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Home Recipes Easter Food Easy Carrot Cake Balls

Easy Carrot Cake Balls

2 hours 15 minutes
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By: Britni Vigil
4/14/2022Updated: 4/14/2022
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These fun carrot cake balls look just like fluffy little bunny tails! They’re simple to make with just carrot cake, cream cheese frosting, white chocolate and coconut, making them the perfect addition to any Easter menu!

Bowl full of carrot cake balls

We’re coming up on the end of my Easter treat recipes – well almost. I’m sharing these carrot cake balls today and then a couple more tomorrow but then that’s it, Easter recipes are over for the year. I’m cutting it a bit close but who cares, these are good enough that I didn’t want to wait until next year!

Ever since I made this delicious carrot cake last year, I’ve been wanting to make something else using carrot cake.

And then it hit me – carrot cake balls! Kind of like chocolate protein balls but without the protein and the chocolate.

These 4-ingredient Easter treats are super easy to make and as long as you like carrot cake, they’re really yummy too!

Plus, if you pair them with this bunny tail printable, they make really good Easter favors or take home treats!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Pantry Ingredients – you just need four simple ingredients, all that you can find in your local grocery store (or your own pantry) to make these!
  • Easy – when I say easy, I mean they’re easy to make and not screw up. Unlike something like these chocolate covered Peeps pops, these are meant to be messy, so it’s okay if they’re not perfect! You cover it all up with coconut anyway!
  • Tasty – the combination of the carrot cake, cream cheese frosting, white chocolate, and coconut is just like eating a big slice of carrot cake, but a much smaller bite-sized slice! It’s the perfect way to enjoy carrot cake without having to make a full cake!

Ingredients

ingredients to make carrot cake balls with labels

Ingredient Notes

  • Carrot cake mix – you’ll need a box of carrot cake mix plus the ingredients needed to make the carrot cake, typically eggs, water, and oil. You can use any carrot cake mix you want, just choose your favorite.
  • White candy melts – you can substitute these with white chocolate chips as well but make sure to get high quality chocolate if you do switch these out because some white chocolate doesn’t melt that well.
  • Pecans – these are optional but do add a nice crunch to these carrot cake balls. If you’re going to use pecans, I recommend getting chopped pecans and then chopping them into tiny pieces so that they add some texture but not too big of a crunch.
  • Cream cheese frosting – you just need a can of regular cream cheese frosting, any brand is fine.

How to make Carrot Cake Balls

If you’ve ever made cake balls or cake pops at all, this process is going to be very similar. It’s just baking, mixing, rolling, and dipping! Easy as can be!

1 – Bake The Carrot Cake

Preheat your oven and line a 9×13 cake pan with parchment paper to help you get the cake out easily once baked!

Prepare cake mix (adding 1/2 cup chopped pecans to batter if desired) according to the package instructions. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake however your cake mix says for the cake pan you’re using.

carrot cake batter in a glass bowl

Once the cake is baked, allow cake to cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. You’ll want it to be nice and cool before you start handling the cake!

2 – Make the Carrot Cake Balls

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove cake from the pan and put the pieces in a large mixing bowl. You can either do this using a spatula (not a problem if the cake breaks into pieces) or your hands.

carrot cake in a glass bowl

Use a hand mixer on low speed to crumble the cake. You can use your hands if needed to crumble any large pieces remaining.

carrot cake crumbs in a glass bowl

Add the frosting to the cake crumbs and mix until it’s combined enough that you can form a ball with the mixture.

mixture for carrot cake balls in a glass bowl

Using your hands or a small cookie scoop, roll scoops of the mixture into one inch balls.

Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.

undipped carrot cake balls on a baking sheet

3 – Dip and Decorate

Just before the 30 minutes is up, put the shredded coconut in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Line another baking sheet with parchment paper.

Then, melt the candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each one, until fully melted and smooth. You can also do this using a double boiler on the stove if you don’t have access to a microwave.

Remove five of the frozen balls from the frozen baking sheet (leave the others in the freezer) and use a toothpick (or a cake pop dipping tool like this one) to dip them in the melted candy.

dipping a carrot cake ball in white chocolate

Remove any excess by tapping it gently on the side of the bowl, then immediately roll in coconut until well coated, using your hands to pat the coconut down into the melted candy coating.

carrot cake ball rolled in shredded coconut

Place coated ball on the second lined baking sheet and repeat until all five of your carrot cake balls are coated.

baking sheet with a bunch of carrot cake balls

Return to the freezer and get another set of five balls and repeat the process. Continue dipping and decorating the carrot cake balls until you’ve finished them all. Doing them in smaller sets keeps the balls frozen and prevents them from falling apart when you dip them in the hot chocolate.

half eaten carrot cake ball on a pink background

Allow the carrot cake balls to set for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Or if you’re planning to turn them into these cute bunny tail favors, I recommend letting them set for 30 minutes before putting them into the plastic bags (so it doesn’t stick to any candy melts that may still be a bit wet).

pile of carrot cake balls on a pink plate

Expert Tips

Pulse chopped pecans in a food processor 10-20 times or until the pieces are about 1/4 inch with few large pieces. This will give the carrot cake texture without it tasting like there are a lot of nuts in it.

