Fireball Whiskey Balls, made in 20 minutes with cake mix, cream cheese, cinnamon, whiskey, and candy coating, are no-bake, alcohol-infused treats with a sweet and spicy kick.
Fireball Whiskey Balls Recipe
Our Fireball Whisky Balls recipe makes it fun to chew your booze by turning a traditional cheesecake truffle into a spiked bite-sized treat.
Unlike the classic bourbon balls, the base of these bites is prepared with a box of dry cake mix (no eggs, oil, butter, or baking needed!) that’s blended with cream cheese, cinnamon, and whiskey, then rolled into mini round cheesecakes and covered in a candy coating.
This fast and easy recipe for no-bake whiskey balls lets you have your cocktail and cheesecake all in one bite, but it’s strictly for adults only because none of the alcohol is baked off.
Cinnamon whiskey dessert recipes have the best balance of sweet and spicy – they’re the perfect party mash-up of a boozy beverage combined with a cake mix that goes down without a burn (but does have a subtle complimentary kick)!
Why We Love This Fireball Whiskey Candy Recipe
- Quick and easy to make.
- Uses only 5 simple ingredients.
- Single-serving snacks are pre-portioned, portable, and fun to pop in your mouth.
- Fireball is full of warming flavors, which makes it fun for mixing into fall and winter treats.
- Tastes like cinnamon cake that you don’t have to cook, with a kick.
- Moist and chewy in the middle with a hard candy coating makes these truffles easy to eat without making a mess.
- Perfect homemade sweet and spicy treat for parties, seasonal celebrations, birthdays, or placing on dessert platters.
Fireball Whiskey Balls Ingredients
- Cream cheese
- Cinnamon
- Box of vanilla cake: I used Betty Crocker Super Moist brand.
- Fireball Whiskey
- Vanilla (white) almond bark candy coating
Substitutions and Additions
- Make With Another Cake Mix: You can substitute Cinnamon Toast Crunch cake mix, white cake mix, or even yellow cake mix for the vanilla cake mix in this recipe.
- Decorate Your Desserts: Feel free to add some colorful sprinkles to the almond bark coating while it is still soft and before it sets. Or use colored sanding sugar, cookie crumbles, or crushed nuts to make them festive for any celebration.
Recommended Tools
- (2) baking sheets
- Parchment paper or a silicone mat
- Large mixing bowl
- Handheld mixer
- Plastic Wrap
- 1-inch cookie Scoop
- Fork
How to Make Fireball Whiskey Balls
- Make The Cheesecake Mixture: Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the cake mix and Fireball whiskey and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
- Make The Ball Bites: Scoop the dough with a cookie scoop, roll into balls, and set them onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Coat In Chocolate: Melt the white almond bark in the microwave for 1 minute, stir, then heat in 30-second intervals until smooth. Roll each ball in the melted chocolate, and place the ball onto the baking sheet.
Pro Tip: Place the coated ball on a fork and gently tap to remove any excess coating. You can use a spoon to pour the coating over any bare spots. - Sprinkle With Cinnamon: Sprinkle the top with a pinch of ground cinnamon and set the coated balls into the refrigerator to chill for 5 minutes.
Pro Tip: The coating dries quickly, so it is important to sprinkle quickly after adding the chocolate coating. - Serve: Serve and enjoy!
Tips For Making The Best Fireball Whiskey Balls
- You can add ¼ cup mini cinnamon chips to the batter to add another layer of cinnamon flavor to these Fireball Whiskey balls.
- Be sure that you are using full-fat cream cheese that has been softened to room temperature for the best results. I have found that the low and non-fat cream cheese do not have quite the same consistency as the full-fat versions.
- To keep the outer coating from cracking, be sure to let the bites come to room temperature before dipping. The closer the bites and chocolate are in temperature will help keep them from expanding and from cracking.
How to Store Fireball Whiskey Balls
- To Store: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze the uncoated bites in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow the bites to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before coating and sprinkling.
More Cheesecake Balls Recipes
Other Easy Fireball Recipes
- Fireball Cupcakes
- Fireball Jello Shots
- Fireball Cheesecake
- Fireball Fudge
- Fireball Pumpkin Pie
- Fireball Chicken
- Fireball Cookies
- Fireball Sangria
Fireball Whiskey Balls
Serves — 22
Fireball Whiskey Balls offer a fun, boozy twist on truffles, combining candy-coated cinnamon cake with an alcohol-infused kick.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Chill Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 ounce block of cream cheese room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 15.25 ounce box of vanilla cake Betty Crocker Super Moist brand
- 1-3 ounces Fireball whiskey
- 16 ounce package of vanilla (white) almond bark candy coating
- Ground cinnamon for garnish
Instructions
- Before adding the cake mix, it is important to heat treat the dry cake mix. Add the cake mix to a medium-sized heat-safe bowl. Microwave the cake mix for two to three 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until it reaches 165 degrees. Allow the cake mix to cool completely before mixing it into the cream cheese mixture.
