I’m suuuuper jazzed about this post, friends!
Not only is this one of my all-time favorite recipes on Fooduzzi (top 5 for SURE), it’s also…my 200th post!
What?! I KNOW. So crazy.
I’m amazed. Had you told me just a year or two ago that I’d be sitting here, typing away to my a couple thousand lovely readers every week, I’d say you were cray-zay.
But it’s literally the best thing ever. And it made me realize something pretty awesome.
A couple of months ago around my birthday, which is also Fooduzzi’s birthday, I was talking to one of my blogging friends (hi, Emilie!) about the special recipe I was going to make for the big ol’ celebration.
“You should make a cake!” she said. I wholeheartedly agreed, but I knew I wouldn’t be pounding out a cake recipe anytime soon. I was much too scared to try my hand at making a whole cake. I was just getting comfortable in the gluten free and vegan baking realm; no need to throw everything off by biting off a little more than I could chew by trying to conquer a giant cake.
But now, look at me. One of my favorite cakes as a kid. Here. In the flesh.
Er…you know what I mean.
One of the most amazing things this blog has given me (besides you, dear reader. you know I adore you from the moon and back) is confidence.
I seriously struggled with self-confidence in the past. I’d self-sabotage and talk myself out of situations all the time. These struggles were an everyday occurrence for me as a kid, teen, and young adult.
Recently however, I’ve found myself much more confident, and I think a lot of it has to do with Fooduzzi. I can now confidently walk into the kitchen and whip up dinner for Mark and me without a plan! I can post recipes that people actually want to (and do!) make! I can come up with a recipe for ridiculously soft chocolate chip cookies (that my dad literally begs me to make) all on my own! And now, I can bake a cake from scratch!!
Easily my most exciting kitchen accomplishment to date!
OK, Alexa. Let’s talk cookie cake.
I’m ridiculously excited to report that this cookie cake tastes exactly like the cookie cake I bought at the grocery store as a teen! I loved how buttery and all-around perfect those cakes were, so when this gluten free, vegan, and refined sugar-free version came out as an exact carbon copy, you can say I was thrilled.
Seriously, I don’t think a day has gone by where I haven’t stuffed my face with this cookie cake.
Not to toot my own horn (but toot toot), I think I’ve pretty much nailed the whole gluten free cookie flour mix. And, believe it or not, you’ll only need TWO: almond and coconut. The almond flour makes the dough chewy and thick while the coconut flour sucks up some of the moisture we’re adding. It drives me a little batty when I find a gluten free cookie recipe that I’m dying to try and then it ends up calling for 5-6 different flours. This chica don’t got time for that. Trust me, friends. Two is all ya need.
On the other side, we need some moisture. Coconut oil, maple syrup, and peanut butter are like the TRIFECTA of wet ingredients for gluten free and vegan baked goods. Coconut oil adds some lusciousness, the maple syrup obviously sweetens the whole deal, and the peanut butter adds that buttery richness you so desperately need in a cookie. Right? A cookie that isn’t buttery is like a health food blog without copious amounts of avocado recipes. It just.doesn’t.work.
I know that this recipe seems almost too simple. A gluten free and vegan cake recipe with only 8 ingredients? Surely you must be joking.
But friends, I’m so not. I wouldn’t joke about something this perfect.
I’m confident that this recipe will knock your socks off! So try it, won’t you? And show me on social media (#fooduzzi and @fooduzzi) if you do because I get so gosh-darn tickled when I see you munching on my recipes. Enjoy!
PrintGluten Free Vegan Cookie Cake
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour
- 6 Tbsp. coconut flour
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- pinch salt
- 4 Tbsp. melted coconut oil (make sure it isn’t hot!)
- 6 Tbsp. peanut butter (or your favorite nut butter)
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- splash pure vanilla extract
- 3 and 1/2 oz. vegan dark chocolate, chopped
- coarse salt to top, optional
- FUDGE SAUCE TO TOP (optional):
- 1 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1/2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″ pie pan with coconut oil.
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Be sure to remove any large almond flour lumps.
- In a small bowl, add melted coconut oil, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla, and mix to combine.