Bake the cake the night before and let it cool overnight. Or if that’s not possible, make sure to give yourself adequate time to allow the cake to cool as a warm cake will not mix with the frosting properly.

Reheat candy melts in the microwave again if they start to get solid again during the dipping process.

Work with just a few of the carrot cake balls at a time to ensure that they don’t fall apart when you dip them.

Store carrot cake balls in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week before either throwing away or freezing.

Freeze before dipping in a freezer safe zipper top bag for up to six weeks. When ready to dip, just remove five from the freezer and dip and decorate just like you would have in the first place.

Recipe FAQs

What is the best way to coat cake balls?

Freeze the cake balls first so that they stay together during the coating process. Then working with one cake ball at a time, use either a fork, toothpick, or cake pop dipping tool to dip the cake ball into melted candy melts. Swirl around to coat then gently pull out of the candy melts and tap on the side to get rid of any excess candy. Place on a piece of parchment paper to allow to dry.

How do you keep cake balls from falling apart?

Freeze cake balls for at least 30 minutes before trying to dip them in coating. Work with small batches of the frozen cake balls at once so that they don’t warm up and fall apart during the dipping process.

Do cake balls have to be refrigerated?

Cake balls only have to be refrigerated when you’re using a perishable frosting such as a cream cheese frosting. If you’re using a regular frosting, they can be stored at room temperature. These carrot cake balls should be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting inside.

stack of carrot cake balls next to a bottle of milk

More Easter Treats

If you like these carrot cake balls, make sure to check out these other easy and yummy Easter treats!

  • Easter cookies with swirl frosting – these delicious lemon cookies get topped with a sweet and swirly Easter frosting!
  • Butterscotch haystacks – these fun Easter treats look just like little bird nests and are delicious too!
  • Chocolate dirt cookies – a triple chocolate cookie gets topped with Oreo crumbs and gummy worms for a fun treat!
  • Homemade peanut butter eggs – these tasty peanut butter eggs are like Reese’s peanut butter eggs but homemade!
  • Easter bunny cupcakes – the most delicious vanilla cupcakes topped with Easter bunny ears made out of marshmallows!
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Print Rate
5 from 3 votes

Carrot Cake Balls

These fun carrot cake balls look just like fluffy little bunny tails! They’re simple to make, delicious to eat, and the perfect addition to any Easter menu!
Prevent your screen from going dark
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes
Serves30 balls

Ingredients

  • 1 15 oz box carrot cake mix (plus all ingredients to prepare according to package directions)
  • ½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
  • ¾ cup whipped cream cheese frosting
  • 2 ½ cups white candy melts
  • 2 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven and line a 9×13 cake pan with parchment paper to help you get the cake out easily once baked!
  • Prepare cake mix (adding 1/2 cup chopped pecans to batter if desired) according to the package instructions. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake however your cake mix says for the cake pan you’re using.
    1 15 oz box carrot cake mix, 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • Allow cake to cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Remove cake from the pan and put the pieces in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer on low speed to crumble the cake. You can use your hands if needed to crumble any large pieces remaining.
  • Add the frosting to the cake crumbs and mix until combined and you can form a ball with the mixture.
    3/4 cup whipped cream cheese frosting
  • Using your hands or a cookie scoop, make 1 inch balls from the mixture.
  • Place the balls on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.
  • Put the shredded coconut in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
  • Melt the candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each one, until fully melted and smooth.
    2 1/2 cups white candy melts
  • Line another baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Remove 5 frozen balls and use a toothpick to dip them in the melted candy. Remove any excess by tapping it gently on the side of the bowl, then immediately roll in coconut until well coated, using your hands to pat it into the melted candy coating.
    2 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
  • Place coated ball on the second lined baking sheet and repeat until all five of your carrot cake balls are coated. Return to the freezer and get another set of five balls and repeat the process. Continue dipping and decorating the carrot cake balls until you’ve finished them all. 
  • Allow the carrot cake balls to set for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Tips & Notes:

Pulse chopped pecans in a food processor 10-20 times or until the pieces are about 1/4 inch with few large pieces. This will give the carrot cake texture without it tasting like there are a lot of nuts in it.
Bake the cake the night before and let it cool overnight. Or if that’s not possible, make sure to give yourself adequate time to allow the cake to cool as a warm cake will not mix with the frosting properly.
Reheat candy melts in the microwave again if they start to get solid again during the dipping process.
Work with just a few of the carrot cake balls at a time to ensure that they don’t fall apart when you dip them.
Store carrot cake balls in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week before either throwing away or freezing.
Freeze before dipping in a freezer safe zipper top bag for up to six weeks. When ready to dip, just remove five from the freezer and dip and decorate just like you would have in the first place.

Nutrition Info

Calories: 115kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 39mg, Potassium: 35mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 12g, Vitamin A: 1IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 3mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

Author: Britni Vigil
Course:Dessert
Cuisine:American
Did You Make This?Tag @PlayPartyPlan on Facebook and Instagram and hashtag it #playpartyplan so I can see your creations!
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