Vegan Brownie Cookie Dough Cake
This vegan brownie cookie dough cake is the ultimate indulgence!! It’s a brownie chocolate cake layered with vegan cookie dough frosting, and topped with bite-sized cookie dough bites!
The Ultimate Brownie Cookie Dough Cake
I am so beyond excited for this recipe because I actually teamed up with my friend, Shanika over at Orchids + Sweet Tea, and let me tell you: this might be the best recipe yet.
I mean, if you love brownies and you love cookie dough, you’re going to love this cake!
It’s an ultra rich and fudgy chocolate cake layered with vegan cookie dough frosting, and finished with a rich and creamy vegan chocolate buttercream frosting and bite-sized vegan cookie dough bites!
If you don’t know Shanika, I highly recommend checking out her blog, Orchids + Sweet Tea– she has so many delicious vegan treats and meals! Yes, not just desserts (I know, I know, you probably assumed I just ate sugar, but Shanika’s recipes have got me eating a bit more than just vegan cake and coconut ice cream ha!).
Shanika actually took the photos, and I did the video so it was really a tag team effort on this recipe, which I personally just love. The blogging world can get lonely at times, but when you someone you vibe with, it makes this whole journey so much better!
I just know you’re going to absolutely love this cake. This vegan cookie dough cake is perfect for:
Birthdays
Graduations
Christmas/holidays
Weddings
And more!
How to make a vegan brownie cookie dough cake video:
Vegan Brownie Cake
The brownie cake layer is actually quite similar to my vegan chocolate cake…only more like a brownie, and downright fudgy!
You can find the full brownie cake layer part of the recipe on Shanika’s blog, but here are my top tips for the cake:
- Make sure to sift all dry ingredients: this will ensure that the cake batter is consistent and the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout.
- Use room temperature wet ingredients: using ingredients that are varying temperatures can throw off the consistency of the cake. Make sure that all ingredients are room temperature- not hot, not cold!
- Lightly tap the cake pans onto the countertop: this ensures that all air bubbles are removed from the cake.
Now let’s make the vegan cookie dough batter frosting for this brownie cookie dough cake!
Vegan Cookie Dough Batter Frosting
My absolute favorite part of this vegan brownie cookie dough cake is the cookie dough frosting. It’s quite literally like eating cookie dough batter in cake form.
The only difference between this frosting and vegan cookie dough? There’s a higher butter to flour ratio than with cookie dough. We’re also using powdered sugar in there, which creates more of volume in the frosting.
The full recipe for the cookie dough frosting is found down below in the recipe card. The ingredients you’ll need are:
- Vegan butter (make sure it’s softened to room temperature and not melted!)
- Powdered sugar
- Coconut sugar (to be used much like brown sugar in cookie dough!)
- Flour (make sure that the flour is toasted and cooled-this ensures that the cookie dough is safe to eat.
- Vegan chocolate chips
Then essentially you’ll make the vegan cookie dough frosting much like our vegan chocolate buttercream: start by creaming the vegan butter, adding in the powdered sugar, flour, and coconut sugar, then folding in the chocolate chips!
Cook Dough Cake Tips & Tricks
- Remove any air bubbles: Like any vegan cake, I personally like to tap the cake pan with the batter lightly a few times on the counter before putting the cake into the oven. This helps any air bubbles at the bottom of the cake release so that there are no pockets in the cake.
- Can I make this vegan layer cake into cupcakes? Absolutely! You can easily transform the cake batter into cupcake batter. The cupcakes will bake for about 25-28 minutes. Then you can fill each cupcake with the cookie dough frosting and top with vegan chocolate buttercream.
- How to store this cookie dough cake: if you have any extra slices, you can easily store this cake sliced and in a large storage container. You can also use a cake container and store it whole and unsliced in the fridge.
I hope that you love this vegan cookie dough cake recipe as much as I do! If you make it, let me know down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others can find it!
As always, we love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag both The Banana Diaries and @orchidsandsweettea_ so that we can see!
Happy vegan brownie cookie dough cake baking!
