Let's get serious guys, these snack cakes are the bomb.
Did you use to like Ho Hos, Twinkies, or Ding Dongs? Well, you are going to love these!
These snack cakes consist of a soft vanilla sponge cake filled with a tender and chocolatey ganache, a vanilla cream filling, and are coated with a crispy chocolate shell. It's the ultimate treat.
Don't get scared by the length of the recipe, it's actually a pretty simple one! The thing is, it takes some time as you need to wait for each layer to firm up before adding the next one.
It starts with the cake that is fluffy and super tender thanks to the addition of almond flour. You mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then pour half of the batter into a baking dish. Bake and repeat with the other half. You now have the base of your bars!
The next step is the chocolate ganache. I went with a super simple 2-ingredient ganache that requires just dark chocolate chips and almond milk. Half of the ganache is poured over the first layer of the sponge cake. Then you refrigerate it until firm before pouring the coconut vanilla cream on top.
Speaking of the vanilla cream, it's coconut cream sweetened with maple syrup, flavored with vanilla, and mixed with some cocoa butter for extra creaminess. If you don't have cocoa butter you can use coconut oil, or just omit.
Once you have spread the coconut cream on top of the chocolate ganache, it's time to refrigerate it again until firm. I recommend refrigerating between each layer to prevent them from mixing with each other. Next, pour the remaining chocolate ganache on top of the coconut cream and top with the second layer of sponge cake. See? It's not that difficult!
Finally, cut into bars and dip in melted chocolate!
These bars are insanely good! They are super tender, not overly sweet, and crispy thanks to the chocolate shell. What I love about these is the combination of the soft sponge cake with the creamy chocolate ganache and fresh vanilla cream. Did I mention kids LOVE these bars!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Vegan Chocolate & Cream Snack Cakes (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
Cake Layer
- ½ cup almond flour
- 3 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoon brown rice flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or other neutral oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds
- 1 tablespoon water
Chocolate Ganache
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup almond milk
Vanilla Cream
- ½ cup coconut cream the hard part from a can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon cocoa butter or coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Shell
- ¾ cup dark chocolate preferably 70%, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 4x7-inch baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
- Prepare the flax egg: in a small bowl, mix the ground flax seeds with the tablespoon of water. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the almond flour, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, and coconut sugar. Pour in the almond milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and flax egg. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish, use the back of a spoon to spread it evenly into a thin layer. Bake for 18 minutes.
- Remove from heat, let cool 5 minutes and carefully remove the thin cake from the baking dish. Line the same baking dish with another piece of parchment paper and pour the rest of the batter into the dish. Spread it evenly and bake for 18 minutes.
- Let cool for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the chocolate ganache.
- Place the dark chocolate chips in a small bowl, set aside. Add the almond milk to a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Once very hot (just before boiling), pour it over the chocolate chips. Let sit 3-5 minutes and then whisk until the chocolate chips have melted and are fully combined with the milk.
- Pour half of the ganache into the baking dish, on top of the cake layer. Place in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes, or until the ganache is firm. Keep the other half of the ganache, you will use it later.
- In the meantime, make the vanilla cream filling. In a mixing bowl, whisk the coconut cream with the melted cocoa butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Once the ganache is firm, spread the coconut vanilla cream on top of the ganache into an even layer. Refrigerate for another 25-30 minutes or until the coconut cream is firm. You can speed up the process by freezing for about 15 minutes.
- Once firm, pour the rest of the chocolate ganache on top of the coconut cream. If the ganache has firmed up or is too thick, reheat gently over a double boiler. Next, carefully place the reserved cake layer on top of the ganache and place the baking dish in the freezer for 35-45 minutes, or until the second layer of ganache is firm. Freezing it also makes it easier to cut into bars.
- Once firm, cut into about 5 bars using a sharp knife. Place the bars in the freezer again while you are preparing the chocolate shell.
- Melt the chopped dark chocolate over a double boiler. I recommend using 70% dark chocolate as it is thinner once melted than chocolate chips, resulting in a thinner, crispier coating.
- Once melted, dip the bars and shake to remove excess chocolate. Place the chocolate coated bars on parchment paper and let cool 20 minutes before placing in the refrigerator.
- You can then wrap the bars individually with plastic film. Bars will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
The recipe looks fantastic but I can I make the sponge with regular flour and if so how much should I use?
Hi Karen,
I'm not sure it will work as I designed this recipe to be gluten-free, sorry.
This looks awesome!! Not sure how to post an original comment but I have everything but the brown rice flour. Is there anything. I can substitute that one for? Thank you
Hi Abby,
You could try using sorghum or oat flour.
Hi Thomas, absolute love your delicious recipes. I have cheeses waiting for today to be smokes. Its really hard to stop from eating,
because they taste so good. It`s the Hickory cheese and I will be smoking the 2 discs in a pan with a steamer.
But today I want to ask you for the snack cake. For the ganache, can I use dark chokolate instead of chips ?
Hi Janne,
Thanks! Happy to hear you like the cheeses recipes. Yes, I know the feeling 🙂
Sure, you can definitely use chopped dark chocolate!
I have now experienced your snack-bar-cake, and this is what I learned (((-; I baked the first layer too little- the next was goldenbrown and ok. I was not sure if the cake was supposed to be sticky, because it was ??? I made my own almondflour and riceflour-so not sure about that too.
The ganache with chokoladechunks was perfect and the vanillacream too. Then I put the cake together and freezed it and cut it to smaller bars, about 10.
Now caos came to place, because the melted chokolate got thick ???? And the bars couldent be handled - the filling melted, and the result was a disarster.....
But the taste and crispness was fantastic and dangerous seductive- I just have to invite some guists soon to try this recipe again......(-;
The cakes should not be sticky at all once baked, it should have the texture of a sponge cake.
What kind of chocolate did you use for the coating? I don't recommend chocolate chips for the coating as it's usually very thick once melted. Going with at least 70% dark chocolate is better as it's thinner once melted.
The other problem I see is that maybe your melted chocolate was too hot when you dipped the bars. It should be just melted.
I hope your next batch will turn out better!
I realy dont know what the problem was with the cake. I used tapioca flour and it seems the same as tapioca starch, when I see the description. Should I bye some almondflor and riceflour, just to see if it changes things ??
You are absolutely right, I messed around with the chokolate. I just went for some dark 72 % chokolate and I should have used a kind of coating-one. I think I will try it again, and be prepared !! Invite some guests, because this is a real threat left alone in the kitchen .......
Hi Thomas-a new batch yesterday- came out very well and higly prised by my guists. The cake was made of homegrinded almonds and storebought riceflower. The batter was more fluid, so I aded more riceflour. Its not easy to make the thin layer- could it be baked just on the baking-sheet or is it too fluid?
This time I had a problem mixing kokonutcream and coconutoil together, to get a smooth cream. How do you do that ?
The ganache is very easy.
To do the chokolate coating is also not easy.
The result however is very very nice- and could be used as a dessert with coffee.
I would recommend this recipe- as a beginner it is challeging, but make these lovelies the day before, because they are timeconsuming
Hi Janne,
Awesome! Glad to hear it turned out better for you this time 😉 I assume using homemade rice flour is not recommended as it's not as fine as storebought and doesn't absorb the same amount of liquid.
Regarding the cream, you need to make sure your coconut oil is not hot, it should be just melted and the coconut cream at room temperature.