Red-White-and-Blue Cake Balls

By
Elizabeth LaBau
Sweet Book of Candy Making Elizabeth LaBau
Elizabeth LaBau
A professional pastry chef, cookbook author, and writer, Elizabeth LaBau has published more than 600 articles on baking and candy making.
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Updated on 06/17/21
Red-White-and-Blue Cake Balls

The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn
Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 50 mins
Total: 80 mins
Servings: 36 servings
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
158 Calories
8g Fat
20g Carbs
1g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 36
Amount per serving
Calories 158
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g 11%
Saturated Fat 4g 22%
Cholesterol 4mg 1%
Sodium 47mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 20g 7%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 19g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 41mg 3%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 80mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

This recipe for red-white-and-blue cake balls makes moist bites of cake in a spectacular tri-layered red, white, and blue design. These are perfect for Fourth of July parties or other patriotic events.

See the note at the bottom of the recipe for variations and suggestions on how to simplify the preparation.

These cake balls are best served at room temperature and can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Red-White-and-Blue Cake Balls ingredients

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil or waxed paper.

    aluminum foil lined baking sheet

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  3. Place cake in a large bowl, and crumble it roughly with your hands.

    cake crumbled in a bowl

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  4. Once it's in fine crumbs, add about 2/3 of the frosting and begin to mix with your hands into cake crumbs, until mixture is evenly moistened. If it seems as if cake mixture is too dry and won't easily form into a ball that holds together, add more frosting until you're happy with taste and texture.

    cake crumb and icing mixture in a bowl

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  5. Take about 1/5 of cake mixture and set it aside in a different bowl. Add blue gel food coloring to cake mixture and mix together until mixture is a vivid blue color, adding more food coloring if necessary.

    blue cake mixture in a bowl

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  6. Divide remaining cake, setting aside 1/3 to leave plain white, and dyeing the remaining 2/3 with the red gel food coloring until it is a bright red color.

    red cake mixture and plain cake mixture in a bowl

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  7. Making these balls is a multi-step process. Start with blue cake, and form it into tiny balls about the size of a dime. Depending on how much cake you set aside, you should get about 3 dozen miniature cake balls. Place on prepared baking sheet, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Once blue cake balls are firm, remove from freezer.

    blue cake balls on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  8. Take a spoonful of white cake and press it into a flat disc between your palms. Put a frozen ball of blue cake in the center of it, and fold white cake over it, pressing together so that it completely covers the blue. Roll it between your palms to get it round, and place it back on baking sheet. The white layer should be fairly thin, so that the finished ball at this point is about the size of a nickel. Once all the blue balls are covered with white, put tray back in freezer to firm up cake balls, about another 30 minutes.

    blue cake balls wrapped with white cake mixture

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  9. Finally, add a layer of red cake on top of the white. Once white balls are firm, take a scoop of red cake and press it between your palms until it is a thin disc. Place a white cake ball in middle and fold red cake over it, rolling it between your palms to get it round. Repeat until all of the balls are covered with red cake.

    red cake mixture wrapped around the cake balls

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  10. If your kitchen is warm, place tray in refrigerator (not freezer) while you melt white chocolate candy coating. The cake balls should be cool enough to hold together, but if they are too cold, they will cause the candy coating to crack, so it's best if they are at cool room temperature.

    white chocolate candy coating in a saucepan

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  11. Once white chocolate coating is melted, it's time to dip them. Using dipping tools or a fork, submerge a cake ball in the melted candy coating. Remove from coating and drag bottom across lip of bowl to remove excess coating. Place dipped truffle on foil-covered baking sheet.

    cake balls dipped in the white chocolate mixture in the saucepan

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  12. While coating is still wet, sprinkle the top with red and blue sprinkles.

    Red-White-and-Blue Cake Balls, sprinkled with red and blue sprinkles

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

  13. Refrigerate cake balls to set coating completely, about 20 minutes.

    Red-White-and-Blue Cake Balls on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet

    The Spruce / Abbey Littlejohn

Recipe Variations

  • The most basic variation would be to simply divide the cake into 3 equal parts and dye one red and one blue. Instead of layering the cake, simply roll the different colors into cake balls and dip them all in a white coating and top them with sprinkles.
  • Another option is just to do two layers of cake instead of three. For instance, you could make a blue center layer, wrap it in the white cake, and then dunk the whole thing in red candy coloring.