More vegan cake recipes you’ll love:
The Best Vegan Vanilla Cake Recipe
Super Velvety Vegan Red Velvet Cake
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake
Super Moist Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Vegan Brownie Cookie Dough Cake
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 33
- Total Time: 53 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan brownie cookie dough cake is the ultimate indulgence!! It’s a brownie chocolate cake layered with vegan cookie dough frosting, and topped with bite-sized cookie dough bites!
Ingredients
Vegan Cookie Dough Frosting:
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
-
1 cup flour, toasted and cooled
-
¾ cup coconut sugar
-
3 cups powdered sugar
-
1 tsp vanilla extract
-
2-3 tbsp dairy free milk
-
¾ cup vegan-friendly chocolate chips
Vegan Chocolate Buttercream:
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
-
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
-
1 cup cacao powder
Instructions
- Follow the directions for the vegan brownie cake layer until you cool the cakes.
- Once the cake layers are cool, prepare the vegan chocolate buttercream and vegan cookie dough buttercream.
-
Vegan Cookie Dough Buttercream: beat the vegan butter until creamed, about 3 minutes. Sift in the powdered sugar, flour, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract and continue beating until it becomes a fluffy buttercream. Use the dairy-free milk if needed to help incorporate the dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.
-
Vegan Chocolate Buttercream: beat the vegan butter until creamed, about 3 minutes. Then sift in the powdered sugar and continue beating until it becomes a fluffy vanilla buttercream. Add in the cacao powder, and start by beating the cacao powder into the middle so as not to create a dust around the bowl, then beat the entire buttercream mixture together with the cacao powder until fully incorporated.
-
Assemble the cake: spread in between each layer the vegan cookie dough buttercream frosting. Use the chocolate frosting to coat the outside of the cake.
-
Serve and enjoy!
I CANNOT wait to make this!! Which exact all purpose flour did you use? Gluten free? I’ve used different products and they all vary in taste (some bad, some good). I want to use whatever you used.
Thanks!
Jess 🙂
Hi Jess! Aw I’m so happy to hear it!! I’ve tested this with King Arthur’s all purpose flour, Whole Foods 365 all purpose flour, and Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten free 1:1 baking flour. If you’re not gluten-free, I would use the all purpose flour, but it does work with the BRM’s GF flour!
What vegan yogurt did you use?
Hi! I used Forager Project cashew milk, but have tested this with Culina coconut yogurt, and it works great as well!
Hi! I love brownies and cookie dough so I know I’m going to love this cake! I’m new to vegan baking and it honestly feels like I’m doing a science experiment each time I try something new lol! Can I use brown sugar in place of the coconut sugar?
Oh I totally get that!! That’s how it felt like for me too (and honestly, gf vegan baking now feels like the science experiment 🤣in a good way!!). Yes, you can! Coconut sugar is a good sub for brown sugar when you don’t have access to a vegan brown sugar (one of the annoying things about US sugars haha not all of them are vegan!), BUT you can absolutely use brown sugar (Florida Crystals has a vegan brown sugar that I use, so that’s what I stick with!).
And if you’re just getting into vegan baking, definitely check out my vegan baking guide here: https://thebananadiaries.com/vegan-baking-made-easy/ I’ve linked a ton of vegan baking articles in there too to help, including my top favorite vegan egg replacements and which ones I use for which types of recipes!
Hi! Is it possible to make this cake without the espresso powder? Can I just leave it out, or would it need to be substituted with something else? I know very little about baking, so I’m not sure if it’s just for flavor, or if leaving it out would affect the way the cake layers bake.
Absolutely! You can just use the hot water, no problem. The espresso powder just enhances the chocolate flavor, but it’s already pretty chocolatey!
This is by far THE BEST VEGAN CAKE RECIPE EVER!!!!
I have high standards for cake and this turned out AMAZING. I made the recipe 1.5X for a 3-tier 9″ pan version, which was incredible. I served this for my son’s 7th birthday and all family was extremely impressed. My son picked out this recipe and it’s a new family favorite.
I used decaf instant coffee powder, otherwise made everything per the recipe. Also, I used the new Country Crock Plant Butter “Salted” Sticks (comes in 2-stick packs) and it tasted fantastic. Best nut-free vegan butter for baking in my opinion.