Sno Balls are cream-filled chocolate cakes covered with marshmallow frosting and coconut flakes formerly produced and distributed by Hostess and currently owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. Sno Balls are usually pink; however, they are also available in chocolate, lemon, white, green, blue and other colors for specific holidays and times of year. They come in packages of two and are sold at many convenience and grocery stores in the United States.
A similar cake produced by Tunnock's, called a "Snowball", is often sold at supermarkets in the United Kingdom; these cakes are typically covered in desiccated coconut, but are typically brown rather than pink, because they have chocolate on their outside.
History
Sno Balls were first introduced in 1947. Hostess attributes their initial popularity to Americans being released from the flour and sugar rationing during World War II. Originally, the cakes were colored white and lacked the crème filling. The crème filling was added in 1950. A little later the pink coloring was added to the shredded coconut in one of the two cakes in each package, but eventually the company decided that it was more efficient to have both cakes the same color, and they decided to color both cakes in each package pink.
Other colors (sometimes with their own names) besides pink are sold at particular times of the year, including:
Green ("Lucky Puffs") – St. Patrick's Day
Lavender ("Hoppers") – Spring
Neon green ("Glo Balls") – Halloween
Orange ("Glo Balls") – Halloween
Orange ("Scary Cakes") – Halloween
White – Winter/Christmas
Movie and television references
In television and movie references, Sno Balls are often used as an emblematic "junk food," or as a means of communicating caring from one person to another.
In the 2021 movie The Starling, Lilly Maynard, brings Sno Balls to her husband, Jack. He mentions that his mother always packed Sno Balls in his lunch. Also, she is seen several times perfecting the Sno Ball display in the grocery store where she works.