When we love something, we really love it. Like, Dane-Cook-impersonating-Celine-Dion lurve it. And since our cake and cookie truffles remain some of our most popular posts OF ALL TIME, we decided this year needed its own spin on the treat.
Meet the pumpkin cake truffle. It’s a five-ingredient dessert that uses the same pumpkin puree and spice cake mix base that the six-ingredient pumpkin streusel muffins call for, so you can actually split the cake batter and make both treats. Yes, that’s right: You can have your cake and muffin and truffle it too. (Yes, we’re the delusional sort that believes you can make anything a verb. Sorry, English teachers of the world!)
You could form these into classic truffle orbs, add some orange food coloring to the white chocolate coating and turn ’em into little pumpkins, or form them into ghost-like blobs and make last year’s ghost truffles with a new filling. Feel free to experiment. Even if you fail and it looks like a globby ball of dried glue, it will still taste amazing, so there’s that.
Note: Most people use frosting for cake balls, but that’s a little too sweet for our tastes. The cream cheese gives it a pumpkin-cupcake-with-cream-cheese-frosting flavor, and if you add more, you’ll cut the sweetness even further, creating more of a pumpkin cheesecake taste.
- Spice cake mix
- 1 can pureed pumpkin (15 ounces)
- 1 package reduced-fat cream cheese (8 ounces), softened
- 1 bag white chocolate chips (12 ounces)
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix spice cake mix and pureed pumpkin until thoroughly combined. Pour into a 13"x9" loaf pan and bake for 32-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (If you don't have a 13"x9", two 8" round pans will work too -- just bake for 33-36 minutes.)
- Let the cake cool for about 15-20 minutes. Once cooled, crumble cake into a large mixing bowl. Stir in cream cheese. Form dough into 1-inch balls, placing them on a baking sheet. Put them in the freezer to set for 15 minutes.
- Pour the white chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl and add in the canola oil. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave for another 30 seconds. Repeat this process until the white chocolate has completely melted.
- Dip each cake ball into the melted white chocolate, returning it to the baking sheet. Stick them in the freezer for 20 minutes to harden.
Pumpkin Truffles?! These could be deadly for my waistline … oh well, Halloween only comes once a year, right? 😛