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A decadent moist Snickers cake inspired by the candy bar. A vanilla cake with peanut butter swirl, topped with date caramel, peanuts and melted chocolate. What’s not to love!
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Snickers in cake form! This cake is decadent, moist, nutty and chocolatey and Ahmazing! I use a plain vanilla cake as a base, so that all of these Snickers-inspired flavors can stand out, and then swirl in peanut butter, peanuts, and chocolate chips in the batter. I also top the cake with date caramel and more melted chocolate along with crunchy peanuts.
It makes a fabulous cake that is super moist and super delicious. All the flavors just come together so well.
You can swirl the date caramel into the batter as well or use it just as a topping. It’s a pretty flexible recipe!
Why You’ll Love Snickers Cake
- Candy bar flavors in cake form.
- Gluten-free, peanut-free, and date-free options.
- Moist, addictive cake base.
- Chocolate- and peanut-packed!
More Snickers-Inspired Recipes
- Homemade Snickers Bars
- Snickers Baked Oatmeal
- Gluten-Free Snickers Cookies
- Snickers Peanut Butter Cups
Vegan Snickers Cake
Equipment
- 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
Cake dry ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cake wet ingredients:
- 1 cup nondairy milk, such as almond, soy, or oat
- 2 tablespoons applesauce
- 1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To swirl in or top:
- 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons melted peanut butter
For the date caramel:
- 9 soft dates
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup nondairy milk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, or use sugar
For the chocolate topping:
- 3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips or chunks
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
For the rest of the topping:
- 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C).
Make the cake:
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and set aside.
- In another large bowl, add all the wet ingredients for the cake and mix really well until the sugar is combined. Add the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing well until until you have a smooth batter.
- You can mix the chocolate chips, peanuts, and melted peanut butter into the cake batter right now and swirl them a little bit. Or you can do it after pouring this batter into the baking dish. Line an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, and pour the batter into the baking dish.
- Melt the peanut butter if you haven't already in the microwave or in a saucepan in a double boiler. Add the peanuts and the chocolate chips to the batter, and swirl those in. Then, add dollops of the melted peanut butter, and swirl it into the batter with a toothpick or a chopstick.
- Bake for 32 to 37 minutes. The time depends on the baking dish you’re using as well as your oven.
In the meantime, make the date caramel:
- Soak the dates for 15 minutes in hot water and then drain and remove the pits. Add the dates to a blender along with the rest of the caramel ingredients, and then blend. Blend for a minute, then let the mixture sit for 3-4 minutes for the dates to soften further and then blend again until the mixture is smooth.
- Taste and adjust the flavor. If you want it sweeter, you can add in a tablespoon of sugar.
Top the cake:
- Once the cake is done baking, remove the cake from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes and then remove it from the baking dish using your parchment paper, and then let it cool for another 15 minutes or so.
- In the meantime, melt the chocolate. Add the coconut cream to a small skillet over medium heat. Once the cream is melted, add the chocolate. Mix for half a second, then switch off the heat, mixing the chocolate in the hot coconut cream until the mixture is well melted and smooth.
- Once the cake is cool enough and somewhat room temperature, drizzle the date caramel all over the cake and spread it out. Then, drop some of the melted chocolate over the top of the caramel. You can drizzle it on or just put dollops of the melted chocolate and then swirl it into the date caramel.
- Top the cake with the remaining 2 tablespoons of peanuts, and chill for 15-20 minutes before serving. Or you can serve it right now, because it's going to be super irresistible
- Store on the counter for just an hour or so, then refrigerate or freeze in a closed container. Warm in the microwave and serve. You can directly microwave it from frozen, microwave 20-40 seconds or until soft.
- You can also slice the cake into two cake layers before topping, so that you have two layers of the date caramel and chocolate swirl. Put the second layer on top, and then top it with even more date caramel, chocolate, and peanuts.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- dry ingredients – For the conventional cake, you’re going to use flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. If you want to make this gluten-free, you’ll replace the flour with almond flour, oat flour, and potato starch. See Notes section under the recipe
- wet ingredients – You’ll dissolve your sugar in nondairy milk, applesauce, and vinegar along with some oil and vanilla extract. The vinegar will react with the dry ingredients to help the cake rise and get nice and fluffy.
- chocolate-peanut swirl – We are going for tons of Snickers flavor in this cake! You will swirl crunchy roasted peanuts and decadent vegan chocolate chips into the cake batter along with some melted peanut butter.
