Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls (Vegan Gluten-Free)

Deliciously moist, tender, sweet and salted, these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls are easy to make in 20 minutes with only a few ingredients. They are naturally vegan, gluten-free and require no baking.

Cake balls, pops, truffles… whatever you call them, I am actually in love. Now, I do love cake, and nothing is more heart-breaking than when your cake doesn’t go to plan. But the major plus side is being able to save that cake from ruin and turn it into delicious cake pops instead. These little delights were a result of many wedding cake trials (along with my Ferrero Rocher Cake Balls) and they turned out wonderfully!

These Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls are:

• Chocolatey and caramel-y
• Sweet and salted
• Delicious moreish, moist and tender
• Made with vegan, gluten-free ingredients
• Easy and quick to make
• Fun to decorate for Halloween or any other occasion
• Easily nut-free
• A cross between cake, truffles and baked cheesecake in texture

There is not much NOT to love about these cake balls and the texture is one of my favourites. There are a few ingredients we need to make these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls so special which we will discuss below. Or, you can skip ahead to the recipe card and make these straight away.

What ingredients do we need?

Let’s break it down into the three main components to this simple recipe; the caramel, the cake part and the chocolate coating.

For the caramel, this is one of my much-loved and trusted recipes:

• Cashew or almond butter: or you can use a seed butter like sunflower seed or tahini for a nut-free option. This is the bulk of the caramel so make sure it tastes good in itself. Using a runny, smooth nut/seed butter is best and cashew is my favourite.
• Maple syrup: for the stickiness. You can use another syrup like agave, coconut or date syrup or use vegan honey.
• Coconut oil: this helps the caramel to set solid for the centre and keep it silky smooth. I don’t recommend swapping this for anything.
• Salt: for the salted caramel element.

To make the caramel, simply stir all the ingredients together until smooth and then the caramel needs to set in the fridge. Roll it into small balls and then pop these back in the fridge. This is an important step so that the cake coats the caramel evenly when you roll them together.

For the cake part of these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls, it’s very simple:

• Leftover cake: this is the key part to this recipe and I use the gluten-free version of my Vegan Vanilla Cake. Any sponge cake will work here, though, and I find vanilla or plain is best for flavour and colour. Make sure you weigh out your cake crumbs.
• Vegan cream cheese: this adds the cheesecake, fudgy texture to these cake balls and makes them irresistible! If you want to opt for a buttercream option, follow the ingredients for my Banana Bread Birthday Cake Pops.
• Icing sugar: this adds the sweetness and turns the cream cheese into the silkiest, stickiest mix.
• Coconut flour: this is really important as the cake ball batter is quite wet and the coconut flour absorbs a lot of the liquid. This makes the batter firm enough and means the balls hold their shape. You cannot even taste it’s coconut either. If you don’t have any coconut flour, try adding extra cake crumbs until the batter holds together without being too wet, or try adding some vegan vanilla protein powder or oat flour (but you will need a lot more). Do not use plain flour as this recipe is not baked and raw flour can be dangerous.

Stir together all the ingredients and leave to chill in balls ready to roll up with the caramel. See below for more information. Then we can coat these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls in chocolate.

• Dark chocolate: or dairy-free milk chocolate will be good, too. The cake balls are quite sweet, so I find a darker chocolate works best.
• White chocolate: make sure this is dairy-free and it makes a great drizzle on top but it’s not essential.
• Sprinkles: to make these cake balls more fun, I love to adding some seasonal sprinkles like these Halloween ones from Baking Time Club (code AMY20 saves you 20% at checkout).

How do I make these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls perfectly?

These cake balls are so easy to make, just ensure you have everything chilled as in the instructions otherwise you’ll end up with a mess. To make the cake balls, take one portion of the cake mix and roll it in your hand, slightly flatten it before placing the ball of caramel in the centre and gently rolling and folding the cake around it. Make sure the caramel is sealed in. Now chill again so that when you dip the balls in chocolate, the chocolate sets quickly without disforming and softening the balls.

Are these cake balls gluten-free and nut-free?

To keep these nut-free, make sure you swap the nut butter in the caramel for a seed butter and for a gluten-free option, make sure your leftover cake crumbs are gluten-free.

How long will these last?

Not long if you are like me! But these keep really well in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 1 week. While you can keep cake crumbs in a sealed container for up 1 month in the freezer, I don’t advice freezing the cake balls as the texture may ruin.

Can I make these into other flavours?

Yes of course, if you use a chocolate or coffee cake, for example, as the cake crumbs, you can easily play around with the flavours of the cake balls. The sticky mix for the cake balls is quite simple so you can add coffee or vanilla to it and decorate with flavoured chocolate, too.

I look forward to hearing what you think of these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls and if you are looking for more small cakes and bakes, how about my:

• Ferrero Rocher Cake Balls
• Banana Bread Birthday Cake Pops
• Vegan Chocolate Cake Balls
• Vegan Oreo Cake Balls
• Gingerbread Chocolate Cake Bombs

I look forward to hearing what your think of these Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake Balls so please let me know in the comments below. If you make these cake balls, I’d love to see them so please tag me in your creations, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With salted caramel choco cake ball love x