These are cake pops without the stick. If you’re good at making pops already, then this is technically a pop recipe and you should make pops. Otherwise, making them into cake balls is taking out just that one step. This recipe is definitely not keto-friendly, or vegan, or anything like that. It’s a cake-mix-box-hack and it’s difficulty level 5, but it comes out pretty great and people will freak out that you made these.

Grain-free gingerbread cake balls

Ingredients

• For cake:
  • 1 box of Simple Mills brand pumpkin muffin mix
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
  • 2 tsp powdered ginger
  • 1/4 tsp powdered cloves
• For filling:
  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1/2 can of Simple Mills brand vanilla frosting, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• For coating:
  • 2 bags of white Candy Melts (or alternatively 2 bags of white chocolate chips and 2 tbsp coconut oil)

Materials

• 9″ round cake pan or something similar
• Hand mixer
• Large mixing bowl
• Cookie scoop
• Parchment paper and cookie sheet that fits in your freezer
• Space in your freezer
• Microwave or double boiler to melt chocolate
• Patience

Method

1. Make the cake:
   1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease up your cake pan.
   2. Mix together cake mix, eggs, water, molasses, ginger, and cloves until completely mixed together.
   3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.
   4. Allow the cake to cool enough for you to handle it. I made the cake the night before.
   5. Once cool, crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix up the filling and form the balls:
   1. Add the cream cheese and frosting and brown sugar to your cake crumbles and mix thoroughly with your hand mixer until a sticky dough forms.
   2. Use your cookie scoop to make balls. Don’t bother trying to roll them or anything because they will be the stickiest thing you’ve ever encountered in the kitchen and it may discourage you if you try to do this. Just scoop them out directly onto your parchment-lined pan, flat side down. They can be real close to each other but not touching.
   3. Put the whole thing in the freezer for about an hour.
3. Dip ’em:
   1. When your cake balls are totally frozen, prepare your dipping chocolate before you remove the balls from the freezer.
   2. To melt, follow Candy Melt instructions on the bag. If you chose the chips and oil option, you can microwave the chips/oil in a glass bowl 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each heating, until smooth.
   3. Take the balls out of the freezer and dip just the bottom of each one and set it back on the parchment. This makes it easier to finish them, trust me.
   4. Once all the bottoms are dipped, freeze the whole sheet again for about 15 mins. You may need to reheat your dipping chocolate before you start dipping the rest of the way.
   5. Take the balls out of the freezer and dunk the entire top portion in the chocolate to completely cover each cake ball. This part is tricky so be patient and forgiving of yourself. Set them back on the parchment again, flat side down and don’t worry if you get chocolate everywhere. It will all pan out in the end.
   6. Once you’re done with the dunking process and all your cake balls are fully coated in chocolate, freeze them for another 10 minutes.
   7. Take them out of the freezer and break off the “feet” around the bottom where the chocolate ran over and is unsightly. I use a knife for particularly large, stuck-on feet. This is a style choice more than anything and optional. You can store the finished product in the fridge.
   8. Serve and enjoy!

Yield 36 cake balls

Nutrition… I decided not to calculate due to the vast ingredient list. If you really want the nutrition, send me an email and I will calculate it, no problem!