Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes (GF-Option)

Here I share my favourite vegan recipes that are not only delicious, but they are vibrant, wholesome and designed to nourish you from the inside out with vegan and vegan curious followers.

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sweets & snacks

The cutest and most delicious mini Oreo cakes. Two layers of chocolate sheet cake, cut out and sandwich together with Oreo Buttercream all covered in an Oreo Buttercream crumb coat decorated with chocolate ganache and mini Oreos.

I have been so excited to share these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes with you after I made them a couple of weeks ago. I saw a friend, and someone who inspires me a lot on Instagram, make some mini cakes and I thought it was about time I made some, too. A cross between a cupcake and a cake-cake, these mini cakes are the best of both worlds. They are delicious finger food (I prefer to eat with a cake fork, though) but you get all the fun of normal cake. By fun, I mean all the buttercream frosting, the layers and the filling!

These Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes are:

Rich and chocolatey
Such a show-stopper
Light and cakey
Smooth and indulgent
Naturally vegan and easily gluten-free
Fun and simple to make
A delicious make-ahead dessert for friends/family
Great for birthdays and other celebrations

These Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes are simple in essence, although you do need some patience. Instead of frosting just one cake or simply piping on frosting, these mini cakes require you to frost all 6 cakes by hand. That said, it’s not difficult, just plan in the time. I found each cake took me about 5-10 minutes to frost, so bear that in mind.

It is definitely worth the extra effort though. The moment you cut into one of these beautiful cakes will wow you every time. Thick chocolatey sponge with a thick Oreo buttercream frosting enrobed in more biscuit-y buttercream and topped with a thick layer of smooth chocolate ganache. They are the chocolate and cake lover’s dream.

Here are a few tricks to be aware of before you start:

I prefer to bake the sheet cakes the night before, so they are ready to go the next day or when I want to serve them.
Make sure the cakes are fully cooled – never try to ice a warm cake as it will all fall off.
If you don’t have a cookie cutter, use a glass and cut around it neatly to form all the mini cake circles.
As we cut out the cakes, the frosting does get messy, but this is a crumb coat after all, so it’s not supposed to be perfect.
To prevent too much mess, make sure to chill the cake cut-outs in the freezer to prevent all the crumbs breaking off.
Chill the frosted cakes while you make the others to keep them perfect.
Top with the ganache just before serving for the shiniest of toppings.

Apart from a bit of patience and forward-thinking, here is what else goes into these delicious Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes:

Dark chocolate: you can use any dairy-free chocolate you like but I find that dark chocolate is better for cakes.
Vegan butter: as opposed to margarine spread or coconut oil, this will work better to form the richest chocolate cake.
Plant-based milk: any milk will do here like oat, almond, soya or coconut.
Lemon juice: add this to the plant-based milk to curdle it to form a buttermilk which binds the batter together.
Sugar: I tend to bake with coconut sugar, but I wanted to keep these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes a little more traditional and rich, so I went for some white caster sugar and some light brown sugar. You could also use golden caster or coconut sugar, though.
Vanilla: for the flavour. You can leave it out if you don’t have any.
Plain or GF plain flour: this keeps the sheet cake really light and airy, and if you are using a GF flour, I recommend a 1:1 blend that you trust for baking.
Cocoa powder: or cacao powder which adds to the chocolate richness.
Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: for the rise.

The batter for these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes is quite thick but so luscious and smooth. Don’t be tempted to over-mix it though as it may end up being tough. As we make this batter into two thin sheet cakes, they only take 13-15 minutes to bake and then allow to cool thoroughly.

As I was dreaming up this recipe, I hadn’t released we don’t have a round cookie cutter at home (only one with a fluted edge) so I used a glass and cut round that to make the 12 cake circles. Use whatever you have to hand, you don’t need any fancy equipment. For the frosting, it does help to have a small palette knife to make it easier to smooth the sides, but a good knife would also do.

As I mentioned, frosting these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes is the most time-consuming part of the recipe but it is really fun. I like to start on the sides so I can use the top to spin the cake around. Work your way round to evenly coat the mini cakes in the Oreo Buttercream. This is called a crumb coat for a reason: some crumbs will become part of the buttercream coating but this is totally ok.

Speaking of which… what goes into the Oreo Buttercream?

Vegan butter: use room temperature butter for the best texture. This might mean leaving it out for a few hours beforehand and then beating it until fluffy.
Icing sugar: for the best frostings.
Plant-based milk: just a splash to smooth it out.
Oreo Cookies: blitz the cookies first to make them really fine and they almost start to clump together as if forming a nut butter. Add these into the buttercream for a gorgeous grey-brown speckled frosting.

The final part of these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes is the chocolate ganache. Similar to my Black Forest Cake, the ganache is made from vegan butter and dark chocolate melted together until smooth and thick. I am obsessed with the shine it forms and makes these cakes even better!

Each of these Vegan Mini Oreo Cakes is quite rich but totally moreish so feel free to serve one cake per person or more likely, one cake between two people. It’s up to you if you slice them like regular cakes or serve them as cupcakes, anyone would be happy with one of these presented to them!

If you are looking for more delicious cakes and bakes, how about my: