If you’re the one person on earth I’m likely to have mailed vegan baked goods to this week, a) check your mail tonight, and b) just skip this post. Everyone else, let’s talk delicious things that you’re going to have to make for yourself!

These cake balls, as most cake balls/cake pops do, consist of crumbled up cake mixed with frosting, then coated. Here we’re making a dense, super banana-y cake (worthwhile on its own), a rich delicious peanut butter frosting, and coating them in dark chocolate. Really hard to go wrong with that flavor combo! I doubled the cake and frosting (to make a 9×13″ of cake, vs a 9×9″), which made twice as many cake balls as I could reasonably mail, and definitely more than I actually had the patience to roll or coat, so I’ve put the recipes back down to the baseline, 9×9″ size, but if you have a party or something coming up and need SO MANY CAKE BALLS, go for it!

That wasn’t all of them!

Ingredients:

Banana Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Peanut Butter Frosting:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2-4 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas) or milk of choice – the aquafaba sounds like a weird choice, but doesn’t flavor the frosting and gives you an excuse to make some crispy baked chickpeas while you let the cake cool!
  

To Finish:

• 1 – 1 1/2 10 ounce bags dark chocolate chips
• vegetable shortening, optional

To make the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×9″ cake pan. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil, then whisk in the banana, followed by the water and vanilla.

Add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring until just combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake 45-50 minutes until the cake passes the toothpick test.

If you are making a double batch, bake in a 9×13″ pan. Check at 45 minutes, and if the top is already browned, cover with foil to prevent burning and bake another 10-15 minutes until the cake passes the toothpick test.

Let the baked cake cool, at least until you can handle it comfortably, or completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting by stirring together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the aquafaba/milk, adding additional additional liquid as needed to reach your desired consistency (in this case, a smoother, spreadable consistency will be much easier than a thicker one!). Line plates or a baking sheet (whatever fits in your freezer) with wax paper and set aside.

Too thick!

Lovely!

Once the cake has cooled and the frosting is prepared, crumble the cake by hand into a large bowl. Stir in the frosting, mixing well.

Just get wrist deep right up in there.

Roll portions of the mixture into balls and place on the prepared plate/sheet. How big you use is really up to personal preference – smaller balls will have a comparatively higher amount of chocolate coating, but also make for more balls and more coating you have to do. Larger balls are appealing at first, but can be intimidating to eat all of. Probably smaller than golf balls? Sure.

That’s a second layer, the first layer completely filled the bottom of the 9×13 (using the doubled amount).

At this point,  you can coat the balls in chocolate now, or place them in the freezer for at least an hour to let them firm up some to ensure they hold together well while being dipped.

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate over low heat, adding shortening if desired to thin the chocolate to allow it to coat more smoothly. Using forks or toothpicks, dip each cake ball into the melted chocolate, tapping the fork/toothpick on the edge of the pot to shake off excess, then place back on a parchment lined pan/plate and refrigerating to set the chocolate. Once the chocolate has firmed, they’re ready to enjoy!

Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Cake Balls

Frosting from Veggie Inspired, cake from Genius Kitchen.

Banana Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Peanut Butter Frosting:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2-4 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas) or milk of choice
  

To Finish:

• 1 – 1 1/2 10 ounce bags dark chocolate chips
• vegetable shortening, optional

To make the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×9″ cake pan. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil, then whisk in the banana, followed by the water and vanilla. Add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake 45-50 minutes until the cake passes the toothpick test.

Let the baked cake cool, at least until you can handle it comfortably, or completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting by stirring together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the aquafaba/milk, adding additional additional liquid as needed to reach your desired consistency. Line plates or a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.

Once the cake has cooled and the frosting is prepared, crumble the cake by hand into a large bowl. Stir in the frosting, mixing well, then use your hands to roll portions of the mixture into balls, placing on the lined plate/sheet. Freeze for at least an hour to firm, if desired.

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate over low heat, adding shortening if desired to thin the chocolate to allow it to coat more smoothly. Using forks or toothpicks, dip each cake ball into the melted chocolate, tapping the fork/toothpick on the edge of the pot to shake off excess, then place back on a parchment lined pan/plate and refrigerating to set the chocolate, then enjoy.