This Vegan Cookies & Cream Cake Will Knock Your Socks Off

We’re launching our official Sticky Fingers blog this month, which will be a resource for all sustainable and sweets-loving foodies to find some of our favorite recipes, vegan resources, and local and nationwide Sticky happenings. 

To kick things off, we’re getting straight to the sweet, sugary core of our purpose: to provide plant-based sweets all over the country. One of the best ways to make these sweets accessible is by sharing information straight from the source. So let’s start with a recipe of one of our time-tested favorites, the dangerously delectable Cookies-n-Cake.

This cake is our plant-based take on the classic combination that pairs like no other: cookies and cream. Move over peanut butter and jelly (not too far, though) because this combo takes the cake (literally).

This recipe begins with a strong foundation. Our Chocolate Love Cake will serve as the base for your crumbled cookie and cream frosting, with which you'll frost the cakes (or cupcakes). Once the frosting is complete, adorn with your favorite cookie halves and savor what we consider to be the best of what vegan baking has to offer.

It looks delicious, don’t you agree? Us, too. Let’s get started.

Chocolate Cake

Makes one 9-inch round two-layer cake or 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (9.2 oz) all-purpose Flour

1 ¼ cups + 3 tablespoons (10 oz) sugar

¾ cup (3 oz) cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cup water

⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil

½ cup brewed coffee, cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon vinegar (recommended: apple cider vinegar)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
2. Line 1 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper, or lightly oil and dust with flour.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Set the bowl aside.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the water, oil, coffee, and vanilla.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated.
6. Fold in the vinegar until you begin to see streaks. Do not overmix the batter.
7. Distribute the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch.
8. Place the pans on a cooling rack to cool completely, then run a knife or plastic dough scraper around the edges of the pans to loosen the cake from the sides. Turn the pan upside down to remove the cakes.
9. If you are making cupcakes, fill 18 lined cupcake cups three-quarters full and bake for 16-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cupcake tins on a cooling rack to cool completely, then turn the tins upside down to remove the cupcakes.
10. Frost with Cookie Frosting (recipe to follow)

Cookie Frosting

Makes enough to frost one 9-inch round two-layer cake or 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups vegan butter replacement (recommended: Earth Balance Buttery Sticks – 3 sticks)

4 ½ cups (1 lb 4 oz) powdered sugar

3 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 to 4 tablespoons soymilk, as needed

½ cup favorite cookie crumbs

Steps:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the shortening and margarine and whip with the paddle attachment until completely combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
2. On low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar a little at a time.
3. Once the sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla and then the soymilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix on low speed until the liquids are incorporated and the desired consistency is reached.
4. Scrape the bottom of the bowl and mix on medium-high speed until all the ingredients are combined and the frosting is fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Stir cookie crumbs into the frosting until they are evenly incorporated. 

Frosting Technique:

Before you begin to frost your cake and blow your taste buds out of the water, let us bestow our favorite frosting tips and techniques upon you.

First, in the words of our founder Doron Petersan, “If you have a lazy Susan or a turntable, now is the time to get it out.” So, swipe the spices from your Susan because now anything flat that rotates is a pedestal for cake. If you have a cake plate, place a nonslip pad underneath it to prevent it from sliding around, and if you don’t, you’ll just need to take things a little slower to ensure the frosting gets around smoothly. The keys are to frost with force (Doron says, “no dainty spreading–you are the boss of frosting, so push it around”), use a crumb coat, and use your turntable or manually rotate the cake once the crumb coat sets for a clean, even finish. 

Get our Cookbook

If you want a more extensive list of our cake frosting and decorating tips, you can find them in the Sticky Fingers Cookbook, along with many other tips, tricks, and recipes.

Tell us if you made this by tagging us at @eatstickyfingers, and let us know which recipes you’d love to see next.