Vegan Chocolate Cookie Butter Cake with Speculoos

This vegan chocolate cookie butter cake has soft layers of chocolate sponge, iced with a simple speculoos Biscoff frosting, and topped with cinnamon stars. It’s a delicious recipe that is perfect for Christmas, a birthday party or any occasion where cookies are welcome!

Vegan Chocolate Cookie Butter Cake

Do you love Biscoff cookie butter as much as I do? I hope so because it’s so delicious and not only perfect for Christmas but for any time of the year! Seriously, I have always loved speculoos cookies but since I came across Biscoff butter, I just can’t get enough of it!

But before I eat all of the cookie butter just with a spoon or on a sandwich myself, I wanted to use it for a sweet dessert. So I came up with the idea to turn my best chocolate peanut butter cake recipe into a nut-free cookie butter chocolate cake. Anyway, the result was just amazing and incredibly delicious! You should definitely this one, too!

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

This chocolate cake is moist, chocolatey, simple and super basic! You need no beaters, no mixer, just a whisk, a spoon, and two mixing bowls. While the batter of my chocolate peanut butter cake is made with coconut oil and applesauce for more moisture, I kept this vegan chocolate cake slightly simpler with these three easy tricks:

Trick 1: Neutral Oil

The cake is made super moist by using a liquid neutral oil such as vegetable or canola oil instead of vegan butter or coconut oil. While butter or coconut oil hardens as it cools, resulting in a firmer cake, the liquid oil keeps the cake moist even when it’s chilled. Puls an extra bonus that there’s no creaming of butter required when preparing the batter. Just stir together the wet ingredients, then combine with the wet ingredients and bake!

Trick 2: Hot water

The second trick is adding hot or boiling water. This not only helps to bring out more chocolate flavor but it also helps the cocoa in the recipe dissolve into the other ingredients. So you won’t overmix the batter, which will also help the cake rise properly, resulting in a soft and fluffy texture. The batter will appear runny when you add the hot water, but that is exactly what it should be like.

Trick 3: Coffee

Coffee is a great way to enhance the flavor of cocoa powder, resulting in a more chocolatey cake. You’ll get rich, nutty flavor from the coffee that you might think would make your cake taste like coffee, but you really won’t taste it. You can either stir 2 teaspoons coffee or espresso granules to the hot water or simply swap the boiling water in the recipe with the same amount of hot brewed coffee. You can also do half-and-half if you’re worried about the flavor being overwhelming or just omit the coffee completely.

Anyway, this recipe results in a very delicious and moist chocolate cake that anyone will love – no matter if vegan or not! Just make sure not to overbake the cake or it may get dry and crumbly.

When you insert a toothpick into the middle of your cake and it comes out clean, remove from the oven. Let the cakes cool down completely before assembling. But even better if you let them chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight before frosting the chocolate cake with the cookie butter. Since this is a fluffy cake, it might be easier to cut into layers and spread the frosting if the cakes are a bit cold.

Biscoff Cookie Butter Frosting

To make the biscoff cookie butter frosting, just mix vegan butter with an electric handheld mixer until fluffy and creamy. Then mix in non-dairy cream cheese until combined. Finally, add the speculoos cookie butter spread and mix again until smooth and creamy. That’s it!

Since the cookie butter is sweet on its own, I didn’t add additional sugar to the buttercream frosting. However, if you’re worried about the cookie butter frosting being too runny or not sweet enough, feel free to add powdered sugar, about 1 cup or to taste.

Vegan Cinnamon Stars – Easy Christmas Cookies Recipe

Actually, I wanted to share a separate blog post for this vegan cinnamon stars recipe. But for any reason, I figured out that Christmas is already around the corner! Honestly, I have no idea why time goes by so fast so I decided to include this simple vegan cookies recipe in this blog post, too.

To make these vegan cinnamon stars, you’ll need just 6 simple ingredients. It’s ground hazelnuts, ground almonds, powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, a pinch of sea salt, lemon juice, and water. That’s it!

