Snowball in June

You remember these, don't you?
Ah, the snowball.
As a kid you probably snuck one into the grocery cart and hoped that your mom wouldn't notice it until after checkout.
Or you had them when a parent brought in treats for a classmates' birthday.
Either way, though as an adult you wouldn't admit that they're delicious...they are delicious!

But it's not going to make the adult palette happy in the little plastic wrapper, so I figure that it needs to be made much, much bigger.  Since this is an adult cake, I'm also changing up the classic chocolate center to a sweet little champagne cake.

A Happy Snowball Cake!

To make this happen I combined two different recipes from two of my favorite cookbooks; Vintage Cakes, and The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook.

Champagne Cake
Slightly Adapted from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson

2 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup canola oil (I only had vegetable oil- totally fine)
1 cup dry sparkling wine

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Sift flours, baking powder, and salt- I sift twice to make it extra smooth.
2. In a stand mixture, combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for one minute.
3. Slow the mixer to low and add the oil, pouring down the side of the mixer until it's well blended.
4. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, with the wine in 2 parts.  Make sure you scrape the sides between each addition.
5. Be careful not to over mix it!
6. Divide batter into two pans that are greased and lined with parchment paper on the bottom.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  My oven baked this cake much faster, so I suggest checking it at 25 minutes.
8.  Cool cakes in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove and let them completely cool.

Frosting and Filling:
Buttercream, Triple Berry Buttercream
slightly adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Makes about 6 cups
1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
6-7 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 milk (I used whole milk)
2 tsp vanilla extract



Berry Jam- I used my new favorite homemade triple berry jam- made by ME :0)
3 cups Coconut- tinted pink or whatever color you would like!

Making the Buttercream:
1. Cream butter on medium speed in a stand mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy and light.
2. Slow the mixture to low speed and add 4 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla.  Mix until creamy.
3. Add 3 more cups of sugar and combine until smooth and creamy- about 3-5 minutes.
4. Divide frosting into thirds.  In 2/3 of the frosting add 4 oz. of jam- mix well and adjust to taste. This will be used as the filling.

Constructing the cake:
1. Trim the edges of the cake to the size that you want.  I like to take the outer edge off before putting the cake together. 
2. Slice each cake into two halves.
3. Place one half on your serving plate, then add a layer of berry buttercream.  Turn one cake top over, and then add another layer of berry buttercream. Continue this process, then use the top dome to finish the stack.
4. Place the cakes into the refrigerator for a half an hour.

5. Remove cake from the refrigerator and use some of the buttercream to lightly ice the cake. 
This will help to stabilize the layers.
6. Place cake into the refrigerator again for a half an hour.

7. Remove the cake, and add the final layer of buttercream icing.  Don't worry about being to smooth...you're adding the tinted coconut around the entire cake.
8.  Take the coconut and press it into the icing until in is completely covered.  Beautiful!



Now if this isn't a fun way to have a snowball in June, then I don't know what is!  All you need now is an amazing group of friends to enjoy this cake with.  Lucky for me, I do.

Happy Baking!
Lori