Soft, rich red velvet cake meets luscious cream cheese frosting, all wrapped in a smooth white chocolate coating to make The Best Red Velvet Cake Balls. Perfect for parties, holidays, or just treating yourself to something delicious!
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Why This Recipe Works:
- This recipe is very easy to make with only a handful of ingredients.
- Utilizing store bought cake mix and frost makes this come together fast.
- It's perfect for customizing as a quick and easy Christmas treat or a simple, delicious Valentine's Day recipe. Just switch up the candy melts and sprinkles to match any holiday or theme!
What Goes Into This Recipe?
- 1 Box Red Velvet Cake Mix plus the extra ingredients according to the box (usually eggs, vegetable oil, and water)
- Cream Cheese Frosting- I use store-bought but you can whip up some whipped cream cheese frosting if you prefer!
- Candy Melts- I used White and Red but any colors will work. I don’t recommend using chocolate chips since that would require you to temper the chocolate to get it to harden again.
- Decorations- Valentine Sprinkles, Crushed Oreos, or different colored candy melts to drizzle!
Cake Mix From a Box and Store-Bought Frosting?
Yep! It makes this recipe super easy and still tastes amazing!
I love making red velvet brownies from scratch, but when it comes to these cake balls, a boxed cake mix with store bought frosting works just fine!
Grab an extra red velvet cake mix box and whip up some red velvet crinkle cookies while you're at it!
How to Make This Recipe?
- Step 1: Mix up the cake mix according to the box instructions.
- Step 2: Bake cake until done.
- Step 3: Allow baked cake to cool then crumble.
- Step 4: Stir in frosting
- Step 5: Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes to set.
- Step 6: .Once set roll the cake into smooth round balls and return to freezer.
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- Step 7: Melt candy melts in a microwave safe dish.
- Step 8: Use a fork to scoop the cake ball out of the melted chocolate then tap against the bowl to get the extra chocolate off.
- Step 9: Carefully place the dipped cake ball onto a parchment line baking sheet to harden.
- Step 10: Decorate with sprinkles and more candy melts.
Expert Tips
- Baking the cake in a large rimmed sheet pan reduces the bake time. If you don't have on just bake as normal in regular cake pans.
- Microwave your candy melts at 50% power and stir frequently to avoid it burning!
- Keep the cake balls in the freezer until you are ready to dip them. I like to to work with 1-2 at a time so they don't defrost and loose their shape.
Frequently Asked Questions
The difference is cake pops are on a stick. I love to turn these into heart Valentine's Day Cake pops- just follow these instructions for the best tips!
You can place the cake ball on a fork and lower it into the chocolate. Then gently roll the cake ball to cover it completely.
Alternatively, you can stick a toothpick into the ball and dip it. Sometimes the ball will slide off though- just a heads up.
Chocolate or White Chocolate pair wonderfully with red velvet.
Cake balls should be refrigerated and eaten within 3-5 days. You can freeze cake balls for up to a month.
I don’t recommend this. Using any type of chocolate chips will require you to temper the chocolate (which is a pain) and if you don’t the chocolate will not harden.
Candy melts have additives to help them set up nicely without tempering.
Whether you make these for a holiday or just because, you will love these tasty cake balls!
Other Related Valentine Recipes
For more of my favorite Valentine Recipes, check out this delicious Valentine's Day Cake, White Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Buttermilk Chocolate Cake, and these fun Heart Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookies.
If you like this recipe make sure to give it a 5-star review and leave a comment down below!
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Video
The Best Red Velvet Cake Balls
Ingredients
- 1 box red velvet cake mix
- 1 ¼ cup Water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 16 oz cream cheese frosting store bought, or homemade
- 12 oz white candy melts- may need more see notes*
- Sprinkles or Other Candy Melts for decorating- optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a large rimmed sheet pan* with cooking spray (17-¾” x 25-¾”).
- Combine the cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large bowl.1 box red velvet cake mix, 1 ¼ cup Water, ½ cup vegetable oil, 3 eggs
- Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides when needed.
- Pour into prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool, then crumble* and place in a large bowl.
- Add cream cheese frosting to the bowl and stir until well combined.16 oz cream cheese frosting
- Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then freeze for 10 minutes. This will allow the batter to set up enough to roll into balls without being super sticky.
- Once set, roll each spoonful into a nice ball, then return to freezer.
- Melt candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Melt on 50% power stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.12 oz white candy melts- may need more see notes*, Sprinkles or Other Candy Melts for decorating- optional
- Dip your cake balls in the melted candy melts and set on a parchment lined baking sheet. * If you are wanting to add sprinkles, I recommend adding them pretty soon after dipping, otherwise the candy melts will set up and the sprinkles won’t stick.
- Once all are dipped and the shells are hardened you can add a second color as strips or a spirals by melting more candy melts of a different color, placing in a Ziploc bag, cutting the tip off of the bag, then drizzling on.
Notes
- *I used 12 oz candy melts to make ~30 decent sized cake balls. If you make smaller cake balls you will need more candy melts.
- *If you don’t have a large rimmed sheet pan bake in a 9x13 dish or in cake rounds according to the box’s instructions.
- *Crumbling by hand is the easiest and fasted way, but you could also place the cake in a gallon Ziploc baggie and shake/smash until it was crumbled.
- *Keeping the cake balls in the freezer will keep them from falling apart when you dip them. I like to work with only 2-3 at a time, while keeping the rest in the freezer, then once those are dipped, I grab the next 2-3 and repeat.
Lisa Killian says
This recipe is so easy and so delicious!