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.