- Line two large baking sheets with a piece of parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese and ground cinnamon. Beat on medium-high speed, using a handheld mixer, for 1-2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla cake mix and one ounce of Fireball whisky to the bowl of beaten cream cheese. Beat for an additional 1-2 minutes. At this time, you can add more Fireball whisky to reach the desired Fireball flavor (subtle to strong). Beat an additional 1-2 minutes until fully combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop out a level scoop and roll it in the palm of your hands to make a smooth ball.
- Place the ball onto one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat until all the balls have been rolled.
- Heat the vanilla almond bark according to the package directions (1 minute in a microwave-safe bowl, stir, then heat in 30-second increments), stirring between increments until the almond bark is smooth.
- Using a fork, dip a chilled Fireball Whiskey ball into the melted vanilla almond bark. Roll the ball around until all sides are coated. Using the fork to remove the coated ball, tap the fork on the side of the bowl to allow any excess almond bark to drip off.
- Place the vanilla almond bark ball onto the second parchment paper-lined baking sheet and sprinkle the top with a pinch of ground cinnamon.
- Repeat until all the Fireball whiskey balls have been coated and sprinkled with a pinch of cinnamon.
- Set the baking sheet of coated balls into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to help the cream cheese and vanilla almond bark to chill and firm up especially if you are planning to leave them out for 2-3 hours.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze the uncoated bites in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow the bites to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before coating and sprinkling.
- You can add ¼ cup mini cinnamon chips to the batter to add another layer of cinnamon flavor to these Fireball Whiskey balls.
- Be sure that you are using full-fat cream cheese that has been softened to room temperature for the best results. I have found that the low and non-fat cream cheese do not have quite the same consistency as the full-fat versions.
- To keep the outer coating from cracking, be sure to let the bites come to room temperature before dipping. The closer the bites and chocolate are in temperature will help keep them from expanding and from cracking.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 210mg | Potassium: 72mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 6IU | Vitamin C: 0.002mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Would it work if I substituted the vanilla items with Chocolate… (cake mix and almond bark)? I have friends that don’t care for vanilla but Fireball is there favorite drink.
I think swapping out for chocolate will work just fine!
do I cook cake according to directions before doing the microwave part?
Hi Linda, no you are just using the dry cake mix in this recipe. The microwave part is the heat treat the cake mix to kill harmful bacteria, such as E. coli, ensuring it’s safe to consume in no-bake recipes!
I have made cake pops a million times and I have never used raw mix (even heating it for a few minutes in the microwave this is still raw). I had high hopes that maybe this would be a quick cheater recipe when I don’t have time to bake and cool a cake. This was an epic failure. After chilling for 2 hours they were still so sticky you could not rill them, so I plopped them into separate thinks and shoved them in the freezer for an hour. Slightly less then frozen I was able to roll into somewhat of a ball shape and hold their shape long enough to dip them. After dipping the chocolate was so heavy that many of them lost their shape or pulled the ball off the stick. I dipped them a second time in hopes that they would stay at least help together. I get the ones that are prettiest and bag them to take to work tomorrow for an office party and throw them back into the freezer. I decided to taste one as I am serving these to coworkers. The texture was assaulting. I’m going somewhere between phlegm and cookie dough soup. I’m actually embarrassed to serve these but it’s now 11pm and I don’t have time to start over. I’m hoping the over night stay in the freezer will firm them up enough to be edible.
Oh yeah and they taste similar to toothpaste. Cinnamon toothpaste.
Does not work. Sticky mess and had to throw it all away! What a waste! Bummer.
Still tasted like raw dough. If you add more liquid should add more cake mix. Disappointed
Any tips to make them less sticky
Even though I used 3 ounces of Fireball, you could barely taste it. Easy to make just not quite as cinnamony as I would have liked.
Hi Kim! Thanks so much for the feedback!
5+ My best friend loves fireball whiskey.
These are absolutely delicious!! Thanks!
Hi Rita! So glad they were a hit
I had high hopes for these! Threw 2 batches in trash before I ever used the expensive Ghirardelli melting chocolate! First batch I made according to recipe. Zero fireball taste, so I slowly kept adding more. Needed to add quite a bit to n order to get the alcohol flavor, which changed texture of mix into a gummy sticky mess. I had another box of vanilla cake mix on hand and added more dry mix as an attempt to remedy the situation. The alcohol held it’s power but texture still not right when I rolled into balls (they chilled for over 4 hours.) STICKY MESS! Second batch I cut back on cream cheese to account for extra alcohol. Didn’t matter. Only thing I could suggest is follow recipe as directed, so maybe texture will be correct. Then possibly brush the balls with Fireball, let soak in, then coat. No idea if this will work or taste but did think of that after the fact. I will research other recipes though before giving this a shot again. Cake mix and cream cheese not expensive but I did waste a lot of fireball
I tripled the Fireball and still a weak taste. Next time I would try a spice cake mix or something other than vanilla. They were still good, but not as much fireball taste.
They are a bit fussy with the rolling, chilling and dipping.