OLD-FASHIONED SNOWBALL CAKE
This Old Fashioned Snowball Cake is a no-bake dessert prepared with a premade angel food cake, pineapple and coconut. It’s absolutely delicious and beautiful on a dessert table.
This cake is often served during the holidays. You may also enjoy our sour cream coconut cake, mandarin orange cake and do nothing cake.
Table of contents
❤️WHY WE LOVE THIS CAKE
This is an old fashioned vintage cake. This dessert can be found in old church cookbooks and is probably one of my all time favorites. It was once a very popular Christmas cake. You may remember your mother or grandmother serving it. It’s simple to put together since it starts with a store bought angel food cake and Cool Whip. The hardest part is just waiting for the cake to form into a ball. This cake is so flavorful and beautiful on a dessert table. You’re gonna love it!
🍴KEY INGREDIENTS
- Angel food cake
- Cool Whip
- Crushed pineapple in syrup
- 2 packets of gelatin (.25 ounces each)-this makes the cake form a snowball
- Cold Water
- Lemon juice
- White sugar
- Boiling water
- Flaked sweetened coconut
- Maraschino cherries
KEY EQUIPMENT
✔️I use a 4 quart mixing bowl for this cake. Just make sure you use a bowl large enough to fit the cake in and make the mold of a snowball.
✔️You’ll also need parchment paper.
🎂HOW TO MAKE
This may seem like alot of steps, but I promise, this cake is very simple and SO WORTH IT!
PREPERATIONS
Step 1: Line your bowl with parchment paper.
Step 2: Cut the angel food cake into 1 inch cubes (bite size pieces).
Step 3: Drain the pineapple and keep 1 cup of the syrup. If it doesn’t have a cup of syrup, add water to make 1 cup.
Step 4: Dissolve both packets in the four tablespoons of water.
Step 5: Add the lemon juice, pineapple syrup, sugar, and boiling water to the gelatin. Mix well and put in the refrigerator until it starts to thicken up. About 20-30 minutes.
Step 6: Once the mixture has thickened a bit, add in the pineapple and fold in the Cool Whip.
Step 7: Put a layer of cake into the mixing bowl with parchment paper. Then add a layer of the cool whip mixture. Repeat until all is used.
Step 8: Refrigerate overnight or for at least 10 hours.
Step 9: When ready serve, invert the cake onto a platter, remove the parchment paper and frost it with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with coconut and place maraschino cherries on top.
⭐PRO TIP
This dessert gets better with time. You can certainly make it several days in advance.
RECIPE VARIATIONS
You could easily add nuts to this cake or sprinkle them on top. You could also add green and red sprinkles.
❓FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
I would think this cake will be fine in different molds! You could make smaller snowballs or even put this in a loaf pan of just serve it in a 9X13.
The structure of homemade whipped cream is different than Cool Whip so it may not frost the cake exactly the same.
STORING
Store this cake in a air tight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for 4-5 days.
💗MORE OLD-FASHIONED RECIPES
SERVING SIZE
This cake makes approximately 8 slices.
Old-Fashioned Snowball Cake
Video
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 10- inch angel food cake
- 4 cups of Cool Whip
- 20- ounce can of crushed pineapple in syrup
- 2 packets of gelatin .25 ounces each
- 4 tablespoons cold water
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup of boiling water
For the Frosting:
- 2 cups of Cool Whip
- 8-10 ounces of flaked sweetened coconut
- Maraschino cherries
Instructions
- I use a 4-quart mixing bowl, but just make sure you use a bowl that is large enough to fit everything in.
- Line your bowl with parchment paper.
- Cut the angel food cake into cubes.
- Drain the pineapple and keep 1 cup of the syrup. If it doesn’t have a cup of syrup, add water to make 1 cup.
- Dissolve both packets in the four tablespoons of cold water.
- Add the lemon juice, pineapple juice, sugar, and boiling water to the gelatin. Mix well and put in the refrigerator until it starts to thicken up. About 20-30 minutes.
- Once the mixture has thickened a bit, add in the pineapple and fold in the Cool Whip.
- Put a layer of cake into the mixing bowl with parchment paper. Then add a layer of the cool whip mixture. Repeat until all is used.
- Refrigerate overnight or for at least 10 hours.
- When ready to serve, invert the cake onto a platter and frost it with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with coconut and place maraschino cherries on top.
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Hi, I would like to make this for a friend but she is allergic to citrus fruits. Is the lemon required, what’s the purpose of it st I can find an appropriate substitute.
Thanks.
Lemon juice is added to gelatin to increase its acidity, which helps the gelatin set properly and achieve a firmer texture; essentially, the citric acid in lemon juice activates the gelatin molecules, allowing them to form a stronger network when cooling down
Can you use stabilized whipped cream instead of CoolWhip?
You can try it but I can’t say how it will work since I have never made it anyway but the way it’s written.
Do I have to use pineapple? I have a lady I’m making this cake for they are 100% no pineapple but they want this cake. Thank you!
I have never tried it without, but it may work just fine.
I’m confused about the amount of gelatin. My Knox 1 oz box has 4 envelopes with .25 ounces gelatin in each envelope. Should the recipe actually be two .25 ounce envelopes rather than two packets of 2.5 ounces ? That would be two and a half boxes or 10 envelopes. I’m taking this to a party, so I want to be clear on the amount. Thanks.
Clearly it was a typo on our part. It calls for two packets of geletain which is .25 ounces each. This cake would not require two and a half boxes of gelatin. HA! I have fixed the mistake. Thanks!
Thank you! I’ve never used gelatin so I wanted to check to be sure.
You’re so welcome!! Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Merry Christmas!
What kind of gelatin do you use?
You use regular plain gelatin. It is unflavored.
My mom always made this cake for Christmas in an angel food cake pan and iced it with Dream Whip then coconut. Always a favorite in our family.
I’m confused. The recipe says 4T of lemon juice the instructions say 4T of water. Which is it?
Whoops! It is both water and lemon juice, thank you for bringing that to my attention. The recipe has been updated.
Oh my gosh! I have wanted this recipe for years! You two never disappoint! Thank you so much!
This is an old family favorite. My Mom made it at Christmas, only she tweaked it, using a 9×13 pan. In fact, I made it last Christmas and plan to This year too. It’s a fantastic cake and easy to prepare.