Red Velvet Sourdough Cake Balls

Red Velvet Sourdough Cake Balls made with a sourdough discard red velvet cake, mixed with cream cheese frosting, and dunked in a rich chocolate coating. Like little chocolate truffles, these may look fancy but they are really easy to decorate and perfect for gift-giving any time of the year.

If you’ve been following my blog for some time, you’ll know that I don’t like finicky bakes or decorating. So when my baking partner-in-crime Mimi Council suggested making cake balls for our fourth collaborative recipe together, I broke out in a cold sweat. I was intimidated by the multiple components and messing with melted chocolate. After finally tackling this bake, I was so glad to have conquered it and I know that I will be making endless cake ball variations in the future!

Baking with Sourdough Discard

Sourdough discard adds a delicious tangy flavor to balance the sweetness of these cake balls. Since you’re not using it as a leavener, you can use your discard straight from the refrigerator. There’s no need to feed it or activate it before mixing it into your batter. Older discard will have a tangier, more acidic flavor than a freshly-fed sourdough starter. Both will work for this recipe, you’ll just get a slightly different flavor profile but your bake will still be delicious!

Need more ideas for using your excess sourdough starter? Check out my favorite Sourdough Discard Recipes!

What You Need

These Sourdough Red Velvet Cake Balls have three main components, the cake, frosting, and chocolate coating finished with an optional decorative topping.

Cake Batter

Butter: This recipe uses salted butter, which imparts an additional dimension of flavor, add ¼ teaspoon salt if you’re using unsalted.
Cane sugar: Organic cane sugar is made using a process that’s kinder to the environment, use it if you have it, substitute granulated sugar if that’s what you have. Do not substitute brown sugar.
Vanilla extract: Brings out the flavor of cocoa
Sourdough discard: You can use your discard directly from the refrigerator. If you don’t have any sourdough starter but still want to make this recipe, simply add 56 grams of all-purpose flour and 56 grams of water to the recipe.
Milk and sour cream: A mixture of milk and sour cream adds richness and tenderness to the cake. Don’t skip the sour cream, substitute yogurt if that’s what you have on hand.
Cake flour and all-purpose flour: Cake flour reduces the overall protein content of the cake which results in a soft and tender cake, while all-purpose gives it structure. Substitute pastry flour for cake flour if that’s what you have on hand.
Dutch-processed cocoa: Just a hint of cocoa powder in this recipe, shows you it’s there without overpowering the flavor of the cake. Dutch-processed cocoa powder is alkalized, don’t substitute natural cocoa powder which is acidic and will react with the baking powder in this recipe.
Red Beet Powder: The red color of red velvet cake was traditionally achieved with beets, now food coloring is usually used. In this recipe, we use a red powdered dye made from beets from Suncore Foods. Because this is a natural product, there’s a tendency for the red color to be muted, feel free to use food coloring if you want a more pronounced color.
Baking powder: Makes the batter rise as it bakes, imparting lightness and softness.
Salt: I used Morton’s Kosher salt for this recipe, feel free to substitute Diamond Crystal Salt but double the measurement since the salt crystals are larger.

Frosting

Butter: The butter should be softened but still a little cold to prevent your frosting from feeling greasy, don’t attempt to use cold hard butter or it won’t mix easily
Cream cheese: Adds a lovely, rich tang that cuts through the sweetness of these cake balls, if you forget to set your cream cheese out, whip it in your mixer until it’s no longer clumpy before adding the rest of your ingredients (I learned this trick from my best friend who makes made-to-order cakes).
Powdered sugar: Don’t skip sifting your powdered sugar or your frosting will be lumpy.
Red Beet Powder: Turns the frosting into a lovely pink, use more if you’d like your frosting to have a richer color.
Vanilla: Adds a floral note that balances the richness of the cream cheese.

Chocolate Coating and Topping

Chocolate: I used both dark chocolate and white chocolate for my cake balls. Both were delicious but the white chocolate made them a little too sweet.
Sprinkles and sanding sugar: Mimi used organic sprinkles, which I could not get my hands on in time, use your favorite sprinkles or try making your own!

Step-by-step Instructions

Questions?

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