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Red Velvet cake pops with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting in the filling, plus a white chocolate coating. These are so great as hostess or holiday gifts. Plus, you can also dye half green and make a box of red and green truffles.
These red velvet cake pops are one of my favorite holiday food gifts to make! Have you ever made a cake truffle or a cake pop? It’s essentially cake, crumbled and mixed with frosting until it sticks together in a compact little ball. Then, after a quick chill session, the cake ball is dunked in a coating to make it pretty.
I used the recipe for my small batch red velvet cupcakes to make these red velvet truffles, but I have a few notes about this.
The recipe below is almost identical to the cupcakes, and uses 4 cupcakes to make a small batch of 10 truffles. However, you can easily double the recipe, bake it in a 6″ mini cake pan and get twice the cake truffles.
When I’m making these red velvet cake pops as gifts, I double the recipe. In my slightly expert opinion, I’ve found that 4 little truffles tucked into a small box is the perfect gifting size.
How to make red velvet cake pops:
The video for this recipe uses the 6″ cake pan method to make the cake for the truffles. Alternatively, you can make the cupcakes. Remember: 4 cupcakes makes TEN truffles; adapt the recipe accordingly. Regardless, we’re still crumbling lots of red velvet cake to make red velvet cake pops!
Here’s the best part: to bind the cake together, we use cream cheese frosting. So, we’re getting a bite of cake AND frosting at the same time! Now this is exactly why everyone loves cake truffles!
The little cake bites are totally delicious on their own, but a little white chocolate coating never hurt anyone either. I use almond bark to coat these red velvet truffles, because I find it much easier to work with than white chocolate, but you know your own chocolate skills. Use the coating that you’re the most comfortable with. If your’e great at melting white chocolate without burning it (I am not), then use it! To play it safe, grab almond bark at the store–it’s much more forgiving.
The Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour.
- Cocoa Powder. Authentic red velvet cake has the slightest touch of cocoa powder in it. Don’t fall for recipes that don’t have a small amount of cocoa powder in them.
- Baking Soda.
- Oil. Any plain oil without flavor, like vegetable oil, canola oil, or grapeseed oil.
- Granulated Sugar.
- Buttermilk. Traditional red velvet cake is made with buttermilk. I like low-fat cultured buttermilk, easily found at every grocery store. If you’d like to use whole milk instead, just add a half-teaspoon to the milk. And yes, still add the other vinegar later on.
- Egg White. We only need the egg white for this recipe; save the egg yolk for another recipe, like my red velvet sugar cookies.
- Red Food Coloring. You can use regular red food coloring, or food gel. If you use the gel, you only need half the amount (1/2 teaspoon).
- Vanilla Extract.
- Vinegar. Regular white vinegar is a necessary component of red velvet cake, and no, your red velvet truffles will not taste like vinegar. It helps react with the baking soda and make the cake rise.
- Cream Cheese. Just like red velvet cake, we’re using cream cheese frosting. But we’re not spreading it on top, it’s the glue that holds the truffle together. It’s cake and frosting in one bite.
- Powdered Sugar.
- Almond Bark. I suggest almond bark because it’s more forgiving than white chocolate for dipping. If you feel confident with white chocolate, use that, but know that almond bark is easier to work with and doesn’t seize easily like white chocolate does
The Instructions
- Gather the ingredients to make the cake, and keep the cream cheese, powdered sugar and almond bark on the side for later.
- Place 4 cupcake liners in 4 cups of a muffin pan. Now, make the red velvet cake: whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, beat together with an electric mixer the oil, sugar, buttermilk, egg white, red dye, vinegar and vanilla. Sprinkle the dry mixture over the wet and beat just to combine.
- Divide the mixture between the 4 cupcake liners, and bake at 350-degrees F for 20-22 minutes.
- Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, crumble them into a medium-size bowl. Add the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar, and beat with an electric mixer to make everything homogenous.
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of this mixture into your hands, and roll it into a perfect ball. It should be very easy to scoop and shape. Refrigerate the cake pops for at least 4 hours.
- After the 4 hour chill time, it’s time to melt the almond bark or white chocolate coating. Chop the almond bark into one-inch pieces, and place in a bowl. Heat on medium power in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between each session, until smooth and melted. Refer to the package directions for exact cooking time.
- Dunk each truffle in the melted almond bark using a fork. Dunk quickly, and then let the excess drain off.
- Let the red velvet cake pops set on a lined cookie sheet. Once they’re set, drizzle with extra melted almond bark to make the design seen in the photos. You can reheat the almond bark to do this, if necessary.
Variations:
-A fun twist on this recipe is bake one batch of the cupcakes using green food coloring instead of red. In each box, I put 2 green and 2 red velvet cake pops.
-You can double this recipe and bake the cake in a 6″ pan to get 20 cake pops total.