How to make Vegan Cinnamon Stars

Simply combine all of the ingredients with your hands (or process them in a food processor) to form a sticky cookie dough. Then form the dough to a disc, wrap tightly in foil and refrigerate for 1 hour. If you’re wondering why you should chill the dough, you can read this blog post for vegan gingerbread cookies for helpful information.

Once the dough is firm enough to work with, remove from the fridge and unwrap. On a floured working surface, roll out the dough to be about ¼-inch (0,6 cm) thick. Use a star cookie cutter to cut out cookies, then transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a hot oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for about 6-8 minutes, or until slightly crisp on the edges. This recipe makes about 60 vegan cinnamon star cookies.

Once the cookies are done baking, allow to cool completely before adding the glaze. To make the glaze (lemon icing) stir together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a tiny bit of water to form a thick paste. Brush cooled cookies with the icing and allow to cool until the icing has hardened.

How do you make ground hazelnuts and ground almonds?

If you can’t find ground hazelnuts or almonds in a store, you can easily process whole nuts in a food processor (or pulse in a blender) until ground. Please be careful not to overblend the nuts or you may create nut butter.

This Chocolate Cookie Butter Cake is:

• Vegan (dairy-free, lactose-free, egg-free)
• Can be made gluten-free by using gluten-free flour and another creamy spread for the frosting
• Can be made nut-free by using other cookies for the decoration, such as Linzer cookies or vegan gingerbread cookies
• Frosted with Speculoos Cookie Butter Cream
• Garnished with cinnamon stars
• Pretty easy to make
• Very versatile because you can use your favorite layer cake toppings
• Rich in chocolate flavor
• So delicious!
• Perfect for Christmas, holidays, birthday parties, or any celebrations and special occasions!

Looking for more delicious vegan christmas treats to try? Make sure to check out the following recipes:

• Best Vegan Pumpkin Pie
• Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Bars
• Easy Vegan Apple Pie
• Mini Apple Pies
• Apple Hand Pies
• Vegan Apple Blondies
• Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Loaf
• Cranberry Loaf
• Cranberry Crumb Cake

If you do try this Vegan Chocolate Cookie Butter Cake Recipe, I would love to read your feedback in the comments below. And if you take a photo of your delicious layer cake or vegan cinnamon stars and share it on Instagram, please don’t forget to tag me @biancazapatka #biancazapatka to make sure I won’t miss your post. Happy baking!

Vegan Chocolate Cookie Butter Cake

Author: Bianca Zapatka

This vegan chocolate cookie butter cake has soft layers of chocolate sponge, iced with a simple speculoos Biscoff frosting, and topped with cinnamon stars. It’s a delicious recipe that is perfect for Christmas, a birthday party or any occasion where cookies are welcome!

4.93 von 13 Bewertungen

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Course Cake, Dessert, Torte

Servings 2 8-inch cakes

You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!

Ingredients

Vegan Chocolate Cake

• 1 ½ cups (360 ml) non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 ½ cups (320 g) all-purpose flour or sub gluten-free flour (*see notes)
• 1 ½ cup (300 g) organic cane sugar or to taste
• 1 cup (85 g) cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ⅔ cup (160 ml) neutral oil such as canola oil or grapeseed oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (240 g) hot water or hot coffee (*see recipe notes)

Cookie Butter Frosting

• ½ cup (115 g) vegan butter room temperature
• 1 cup (225 g) vegan cream cheese room temperature
• 1 cup (250 g) cookie butter
• 1 cup (100 g) powdered sugar optional to taste

Topping (optional)

• cinnamon stars *scroll down for the recipe
• ¾ cup (180 ml) non-dairy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar or to taste

Instructions 

Vegan Chocolate Cake

• In a large mixing bowl, stir the apple cider vinegar into the non-dairy milk. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to create vegan buttermilk.
• In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease two 8-inch (2x20cm) cake pans and line each bottom with parchment paper (*see step-by-step photos in the blog post above).
• In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
• Add the vegan buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and lightly whisk. Carefully pour in the hot water, whisking just until just combined. (The batter will be thin but that's what it should be like. Adjust sugar to taste as needed).
• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Please do not overbake or the cake may get dry and crumbly).
• Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then turn them out and allow to cool completely. (For easier cutting and assembling, I suggest wrapping the cakes in foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.)

