Vegan Cookie Cake

The softest vegan cookie cake you'll ever eat! Create a bakery-style flavor and ultra soft texture at home. Great for birthdays and other celebrations!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 22

Total Time 32

Servings

Calories 312

Author Elizabeth

Equipment

Ingredients

½ Cup Vegan Butter cold or slightly softened; I use Earth Balance
½ cup Organic Light Brown Sugar see note about sugar
¼ cup Organic Granulated Sugar see note about sugar
2 Tablespoons Non-Dairy Milk or water
1 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseeds
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
⅛ Teaspoon Almond Extract optional but highly recommended
1 ¼ Cups All-Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt if your butter is unsalted increase kosher salt to 1 ½ teaspoons
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
⅓ Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips I use Enjoy Life mini chips
¼ Cup Vegan Sprinkles + more for decorating optional; see notes about natural dyes and cookie cake texture

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

½ Cup Vegan Butter I use Earth Balance
1 ½ Cups Organic Powdered Sugar see note about sugar
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Beetroot Powder optional; see notes for more coloring options

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment. (I find tracing a circle around the bottom of the pan and cutting to be the best method.)
In a large bowl add the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Use a hand mixer to beat until the butter and sugars are fully combined. (Since this recipe uses cold or only slightly softened butter, this may take longer than normal.)
Add the milk, ground flax, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat again until combined.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix again until the flour is totally incorporated into the wet ingredients. Do not over mix.
Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles, if using. Mix again, for 10-20 seconds, just to combine.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Press evenly into a flat layer.
Bake for 22 minutes for a soft cake or 25 minutes for a more crunchy cake. Let the cake cool completely. (I recommend chilling the cake before frosting for the best flavor.)
Make the frosting (see my vegan buttercream frosting post for full notes). In a medium bowl add the softened butter and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the frosting comes together. If you want to add coloring, remove ⅓ cup of the frosting and place in a separate bowl. Add the beetroot powder (or other coloring) and mix until incorporated.
To frost like I did, add both colors to separate sides of a piping bag and pipe two rows onto the circumference of the cake. Alternatively, you can cover the entire cake in frosting and use the colored portion to pipe a single row around the edge.

Notes

Gluten Free

This cookie cake works perfectly when made gluten free. Gluten free flour is more absorbent than regular flour, so decreasing the flour slightly helps create a moist texture.

Instead of 1 ¼ cups of flour, use 1 cup + 2 tablespoons gluten-free all purpose flour (I use King Arthur brand.)

Sugar

This recipe calls for organic sugar because non-organic sugar is not vegan. For color, most sugar is processed with bone char. So, to keep the recipe fully vegan, use organic sugar.

I've found that organic brown sugar is expensive and hard to find, so I make my own. See my full post on how to make vegan brown sugar.

I have not tested this recipe with sugar substitutions, but coconut sugar would likely work as a sub, though using entirely coconut sugar would make the overall flavor more caramely.

For a completely WFPB/gluten-free cookie option, make the cookie I used in my plant-based fruit pizza.

Sprinkles

Natural sprinkles - any sprinkle that uses real foods like beets and turmeric to dye the sprinkles - are less stable than regular sprinkles that contain artificial dyes. These sprinkles break down more easily when baked and can create a more oily texture; to combat this, you can add 2 tablespoons of extra flour if you use naturally dyed sprinkles. This is optional - without the extra flour, the cookie cake will still turn out, it will just be more oily.

Sprinkles with food dyes do not do this, so no additional flour is necessary.

Other cookie flavors

I have made several versions of this cookie recipe. Here are some other fun flavors you can try:

For all these flavors, SUBTRACT ¼ cup of all purpose flour and ADD:

Red Velvet: 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tablespoons Beetroot powder
Cornbread: ½ cup cornmeal
Hint of chocolate: 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tablespoons flour
Oatmeal: subtract an additional 2 tablespoons of flour; add ½ cup + 2 tablespoons oats + ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

Natural food coloring

Real foods can create beautiful colors. Here are some color options and real-food powders you can add:

Pink: beetroot powder or pink pitaya powder
Blue: blue spirulina (makes the most vibrant blue!) or butterfly pea powder for a softer blue color
Green: matcha
Yellow: turmeric
Purple: purple sweet potato powder

For all of these, use the ratio of 1 teaspoon to ⅓ cup. Adjust from there if necessary.

Nutrition