How do you know that you’re an old married couple?

When one of you spends Friday night baking these:

And the other spends hours at a home improvement store buying materials to build this:

Something possessed me to want to try my hand at cake balls, so that’s what I did.

They’re cute, but truth be told, they’re kind of a pain in the butt. Give me a sheet cake, bundt cake, or cupcake any day of the week.

I guess the silver lining is that these adorable bites of cake are great for portion control. Since they are very rich, you can handle only one.

Chocolate-Pumpkin Cake Balls

(makes 24 balls)

For the cake:

• 1 cup cake flour*
• ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 cup sugar**
• ¾ cup milk
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• ½ to ¾ cup pumpkin puree***
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar****
• ½ tsp cinnamon

For the glaze:

• ¾ to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar
• 1 tsp coconut oil, to thin
• milk (dairy or non-dairy) to thin, if needed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry cake ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt)
3. In a larger bowl and using a hand-held mixer, cream together the liquid ingredients (milk, yogurt, sugar, oil, and vanilla) for about 2 minutes until well-blended
4. Slowly add your dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until no clumps remain
5. Pour into a greased baking pan (I used a 9 ½ inch round pan) and bake for 25-30 minutes
6. Allow cake to cool before crumbling into a large bowl
7. Using a handheld blender, whip together all frosting ingredients (pumpkin, powdered sugar, almond butter, and cinnamon)
8. Add frosting to the cake crumbles and mix together with your hands until a dough forms.
9. Use your hands to roll the mixture into balls (approximately 1 inch in diameter)
10. Freeze the balls for about 30 minutes until firm
11. In a small bowl, melt the glaze ingredients (chocolate chips, oil, and milk, if needed)
12. Dip each cake ball into the glaze
13. Top with sprinkles, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, etc.
14. Place back in the freezer until chocolate coating has hardened. Store cake balls in the refrigerator.

*Any flour would work here. I used cake flour simply because I had an unopened box waiting to be used. I added WWPF to try to make the cake “healthier.”

**Since the frosting and glaze are very sweet themselves, you can probably reduce the sugar to ¾ or ⅔ cup.

***I initially used ½ cup of pumpkin. I wasn’t sure how far the frosting would stretch, so I added a couple more spoonfuls. Use your judgment.

****I’m sure a healthier, liquid sweetener like maple syrup, agave, or even honey would work here, but I did not try it. I was hoping the powdered sugar would lend a fluffier texture to the frosting.

Since this was my first cake ball attempt, I think they turned out ok. Next time, I may omit the cocoa for a regular vanilla cake, as the chocolate flavor completely overwhelmed the pumpkin. Because I had trouble shaking the excess glaze off, the coating was a bit thick.

These are incredibly sweet, rich, and chocolaty. Be warned!