Our take on the SA favourite, with a pop of sprinkles to add some fun colour. We recommend doubling the recipe, because these will be gone in a flash! 

Makes 9 

Ingredients  

For the batter: 

½ cup (120g) butter, at room temperature
½ cup (110g) castor sugar
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla essence
2 large eggs
¼ cup (60ml) plain yoghurt
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour, sifted
Canola oil, for shaping 

For the syrup: 

1 cup (200g) white sugar
1 cup (250ml) water
⅓ cup (80ml) apricot jam
1 Tbsp (15ml) pink food colouring 

For the glaze: 

1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp (30ml) boiling water 

For the coating: 

1½ cups (150g) desiccated coconut
1 Tbsp (15ml) pink food colouring
¼-½ cup (60-125ml) funfetti cake sprinkles
Butter icing and cherries, to garnish (optional) 

Method  

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Whisk butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well in between each addition, then whisk in yoghurt.
4. Add the flour and whisk to combine, creating a thick batter.
5. Oil your hands lightly, then scoop 2 Tbsp batter into your hand and roll into a ball. Place onto a lined tray. Repeat with remaining batter, keeping balls 5cm apart.
6. Bake for about 9-11 minutes, or until puffed and very lightly browned, then cool completely.
7. For the syrup, place sugar, water and jam in a small pot over high heat. Bring to the boil, stirring until everything has dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir through food colouring. Set aside.
8. Mix glaze ingredients together to create a thick paste. Set aside.
9. Combine the coconut and food colouring together in a bowl, stirring to colour evenly. Stir through the sprinkles.
10. To assemble, sandwich two snowball cookies together with about 2 tsp of the glaze.
11. Submerge snowballs in the warm sugar syrup, tossing to coat evenly for 15-20 seconds (the longer they are submerged, the more the syrup absorbs into the cake).
12. Remove snowballs using a slotted spoon and drop into the desiccated coconut, tossing to coat thoroughly. Place in a cupcake wrapper. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
13. Serve as is or finish with an icing round on the top of each snowball (see Cook’s Note) and garnish with a cherry.

Cook’s Note  

Whisk together ½ cup sifted icing sugar with ¼ cup soft butter to form smooth icing, adding a splash of warm milk to ensure it has a piping consistency. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and decorate. 

Recipe & Styling: Sjaan Van der Ploeg
Photography: Zhann Solomons