Pumpkin Protein Cake Pops – Easy, Addictive!

Addictive Pumpkin Protein Cake Pops with fresh-baked protein pumpkin cake, protein cream cheese frosting and sugar-free chocolate coating. Healthy pumpkin pie cake pops are low-calorie, low fat, sugar-free and easily Vegan too!

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Not even kidding, these pumpkin pie protein cake pops really were addictive. My husband and I had 4 of them at a time, and only stopped there so we could add some more different foods into the meal, haha. 

Real truth though: I wasn’t planning on making pumpkin spice cake pops when I started off. My plan was to go for a pumpkin roll cake, but I messed up the recipe and cracked the cake. Solution? Crumble the pumpkin spice protein cake with some cream cheese frosting and roll it into these little balls. 

A very good use of that extra pumpkin cake!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Protein Cake Pops

These pumpkin protein cake pops are made with whole wheat pastry flour, sweetened with protein powder, and have no sugar. A real healthy pumpkin cake pop recipe!

• Pumpkin Puree
• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• Vanilla Protein Powder: For a pumpkin cake pop with no sugar; I used Quest Vanilla
• Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the flour in the original recipe, drop the carbs, and make this a high protein pumpkin cake pop. I use Quest Nutrition’s Multi-purpose Mix Whey-Casein protein powder.
• Pumpkin Cheesecake flavored Peanut Butter Powder (peanut powder), or regular
  I used Pumpkin Cheesecake Flavored PB Co peanut powder.
  For a regular version I’d recommend Lakanto (code HAYLSKITCHEN gives you a discount) or PbFit or PB2 too.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice
• Melted Butter
• Lemon Juice
• Hot Water
• Baking Soda

For a High Protein Cream Cheese Frosting for Cake Pops:

• Non Fat Greek Yogurt for an extra high protein frosting recipe, but any other yogurt will also work
• Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
• Vanilla Protein Powder – this is what replaces the sugar here. I used Quest Vanilla again.

The Chocolate Coating on Pumpkin Pie Cakd Pops

• Sugar free White Chocolate Chips or chopped chocolate. I use the white chocolate chips from Lily’s here. They also have white chocolate bar that would work too.
• Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Baking Chips from Lily’s!
• Coconut Oil so the chocolate is easier to melt and more smooth when you dip.

Tips for Pumpkin Protein Powder Cake Pops Recipe

This homemade pumpkin protein powder cake pops recipe really is an easy one, but here’s some tips to get it just right!

• Use room temperature pumpkin puree;
  This is so the wet ingredients and dry ingredients can mix well to give the perfect homemade pumpkin spice cake pops.

• Use melted Butter so that it mixes well into the healthy pumpkin cake pops batter.

• Don’t over-mix the batter!
  Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
  If you over-mix it, the protein powder will make the low calorie pumpkin cake pops tough, dense and gummy.

• Taste the batter and see if you need some extra sweetener. I’d recommend using stevia powder to maintain the consistency of the batter and have sugar free and healthy pumpkin cake bites.

• Don’t let the batter sit out too long; Pour immediately into baking pan and bake.
  This is to avoid any reactions between the ingredients.

• Let cake cool completely before crumbling or the pumpkin pie cake pops won’t form well.

For the frosting and coating:

• Use softened cream cheese so it mixes smoothly with the yogurt and protein powder.

• Mix cake crumbles and frosting well before rolling so each ball is uniform and easy to roll.

• Melt chocolate in intervals since white chocolate can burn easily when heating in the microwave.

• Use the coconut oil when melting chocolate chips; This is also to prevent the whilte chocolate from burning.

How to store Pumpkin Pie Cake Pops?

These high protein pumpkin pie cake pops keep well for a meal prep dessert or post workout snack; Freezer friendly too!

Store healthy pumpkin protein powder cake pops at room temperature in an airtight container for 1-2 days or in the fridge for a week.

To freeze the pumpkin cake bites, individually wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer-safe zipper bags or air tight container; They should keep for 2-3 months.

Alternatives for Healthy Pumpkin Cake Pops Recipe

For the perfect low fat, low calorie and healthy pumpkin cake pops recipe, I would highly suggest using the ingredients and brands I recommended; I do have some alternatives you can try. I haven’t testing them all, so I can’t say how your cake bites recipe might turn out.

• Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: All purpose flour or 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour in the same amount by weight not cups
• Flavored Peanut Butter Powder: Regular Peanut Butter Powder + ½ teaspoon Extra Pumpkin Pie Spice
  Or 2 tablespoon Flour + ½ teaspoon Extra Pumpkin Pie Spice  + Stevia/Sugar-free sweetener (taste batter to know how much)
• Melted Butter: Melted Coconut Oil
• Lemon Juice: Apple Cider Vinegar or White Vinegar

Options for the Chocolate Protein Frosting and Coating

• Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
• Reduced Fat Cream Cheese: Regular or Vegan Cream Cheese
• Sugar Free Chocolate Chips: Regular chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar

To make Vegan Pumpkin Cake Pops

These pumpkin protein cake pops have no eggs or milk and can be made Vegan with a plant-based protein powder and dairy free butter or coconut oil.
Also be sure to use dairy-free cream cheese for the frosting and chocolate chips for the coating.

I haven’t tried pea protein or other plant based ones, so I can’t say how those would work.

More Healthy Pumpkin Protein Recipes:

• Pumpkin Protein Scones
• Chocolate Lava Pumpkin Protein Cookie for One
• Protein Pumpkin French Toast Bake
• Pumpkin Protein Cinnamon Rolls
• Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Protein Cookies
• Fat-Free Protein Pumpkin Bread

More Protein Cake Pops Recipes

• Chocolate Protein Cake Pops
• No Bake Protein Cake Pops