- date caramel – The caramel topping brings even more Snickers flavor to this vegan cake! Dates get blended into a smooth caramel. You can use other vegan caramel, if you don’t want to use date caramel.
- chocolate topping – You are going to swirl rich, melted chocolate into the date caramel topping to give this a maximum Snickers taste and texture.
- roasted peanuts – Topping the cake with more crunchy roasted peanuts gives it such an amazing texture.
Tips
- For the date caramel, make sure you blend until it’s perfectly smooth. This might take a bit longer than you think, but it’s worth it for that caramel texture!
- When melting the chocolate, don’t leave the pan on the heat for too long, because it can burn easily! The hot coconut cream is what melts the chocolate, not heat from the stove.
How to Make Snickers Cake
Before you mix the batter, preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Mix the baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the flour, and set this aside.
In another large bowl, add all the wet ingredients for the cake and mix really well until the sugar is combined.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well until you have a smooth batter.
You can mix the chocolate chips, peanuts, and melted peanut butter into the cake batter right now and swirl them a little bit. Or you can do it after pouring this batter into the baking dish.
Line an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, and pour the batter into the baking dish.
Melt the peanut butter if you haven’t already in the microwave or in a double boiler. Add the peanuts and the chocolate chips to the batter, and swirl those in.
Then, add dollops of the melted peanut butter, and swirl it into the batter with a toothpick or a chopstick.
Bake for 32 to 37 minutes. The time depends on the baking dish you’re using as well as your oven.
In the meantime make the date caramel.
Soak the dates for 15 minutes in hot water and then drain and remove the pits.
Add the dates to a blender along with the rest of the caramel ingredients, and then blend. Blend for a minute, then let the mixture sit for three to four minutes for the dates to soften further. Blend again until the mixture is smooth.
Taste and adjust the flavor. If you want it sweeter, you can add in a tablespoon of sugar.
Once the Snickers cake is done baking, remove it from the oven, let it cool for five minutes and then remove it from the baking dish using your parchment paper. Let it cool for another 15 minutes or so.
In the meantime, melt the chocolate.
Add the coconut cream to a small skillet over medium heat. Once the cream is melted, add the chocolate.
Mix for half a second, then switch off the heat, mixing the chocolate into the hot coconut cream until the mixture is well melted and smooth.
Once the cake is cool enough and somewhat room temperature, drizzle the date caramel all over the top and spread it out.
Now, drop some of the melted chocolate over the top of the caramel. You can drizzle it on or just put dollops of the melted chocolate and then swirl it into the date caramel.
Top the cake with the remaining two tablespoons of peanuts, and chill for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Or you can serve it right now, because it’s going to be super irresistible
You can also slice the cake into two layers before topping, so that you have two layers of the date caramel and chocolate swirl. One in between the cakes layers and one on top. Put the second layer on top, and add sage caramel, melted chocolate and peanuts.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make this peanut free, you can use roasted cashews and cashew butter.
To make this without dates, make your favorite vegan caramel recipe with sugar and use that instead.
To make this gluten-free, use a mix of 3/4 cup almond flour, 3/4 cup oat flour, 1/3 cup of potato starch and mix really well. Use all of this mixture, and then for the wet ingredients, use 3/4 cup non-dairy milk and 1/4 cup of club soda, carbonated water, or other fizzy drink. Make the batter and bake.
Store on the counter for just an hour or so, then refrigerate or freeze in a closed container. Warm in the microwave and serve. You can directly microwave it from frozen, microwave 20-40 seconds or until soft.
So excited to make! Is there a way to make it oil free?
Omit it and add 2 tbsp applesauce
Just what I was looking for. I am new to vegan and have questions about the coconut cream. Is it in the refrigerated section or canned? It looks quite thick in the pic, so wondering about it.
looking forward to trying it 🙂
Thanks.
It’s canned. You can usually find it at the Asian section of the grocery store.
I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate so when I saw the recipe and realized I had all the ingredients I had to try it! Quite simple and quick to make and tastes amazing. I will be making it again very soon beacuse my son keeps asking me every day about it!
yay! so glad he likes it too.
This cake came out amazing!! My whole fam devoured it! Making it against today!
Yay
I think this will be on the mother’s day menu! Looks sooo good. Thanks Richa.
yes! perfect for mother’s day 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks AMAZING! My birthday is coming up and I’m already salivating when reading this recipe haha! Question: is it possible to substitute something to replace the oil?
Omit it and add 2 tbsp applesauce in the cake