Cookie Butter Frosting

• Mix the vegan butter with an electric handheld mixer until creamy. Then mix in the non-dairy cream cheese and cookie butter until combined. Add powdered sugar to taste and mix until well combined and creamy.

Assemble the cake

• Cut the chilled cakes horizontally in two equal layers.
• Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread ¼ of the cookie butter frosting in an even layer over the top, then place the second cake layer on top and repeat this process with the third layer. Place the last cake layer on top and spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides of the cake.
• Chill the cake 1-2 hours in the fridge before serving and decorating.

Cookies

• You can find the cookie recipe for "vegan cinnamon stars" in the recipe below.

Whipped Cream Topping

• Using an electric hand mixer, beat the chilled non-dairy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Fill the whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe onto your cake.

Notes

• Flour: For the best soft texture I recommend using all-purpose flour or light spelt flour or a mixture of both. If using heavy whole-wheat flour, the cake won’t be as fluffy.
• Gluten-free: Feel free to substitute gluten-free all-purpose flour and another creamy sweet vegan spread of your choice for the frosting.
• Coffee: Coffee enhances the flavor of cocoa powder, resulting in a more chocolatey cake but you won’t taste it. You can either stir 2 tsp coffee or espresso granules into the hot water or simply swap the hot water in the recipe with the same amount of hot brewed coffee. You can also do half-and-half if you're worried about the flavor being overwhelming or skip the coffee completely.
• Hot water: Please read my blog post if you’re wondering why hot water is necessary.
• Cream cheese: You can substitute the cream cheese with more vegan butter or cookie butter if you prefer.
• Storage & freezing: Keep leftover cake covered in the fridge for up to 3-4 days, or freeze the unfrosted cake for up to 1 month.
• Muffins & Cupcakes: Fill the pans 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• The instruction time does not include chill time.
• Please read my blog post for further information about this recipe.

Nutrition is calculated automatically and should be used as estimate.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @biancazapatka or tag #biancazapatka!

Cinnamon Stars | Vegan Cookies

Author: Bianca Zapatka

This is a simple but delicious cookie recipe for Vegan Cinnamon Stars! They’re not only perfect for Christmas or to decorate a layer cake but also for any other day when you want some homemade cookies! Perfect to a cup of tea or coffee for a cozy afternoon party or just for a quick snack!

4.92 von 12 Bewertungen

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Course Cookies, Dessert, Snack, Snacks

Cuisine German

Servings 60 Cookies

You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!

Ingredients

Vegan Cinnamon Stars

• 2 cups (200 g) ground hazelnuts
• 1 ½ cup (150 g) ground almonds
• 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3-4 tbsp of water

Lemon Glaze

• 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1-2 tbsp water or more as needed

Instructions 

Vegan Cinnamon Stars

• In a bowl, whisk together ground hazelnuts, ground almonds, powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Add the lemon juice, and water. Use your hands to combine all of the ingredients with your hands (or process them in a food processor) to form a sticky cookie dough. Then, form the dough into a disc, wrap tightly in foil and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until firm enough to work with.
• Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
• On a floured working surface, roll out the dough to be about ¼-inch (0,6 cm) thick. Use a star cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, or until slightly crisp on the edges.
• Once the cookies are done baking, allow to cool completely before adding the glaze.

Lemon Glaze

• In a measuring jar, stir together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water to form a thick paste.
• Brush cooled cookies with the glaze, sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon as desired. Set aside to firm up the glaze. Enjoy!

Notes

• If you can’t find ground hazelnuts or almonds in a store, you can easily process whole nuts in a food processor (or pulse the nuts in a blender) until ground. Please be careful not to overblend the nuts or you may create nut butter.
• The instruction time does not include chill time.

Nutrition is calculated automatically and should be used as estimate.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @biancazapatka or tag #biancazapatka!

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