Other red velvet recipes you may love:
More Favorites from Dessert for Two
Red Velvet Cake Pops
Makes 10 red velvet cake pops* The first part of this recipe is identical to my recipe for red velvet cupcakes for two.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon white vinegar
For the rest:
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 12 oz. almond bark (or white chocolate), for coating
Instructions
- In a cupcake tin, place 4 cupcake liners on the outside edge. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F, and gather all ingredients.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In another bowl, beat together the canola oil, sugar, buttermilk, egg white, red dye, vinegar, and vanilla using an electric mixer. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- Divide the batter between the four cupcake liners and bake at 350° for 20-22 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- When cool, crumble the cupcakes into crumbs. In a bowl, mix the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add the crumbs and stir very well.
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the mixture into your hands and then roll into balls. Place the balls on a plate and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- To make the coating, chop the almond bark into 1" chunks and place in a bowl. Heat on medium power in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Dip each ball into the coating quickly, using a fork to turn, then let them dry on a piece of wax paper. Can be made 3 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge.
Notes
*Recipe is easily doubled and baked in a 6" round cake pan to make 20 truffles.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 330Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 248mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 4gSugar: 13gProtein: 8g
Made these for my husband’s class last night. I made 30 of them. 5 people in the class no leftovers. These are amazing!!
Hi!
Thoes truffles look great! I wondered if they must be stored in the fridge?
Thanks :)
Nah. But not in a warm house ;)
Hi! Can I use buttercream instead of the cream cheese and powdered sugar here? I am planning to make some but have no cream cheese available at the moment.
I think that would work :)
Nah. But not in a hot house ;)
I just finished making these cuties! They didn’t turn out as red as in the pictures, but we probably used different food dyes, I live in Sweden :)
Thanks for a great recipe, I hope my boyfriend likes them!
Awww, hi Linn! Thanks for stopping by :) Happy V Day to you and your boyfriend :)
That pop of red is gorgeous!! Great recipe, I’m definitely trying this one out for the holidays!
Quick question: I’m cheating since things are so crazy right now and I’m using a boxed red velvet cake mix. I know, I know, ????. I’d rather make them from scratch as well but I think this is the fastest and best way to make the quantity for my son’s class Christmas party for 22 students. The box makes about 24 cupcakes. Your recipe calls for 3 oz of cream cheese and a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar for 4 cupcakes. Do I need to figure this as 3 oz of cream cheese and a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar for every 4 cupcakes made? So this would be 18 oz of cream cheese and 3 cups of powdered sugar for 24 cupcakes? Please let me know. I would like to make them tonight or tomorrow so they are ready for Wednesday. Thank you!
Hi Stacy!
No shame in your boxed cake mix game! Mamas are busy! :)
So, I would do 3 ounces of cream cheese and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar per 4 cupcakes you get out of the mix. I actually halved the powdered sugar last time I made these and liked them better, plus less sugar for kids is always a good thing, hah! So, if the box makes 24 cupcakes, 18 ounces of cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. You can taste it before rolling into balls and see if you agree :)
Best of luck! :)
Christina
I recently found your site and I’m obsessed! I purchased your Dessert for Two cookbook and can’t wait for Sweet & Simple! :-) I’m so glad I can turn to your recipes to make small-batch desserts. I want to make something red velvet for Valentines so I’m checking this out. I watched the video and noticed in it that the egg and baking soda wasn’t included. Is it excluded for the truffle recipe for some reason? If not, do I add two egg whites or do I just use one whole egg? Thanks again, looking forward to your reply. Have a great day and weekend
Hi Lydia,
Good catch! I just re-watched and I’m shocked! I’ll have to ask my video guy if we cut that step for the sake of time. Instagram and Facebook limit the length of videos, and the egg and leavener might have just been cut for the sake of time. Crazy, right? Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
In all cases, follow the written instructions within the posts. The written recipes are the most accurate.
Sorry for any confusion!
And thanks so much for writing me and ordering my books! I hope you love them :)
Ok, thank you for the response. No problem, I just wanted to make sure I follow the recipe to a TEE. :-). I will go by the written recipe.
If I don’t have buttermilk, will whole milk work?
You should add a splash to vinegar (like 1/2 teaspoon) to your milk to make it similar to buttermilk :)
So the typed recipe calls for 2 teaspoons cocoa powder which would be 4 teaspoons if doubled. In the video, it has 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Could you clarify if it is supposed to be 4 teaspoons or 4 tablespoons? Thank you!
Also, does it matter when you put in the baking soda and egg white because I didn’t notice those in the video?
Hi Ashley!
Sorry for the confusion! Ignore the video, and use the printed recipe instructions instead. My videographer accidentally typed ‘tablespoon’ instead of ‘teaspoons’ for the cocoa powder, so sorry! The written instructions in the recipe below are the most accurate. Happy baking! :)
These look so pretty and elegant. You mention putting 2 red and 2 green truffles in a box. Would you use a different recipe for the green ones (like mint?) or simply sub green food coloring for the red?
I am so enjoying your site. Newly retired so can no longer bring my “extras” from my bake-scapades into the office. I use your recipes biweekly (at least!) Thank you!
HOPE YOUR VIDEOGRAPHER GETS HIS/HER ACT TOGETHER FOR FUTURE VIDEOS BECAUSE I LOVED HAVING A VIDEO ALONG WITH A RECIPE. GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY! BTW, MADE YOUR SUGAR COOKIES THIS WEEK — ADDICTIVE!!
Thanks, Sylvia! :)