Allergy Friendly Cake Pops/Cake Balls!

I am SO excited! I ordered the Nostalgia Electrics JFD-100 Cake Pop & Donut Hole Bakery and it works great!  (There's also the Babycakes CP-12 Cake Pop Maker, Purple, 12 Cake Pops that seems to be more readily available, and makes smaller cake balls.)  I picked the donut hole maker, because the smaller cake balls seemed like a choking hazard, to me, for the little ones.

I had tried, and failed miserably, to make traditional "cake balls" with an allergy-free cake recipe and allergy-free frosting, because the cake didn't crumble the way I needed it to and when I mixed it with the frosting, it didn't adhere properly and just made a mess.  I thank my lucky stars for this donut hole maker, because it makes them in the right shape, without having to mix, roll and set in the freezer.  Now, I know that part of the appeal of a cake ball is that it is frosting and cake mixed together, but when you're trying to make it allergy-free, you do what you need to do.  I can still decorate them on the outside and it even came with an injector, for injecting fillings, but I haven't tried that, yet.  I think there's plenty that can be done to spruce these up and get pretty close to a traditional cake ball that's (generally) allergy-safe.  (I write "generally", because some have potato allergies and the GF flour has potato starch.  Anyone can be allergic to anything, so nothing is ever truly 100% allergy-free.)

I made substitutions to their "Quick Donut Holes" recipe, which resulted in the following recipe:

• 2 c. gluten-free flour (I use Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend)
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum*
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder**
• 1 "egg" (I use Ener-G Egg Replacer) (1 1/2 tsp. egg replacer powder + 2 T. warm water)
• 1 1/4 c. rice milk + 1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (to substitute for buttermilk) ***
• 1/4 c. canola oil

1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder)
2. Stir in wet ingredients (milk mixture, oil and "egg") and beat with a fork
3. Use a cookie scoop to drop batter into donut hole cavities
4. Cook 3-7 minutes (mine took 5 minutes)

*I called Ener-G, to ask about their xanthan gum.  They said it is grown on corn, but that all corn is removed during processing.  If you have a severe allergy, you might want to find one that is not derived from corn.
**Use corn-free baking powder, if needed.
***You can also use hemp milk, or any other safe-for-you, non-dairy milk and add 1 T. of lemon juice or vinegar (rice or apple cider vinegar), to make the "buttermilk".

Here is a picture of one of the cake balls, with a golf ball next to it, for reference.  They are slightly larger than "golf-ball size".

Update: Since switching to Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend, 

they are now 

EVEN BETTER and SO FLUFFY on the inside!

Buying this machine was definitely worth it, because I can also use other recipes to make all kinds of small, portable treats for my daughter.  I can make small "dinner rolls", or use a pancake mix to make "pancake balls", etc.  For me, it would be otherwise impossible to make a perfectly round ball using any of the other methods I've tried, before, so I am very pleased!