Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls

I try to avoid sweets recipes, but with it being the season of pumpkins and having the holidays right around the corner, it's been very difficult. However, when I saw this article about pumpkin spice cake balls I just couldn't pass this up. I am a sucker for all things pumpkin and I have never made cake balls before so I decided that it was time to give them a try. These little nuggets of pumpkin goodness are mixed with cream cheese icing and dipped in vanilla coating. These have a beautiful color and are moist and decadent....which is a good thing because you can't eat a lot in one sitting so it helps with moderation. As long as you have a cake and icing, you can make any kind of cake ball.

Ingredients:

1 package carrot cake mix (Note*: the recipe called for a spice cake mix, but I couldn't find it so I used the next best option)
1 15 oz can of pumpkin (Note*: not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 tub of cream cheese frosting
1 package of vanilla coating (Note*: the recipe called for almond bark, but I couldn't find any so I used the vanilla coating)

Directions:

 In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, pumpkin, water and egg together. Pour the batter into a 13 x 9 glass pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Follow the directions on the cake mix box to make the cake. 

Let the cake cool completely and then crumble it into a large bowl. Mix the tub of cream cheese icing with the crumbled cake. 

Refrigerator the mixture for at least an hour. I refrigerated mine overnight, but I covered it with plastic wrap and then tin foil so that it wouldn't dry out.

Melt the coating according to the directions on the package. Then using a cookie scoop or tablespoon roll the cake into balls. Then dip into the coating. Place the covered cake balls on a parchment lined baking sheet to harden. I used a spoon to make sure that it was entirely covered and then used two toothpicks to get it out of the coating.

 I haven't mastered how to cover the cake balls so that you can't see where the toothpicks were. I will definitely need to work on my coating skills, but they weren't terrible for the first time. These aren't hard to make they are just a bit time consuming. Making these would be a really fun activity for girls night or a holiday get together. I can't wait to try some fun and festive holiday flavors...maybe peppermint?