This vegan birthday cookie cake is the ultimate fun, special occasion treat! A rich and gooey cookie cake topped with chocolate fudge frosting and sprinkles. Totally gluten free and naturally sweetened!
While cake is my favorite type of dessert, I love the whole concept of a cookie cake. Mostly because someone just decided one day, I want cookies, but not just a normal little chocolate chip cookie, one the size of a freaking cake.
I have a feeling this person and I would’ve been great friends.
This vegan birthday cookie cake is what I made my husband for his birthday dessert. Ever since I started blogging, he’s gotten two birthday desserts every year – one that’ll be posted on his birthday, but that I make a couple weeks prior, and one that he’ll EAT on his actual birthday. I know other bloggers get this – it takes some time to put a recipe, photos, and finally a post together, so I could never bake him something and post it immediately! Joe’s never upset about double the birthday desserts, obviously.
I’m so happy he requested a cookie cake, because it came out so much better than I even expected!
Ingredients for vegan birthday cookie cake
- Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats into flour, which gives the cookie cake its dense, rich, fudgy texture.
- Medjool dates: you’ll blend the dates with hot water to make a paste, which sweetens the cookie cake.
- Applesauce: unsweetened applesauce helps the cookie cake stay soft and moist.
- Nondairy milk: a bit of milk brings the batter and the frosting together. I always use unsweetened nondairy milks for neutral flavor.
- Vegan chocolate chips: I love PASCHA unsweetened or Lily’s stevia-sweetened chips, but use any vegan chocolate chips you like.
- Chickpeas: chickpeas are the base of the frosting, which makes it super gooey and rich.
- Cocoa powder: cocoa gives the frosting rich chocolate flavor.
Tips for making vegan birthday cookie cake
- Measure the rolled oats before blending into flour. I always list the amount of oats used BEFORE they’re blended for flour. So in this case, you’ll measure out 3 cups of whole, rolled oats, then put those 3 cups into your blender to make flour.
- Don’t forget to spray or line the cake pan. You want to avoid any sticking, so make sure you use a silicone pan or line with parchment paper for easy removal.
- Let the cake cool completely. Make sure to let the cake cool in the pan before carefully turning it out to cool completely before adding the frosting.
- The sprinkles are optional. I found some naturally colored vegan sprinkles at the store, because I needed to give it some birthday flair! They’re purely for aesthetics though, so feel free to leave them out.
This vegan birthday cookie cake is sweet, rich, and so fun. Perfect for a birthday celebration!
Xo,
Sara
Vegan Birthday Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Cookie cake
- 3 cups rolled oats, blended into flour
- 1 cup date paste – 15 medjool dates blended with 1 cup hot water
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup nondairy milk – I used unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
Chocolate fudge frosting
- 1 1/2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 10 medjool dates
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup nondairy milk – I used unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, date paste, applesauce, and almond milk into a thick dough.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into a nonstick or parchment lined circular cake pan.
- Bake the cookie cake for 30 minutes.
- To make the frosting, combine all ingredients in the food processor and process until totally smooth – you may have to stop and scrape down the sides to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cooled cake, and top with vegan sprinkles if desired.
Oh.My.God.It’s my birthday soon too! So gonna make this!! I was actually already worrying a tiny bit what to make,but not now! Love you and your recipes! Thank You!!
Ah, how perfect! You’re so sweet, I’m so happy and would love to know what you think if you do try it!! Happy early birthday, Renae!! 🙂
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I was really impressed with this. The cake came out nice and firm, although it seemed a little too gummy inside. Not sure why. I thought it would be more like an actual cookie. Maybe it was just too thick. I used an 8-inch pan, so maybe next time I’ll try two smaller pans instead.
Hi June! Oat flour tends to have a more dense texture than traditional, refined flours, so that may be what you noticed! I find the tradeoff for the health benefits of oats to be okay for a slightly more dense texture 🙂 but let me know how it goes if you try smaller pans next time!
BTW, thanks for making it fun for my son’s birthday. He’s 18 today. I told him the frosting was made out of a bean and had him guess which one. He was laughing when I told him. Also, I didn’t want to ruin the cake by sticking candles in it, so I laid out a banana and stuck them all in and set it next to the cake. It was really cute. The candles were black and white.
Aw thank you so much for sharing this!! Sounds so so sweet, happy birthday to your son 🙂