-tempered and is a good choice if you want to enrobe your cake balls without tempering.
Coating chocolate comes in a wide variety of colors. You can use classic white, which will be most similar to the white chocolate I’ve used for my cake balls, or go all-out for St. Patrick’s Day and opt for a bright green coating chocolate instead!
Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
You can bake the green cake portion up to 24 hours in advance. Wrap tightly in clingfilm/plastic wrap and refrigerate, or store in a cool/dry place, until ready to roll and dip.
The green cake centers can be shaped and frozen until ready to enrobe.
Arrange finished cake balls on a tray. Refrigerate for up to 3 days
More Saint Patrick’s Day recipes you might enjoy:
Lucky Charms Bark
White Hot Chocolate with Baileys Irish Cream Whipped Cream
Shamrock Rice Krispie Treats
Easy Peppermint Hot Chocolate
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
Green Cake Balls
Festive green cake balls with peppermint buttercream and white chocolate. One of the best green desserts for Saint Patrick’s Day!
- Yield: 20 cake balls 1x
- Category: Cakes and Cupcakes
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Vanilla Bean Cake:
150 grams all purpose flour (1 1/8 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch kosher salt
2 large eggs
160 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
120 milliliters whole milk (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
Green gel food coloring
60 grams unsalted butter, melted (4 tablespoons)
Peppermint Buttercream:
113 grams unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup / 1 stick)
300 grams confectioner’s sugar (2 1/4 cups)
2–3 tablespoons whole milk*
Pinch kosher salt
2–3 drops peppermint oil, or to taste
Green gel food coloring
Assembly:
Good-quality white chocolate couverture, for tempering and enrobing
Saint Patrick’s Day sprinkles, for decorating
Instructions
Vanilla Bean Cake:
Preheat oven to 360° F / 180° C.
Spray a 9-inch round cake tin with cooking spray. Line the bottom with a disc of parchment. Set aside until ready to use.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.
In a separate mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add eggs and sugar and whip on medium-high speed until fluffy and well combined. Add milk and canola oil and continue mixing until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the vanilla bean paste, followed by the green gel food coloring.
With a rubber spatula, fold the dry mixture into the wet ingredients. Adjust the amount of food coloring, if desired.
Drizzle the melted butter over the batter, and fold with spatula until just combined.
Pour cake batter into prepared tin. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Meanwhile, prepare the peppermint buttercream.
Peppermint Buttercream:
Add softened butter to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about two minutes.
Gradually add confectioner’s sugar to the butter, mixing well after each addition.
Beat in 1-2 tablespoons milk ‘(just enough to smooth the frosting, but not enough to make it too thin), followed by peppermint oil and gel food coloring. Taste and adjust as necessary.
Assembly:
Line a half sheet rimmed tray with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
Turn cooled cake out onto a wire rack. Peel away the parchment and place cake in a large mixing bowl.
With gloved hands, crumble the cake until no large pieces remain. If there are brown bits around the edges of the cake, I recommend removing these to avoid seeing specks of brown in your finished green cake balls.
Scoop buttercream frosting into the bowl. Use your hands to knead the frosting into the cake crumbs, mixing until well combined.
With a kitchen scale, scale the cake mixture into 40-gram balls. (If you don’t have a kitchen scale, you can eyeball the measurement. Each should be the size of a golf ball.)
Place cake balls on prepared tray. Freeze for at least 15 minutes, or until ready to enrobe.
Temper white chocolate via your preferred method. (If you do not want to temper the chocolate or are not familiar with the process, see my workarounds in the post above.)
Remove cake balls from the freezer and, working quickly, enrobe completely in tempered chocolate. (An enrobing fork can make the process easier!) Arrange on prepared tray. Decorate with sprinkles or an extra drizzle of chocolate.
Store cake balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
