Today I’m thrilled to introduce you to my friend, fellow blogger, and part-time Fed & Fit team member, Jess of PaleoISH! She made some stunning Paleo Triple Chocolate Cake Balls for us. I think these would be ideal for a birthday party, girl’s night in, or weekend brunch!
Take it away, Jess!
Hey Ya’ll! My name is Jess and I’m the creator, blogger, and chief photographer behind www.paleo-ish.com, and I AM SO EXCITED TO BE SHARING THIS SPACE TODAY! I consider the beautiful and effervescent Cassy Joy to be me my mentor in this crazy world, and I ADORE her, just like the rest of the human population, amiright?! So thank you so much Miss Fed and Fit for letting me occupy your little space of the internet world today! Before we dive into the real reason you’re here—BALLS (cake balls that is, get your mind out of the gutter people!), I wanted to share a bit about how I got here.
You can visit my site for more in-depth details about my journey to a whole foods/paleo-ish lifestyle, but my passion for paleo baking is what drives me to create! I’ve created tons and tons of family, budget, and time friendly dishes on my site—as a mama of two (three if you count the husband), two giant Great Pyrenees to care for, and a full time job—I’ve come to realize ain’t nobody got time for slaving away in the kitchen all day! So many of my dishes are focused on semi-homemade options that the whole family can enjoy. My real passion though is crafting beautiful, decadent, and WOW-worthy treats that are as close to the real gluten, dairy, and cane sugar laden deal as you can get without all the awful ingredients!
When I make a dessert like these Triple Chocolate Cake Balls, I always have a disclaimer. Yes, this is paleo and/or primal. Does that make it a health food? Sadly, no… And what I mean by that is that treats, even paleo ones, although they can be far more gut-friendly, and actually packed with ingredients that do have significant health benefits (like cacao, coconut oil, cassava flour, etc.), are still packed with sugar and meant to be enjoyed in moderation. If you know you struggle with the sugar demon, you may want to make a batch of these for a special occasion, or keep some and give the rest to friends and family because I’m telling you, once you pop, well…you know the rest!
Ok, so the story behind these cake balls starts with my quest to recreate every childhood treat I ever loved. If you’ve never had a cake ball before, let me introduce you to the moistest, yummiest, most convenient little treat there ever was. My youth was filled with consuming these “from the box” little devils of goodness, complete with vegetable oil, canned frosting, and gluten all up in my business. Did I care? No, because that’s the beauty of youth…sigh. Now, I seriously wonder how I don’t have more significant health problems at my age with all the questionable “food” I consumed! (But that’s a rant for another day!)
These are a bit longer on the time commitment, as you have to let things cool completely, and there is some refrigeration required between steps, but trust me on this…they’re totally worth the extra effort! My recipe is also totally paleo, but if you can tolerate dairy, then you could use organic grass-fed cream cheese and butter as a substitute when appropriate for a richer more decadent flavor.
Without further ado, I give you the mother of all cake ball recipes. Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps or ingredients, these are so much easier than you think! Feel free to visit me @jesspaleoish on Instagram for more baked goods, #momlife, and giant white dog shenanigans!
Paleo Triple Chocolate Cake Balls
Ingredients
Cake Base:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup coconut oil MUST BE ROOM TEMP (I used Wild Foods brand)
- 2 eggs MUST BE ROOM TEMP
- 2 cups Gluten-Free Baking Flour
- 2 cups coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup cacao powder I use Wild Foods brand
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Wild Foods Vanilla Powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Frosting:
- 8 ounce Kite Hill Dairy-Free Cream Cheese softened, room temp
- 1/2 cup coconut oil slightly firm, room temp
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 4 tablespoon cacao powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Shell:
- 11.5 ounce bag of Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
Optional Toppings:
- Cacao nibs cacao powder for dusting, mini chips, dried fruit, cocoa butter
Instructions
Cake Base:
- Prepare your “buttermilk” by mixing coconut milk and lemon juice in a separate bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until slightly curdled.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 13x9 pan, and lightly dust with flour.
- First make cake base by mixing all wet ingredients (buttermilk, oil, eggs) EXCEPT the boiling water in a large bowl. YOU MUST HAVE YOUR WET INGREDIENTS AS CLOSE TO ROOM TEMP AS POSSIBLE—the cake will still turn out ok, but cold eggs and milk will seize the coconut oil up and make it harder to mix!
- In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients, and then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet while mixing continuously. The mix will be thick.
- Add the boiling water to the mix, stirring until incorporated. Batter will now be slightly runny—this is normal!
- Pour batter into greased pan, and bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove and let cool completely.
Frosting:
- Mix all ingredients using a hand mixer on low-medium speed until creamy.
Cake Balls:
- Crumble cooled cake into a large bowl, careful to make sure there are no large chunks.
- Pour frosting into bowl with cake crumbles, and use your hands to thoroughly incorporate the frosting and the cake crumbles until you have a “dough”.
- Scoop golf balls sized amounts of dough, roll with your hands into a ball, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Continue until you have made approximately 40 cake balls.
- Place balls in fridge to firm up, approximately 20 minutes.
- While balls are firming, make your chocolate coating using a double boiler method (see here for detailed instructions).
- Place chocolate chips and oil in a heat safe glass bowl and stir continuously until mixed fully.
- Remove from heat immediately and let cool.
- Once chocolate is cooled, hand dip the balls until completely coated, and then place back on parchment lined backing sheet.
- Top with desired toppings while still semi-wet. Continue this process until all balls are coated.
- Place back in fridge until firm.
- I like to keep my cake balls in the fridge and take them out right before serving!
Nutrition
These are delicious! They turned out perfectly! I served them to my friends and they were a hit!
Awesome, Christina! That’s so great to hear! Thanks for sharing this with us!
It tasted a lot odd and the cook time is so long the cake was so burnt but it was fairly fast and super easy
Oh no…I’m sorry! We haven’t had that problem with these cake balls. Maybe check/pull the cake after 25-30 minutes (instead of 35) if you decide to make these again.
These look incredible. Thank you, Jess!