Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls

These Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls take classic cake balls and dress them up in something pretty! They’re perfect for any cookie plate or dessert table! 

Do you do a lot of holiday baking? I remember baking cookies and fudge and white chocolate covered pretzels with my mom when I was growing up. And now, I make a lot of those same things in my house too. Cookies and desserts are the perfect gift to give to anyone you know, and we take plates of desserts when we go to parties or get-togethers.

I like to make some classics, but I also love to mix it up with some new cookies and desserts, too. That’s how these Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls came to be; I’ve made classic red velvet cake balls, but I wanted to change it up and make something a little fancier. 

Luckily, these look fancy, but don’t take much time to make at all. You’re just using a boxed cake mix and pre-made frosting, so you’re saving yourself a lot of time. 

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls – the Ingredients

Here’s a quick look at your grocery list for these Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls:

• box of chocolate cake mix + oil & eggs required on back of box
• can of white frosting
• peppermint extract
• peppermint bark baking chips
• candy canes
• white almond bark/candy coating

Note: If you’re lucky enough to find peppermint frosting – I found it all over last year, but I haven’t seen it this year – you can buy that in place of the white frosting + peppermint extract. 

Making the Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls

To start, make the chocolate cake batter according to the directions on the back of your box. Pour the cake batter into a sprayed 13×9 pan and bake, once again following the directions on the box. When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. 

Once your cake is cool, it’s time to make it into cake balls! Use your hands and crumble chunks of cake into a large mixing bowl. Crumble the entire cake. 

Open the can of white frosting. Drip in 10 drops of peppermint extract and stir to combine. Taste to make sure it’s minty enough for you and adjust if needed. Then spoon the frosting into the bowl of crumbled cake. Add the 3/4 cup of peppermint bark baking chips. Use your hands to stir/mix/combine everything together until the cake and the frosting are well combined. 

Shape the cake + frosting into 24 cake balls. Grab a lump of cake mixture and roll it in your hands until it is a ball shape. Place the shaped cake balls onto a cookie sheet. Once you’ve finished shaping the cake balls, place them into the refrigerator or freezer for a few hours (or overnight). You want them to be cold and hard, because that will prevent them from falling apart when you’re dipping them in the candy coating. 

Dipping the Cake Balls

Crush the three candy canes by placing them in a ziploc bag and using something heavy (like a hammer) to crush them into tiny pieces. Pour candy canes pieces into a bowl so they’re easily accessible. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper. 

Once the cake balls are frozen, melt the white almond bark/candy coating. Place almond bark into a large, microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute. Stir, and then heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between. 

Once the candy coating is melted, you’ll need to work fast. You don’t want the coating to get hard in the bowl, and you have to sprinkle the candy bits on the top of the dipped balls quickly or they’ll be too hard.

So – remove your cake balls from the oven. Drop a cake ball into the bowl of candy coating. Use a fork to cover the ball completely. Scoop the cake ball up with the fork and tap it on the edge of the bowl to knock off excess coating. 

Place the cake ball on the cookie sheet and sprinkle the top with candy cane pieces. Repeat with all 24 Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls. Let set (place them in the refrigerator if you want them to set more quickly.)

Store your finished cake balls in the freezer until you are ready to serve them. These will keep in the freezer for at least 2 months. 

When you make these Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls, make sure you post a picture and tag me on Instagram (@biscuitsandgrading)! I can’t wait to see them! 

If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure you subscribe so you can get all of my recipes sent to you in a simple weekly email. Plus, you’ll receive a FREE meal plan + grocery list every single week!