- Add your wet ingredients to your dry, and mix. When it’s almost combined, add in your chopped chocolate. The batter will be stiff.
- Dump dough into your prepared pie pan, and flatten with your hands.
- Bake for 19-21 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely, moving it to the fridge after about 30-40 minutes cooling.* Store covered in the fridge. Drizzle with fudge sauce if desired right before serving!
Notes
*We liked this cake directly from the fridge. It stays together much better when cut, and it has that buttery cookie texture we all know and love.
Adapted from The Best Damn Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Congratulations, Alexa!!! Coincidence, today is my 2 year blogiversary so I appreciate you making this for me! ;) Lol it looks fabbbbbulous and I definitely wanna make it to celebrate for both of us. :) xo
Thank you so much, Marina! Happy late blogiversary <3 I'm so happy to have met you through our blogs :)
I might just make this for my own birthday cake tomorrow! Thanks!
Happy belated birthday, Beth! I hope you had a wonderful day :) Let me know if you get the chance to make this cookie cake!
Happy 200th post girlie!! That is SUCH an accomplishment in itself (cookie aside hahah). This cookies looking freakin FANTASTIC and I already can’t wait to turn on my oven and get baking!!
haha thanks, Liz! :) I hope we can visit again real soon and make this cake to celebrate!
You had me at carbon copy. I LOVE those cakes..and this one has PB too?! You know I’m making this ASAP!
I love those cookie cakes too!! SO so much. I hope you try it out, Laura!
Wow congrats on 200 posts! When I went to pin this I was like what board do I put it under?…is it a cookie? Is it a cake? haha. It looks really great though :)
haha it’s both and it’s glorious ;)
Ready to face plant right into this cookie cake. Absolutely love this! And luckily I already have all the ingredients I need for it ;) ;)
:) There you go! I hope you give this cookie cake a try, Brie!
Happy 200th post!! I need this cookie cake like nowww. Sounds amazing!
Thank you so much, Alyssa! We seriously loved this cookie cake!
Hi Alexa! Found you on FBP. :) Your photos are so beautiful! Congrats on 200 posts!
Aw hi, Jamie! :) Thank you so much for your sweet compliment!
I’ve been SUPER into almond flour lately. MUST TRY! I’ve pinned it <3
SAME! Almond flour is my favorite GF flour to bake with!
I used to love those cookie cakes and yours look just like them! Congrats on 200 posts too! I feel that blogging has given me some confidence too. Mostly like I will just do this and if people don’t like it then I don’t care haha, it’s my blog and life haha!
Same here – those cookie cakes were just so amazing! :) That’s an awesome attitude to have towards your blog, Kelly. And so very true!
Oh hiiiiii! I’m just getting caught up on all of my fave blogs (aka Fooduzzi) – thanks for the little shout-out. ;) Also this may be the most perfect vegan/GF baked good I’ve ever seen in my 20 years. OMG. I can’t.
Ha! Thanks, Emilie. We seriously loved this cake!
Got so excited when I saw this on your instagram! I used to love cookie cakes as a kid! Can’t wait to try this :)
Reading this post made me so happy–I hope to become confident whipping up gluten-free dinners and desserts from scratch, and it’s good to hear that someone else is pulling it off! Coconut and almond flour are quickly becoming my favorites, and I so appreciate recipes that are delicious without a long list of flours. This cookie cake is a great excuse to add maple syrup to my shopping list. :)
Coconut and almond flour are just perfect here – I think you’ll love this combo for cookies! :) I hope you get a chance to try this out, Heidi – Let me know if you do!
Hello Alexa,
I am wondering is there anything we can use as a substitute for coconut flour? What is the purpose of adding coconut flour? Thank you!
Hi! I use coconut flour to soak up some of the access liquid – it’s super absorbent, so a few Tbsp. go a long way. I find mine at Trader Joe’s for just a few bucks. It also makes the cookie a little puffy and tender, which I just love! I haven’t tried it, but you could try subbing extra almond flour in its place. You’ll probably have to add more than just 6 Tbsp. almond flour to get the right consistency though – the dough should be super thick and stiff.
Let me know if you give it a try!
Hi Alexa,
This looks soooo good! I’m allergic to almonds, do you think using just coconut flour would be ok?
Hey, Darlene! Thanks! :) I know you couldn’t use all coconut flour, just because coconut flour is super absorbent. Can you tolerate cashews? I’d maybe try cashew flour in the place of almond flour. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard that they are similar! Good luck!
Hi Darlene- I used a blended GF flour in place of almond flour. With the coconut flour, the batter was crumbly. I added 1/4 almond milk for moisture. I think it might have worked better replacing both flours with the flour blend. It’s in the oven now! Jenneth
I hope you liked how it turned out, Jenneth!
It unfortunately ended up pretty dense and dry with the substitution. If I do the same thing again, I would start with much less blended flour and add in slowly until I felt I had the right consistency of batter before baking. I do want to take another stab at it at some point!
Ah man. :( Sorry to hear that! I’d suggest trying out these cookie dough bars with a different flour if almond isn’t in the cards for you. A lot more forgiving because they’re not baked! https://www.fooduzzi.com/2017/02/chocolate-covered-vegan-cookie-dough-bars/
Good morning
I made this and to my surprise it’s green on the inside.
I used sunbutter butter otherwise followed instructions exactly.
Any ideas?
BTW I love love love your lemon chia seed granola!
Hey, Lisa! I definitely know why your cake turned green :) It’s a reaction between SunButter and the baking soda! According to the SunButter website, it’s completely harmless! http://sunbutter.com/faq/
So I have made this several times…it’s an absolute favorite and everyone is always amazed when I tell them it’s GF and vegan :) BUT I was wondering if you have ever tried this recipe using a 1 to 1 GF flour mix (like King Arthur or Bob’s redmill) instead of the almond flour/coconut flour combo….how much would you use?
I’m making two tonight and only have enough almond flour for one! The only flours i have left are a 1 to 1 GF flour mix and brown rice flour (and the coconut). Thanks!
Lindsay!! I’m so happy you’re liking this recipe. :) Not sure about switching to an AP GF flour, but I’d think it’s possible! Because you’ve made it before, I’d say you could *probably* add it by eye. You know how the texture should be before baking it, so I suggest starting with 2 cups, mixing the dough, and seeing if it needs more. I’m guessing it’ll need anywhere between 2 and 1/2 and 3.
Let me know how that goes!
Ok, so I tried the King Arthur GF measure by measure all purpose flour. I only used 2 cups to get to the right consistency (the batter was way smoother than the normal but similar thickness). I cooked it a couple minutes longer… Though maybe I didn’t need to, it just seemed like it needed it.
It tasted great and texture was good… A little denser than the original, but I didn’t mind. And the taste was a little different but not in a bad way. Thanks for the help ?
I hate maple syrup. What can I use instead?
Hi! You can try agave or honey (if you eat it) :)
Hi! We LOVE this cookie and have made it several times for special celebrations–thank you for the recipe! My husband now has to be on a low-sugar diet, so I recently made it with just 1/4 cup maple syrup rather than the 3/4 cup. It turned out tasty but it was very dry and crumbly (though believe me, we still ate the heck out of it!). Do you have any recommendations on what ingredient/s I could add to get the texture similar to what it was before while keeping the sugar content low? Would adding almond milk work? Any insight would be appreciated!!
Oh wow! Totally. So, you removed 1/2 cup of the liquid ingredients from this cake, which is probably why it ended up crumbly. My suggestion is to try using 1/4 cup more nut butter and 1/4 cup more oil and see how that works. It might be a little greasy, but it might work!
I love the cookie cake Alexa but do you have a recipe for vegan, no peanut, chocolate chip cookies please? Thanks, I await your reply. Cheers Paulette
Yep! Try these (https://www.fooduzzi.com/2017/09/chewy-vegan-cookie-dough-cookies/) or these (https://www.fooduzzi.com/2019/10/vegan-peanut-butter-cup-cookies/). Just sub chocolate chips for the peanut butter cups in the second one.