How many times have you twisted the top chocolate cookie off an Oreo? Me, probably a hundred times. I used to love the double stuffed ones. I’d take off the top, lick off about 80% of the filling, then crunch into the bottom cookie with the remaining filling for that subjectively perfect balance of sugar and chocolate, still with just enough creaminess to cover the dryness of the cookie. Then I’d think about eating the top cookie on its own, but generally either end up dunking it into a glass of milk to soften it, or surreptitiously tossing it out. Because without the icing, the cookie was nothing. Kind of like this gluten-free Oreo cake.
But then I stopped eating chocolate about 5 years ago. Maybe once or twice since that time I’ve had a little bit of cocoa powder in something, but I’ve learned my lesson the hard way that my body just can’t handle caffeine or theobromine or something in chocolate that keeps me up at night, irritates my stomach, makes my heart feel like it’s going to jump out of my chest, and can lead to a panic attack. Knowing the possible outcome, chocolate just isn’t worth it.
Don’t stop reading!!! I really get how amazing chocolate is. If I could eat it and not feel awful, I’d be eating so much more chocolate! For example, the dark, dark, single origin, direct trade, ethically harvested wonders from Chocolats Monarque in Montreal. And I’d definitely be melting down squares into almond milk on a regular basis for some winter wonderland-at-home experiences. Because life is just sadder without those little hits of endorphins and serotonin and, generally, pleasure.
So it made perfect sense to me to make a dream dairy-free and gluten-free Oreo layer cake for my parents, who could appreciate it, and I could enjoy making such a beautiful, fun, and, presumably, delicious cake for them. I think they got as much pleasure out of eating it as I did cooking the sugar-free icing, blending the melted chocolate into the dairy-free butter and eggs, and generally creating Johnny Depp-in-Chocolat vibes of marbled chocolate beauty.
My mom is also gluten and lactose intolerant, and she avoids sugar, so I also made the gluten-free Oreo cake with xylitol, which got a little tricky because I didn’t want a gritty icing and xylitol doesn’t really melt into butter (or fake butter) the way powdered sugar or even regular granulated sugar does. So I turned to the internet, which told me to cook milk, sugar, butter and flour into a kind of roux icing. I thought the flour was would off-putting, but it worked. I also used soy milk. This is basically the ultimate substitution cake. And yes, it worked.
The inspiration came from Dedicated bakery in Tucson, Arizona, a gluten-free bakery with too many delicious-looking things to buy at once. So I bought some cupcakes and decided to make my own version of their mini Oreo-layer cakes.
The trick then was finding the gluten-free Oreos, because goodness knows I wasn’t going to make the actual Oreos just to break them apart. I love my parents, but that’s just foolish. There were four brands at the local health food store! Four! I got the Kinnikinnick brand K-Too cookies and cream cookies because they were the only ones without corn syrup or other questionable ingredients. Oreo actually makes its own gluten-free, dairy-free Oreos, but those weren’t available. I also don’t know what the sugar in them is, but somehow I think Kinnikinnick might have been a bit more wholesome.
The cake recipe was inspired by Gluten Free Stories, and the icing came from Recipe Tin Eats (I used dairy-free margarine, soy milk, gluten-free flour and xylitol, but the proportions were the same):
Gluten-Free Oreo Cake (Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free option)
- 3/4 cup dairy-free margarine
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 1 cup xylitol (or sugar)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- Seeds of 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup soy or almond milk
- 1/2 package gluten free Oreo cookies (or other gluten-free, dairy-free cookies and cream cookies)
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 six-inch or eight-inch cake pans (or 3 or more smaller ramekins for mini cakes) with parchment paper and grease the sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, xylitol, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat the margarine for a minute on high. Then, on low speed, beat in the flour mixture.
Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and soy milk until just combined.
Crush 6 Oreo cookies and stir them into the batter. Pour the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out pretty much clean from both pans.
Cool the cakes for 10 minutes, then remove them from their pans and let them cool completely.
Make the icing, stirring in a few crushed cookies just at the end. You want the icing to stay mostly white, so don’t mix too well.
When the icing is completely cool, spread it on top of one of the cakes. Place the second cake on top and spread icing on top. I left the side bare because I think it’s prettier, but do as you like (you can freeze the extra icing for another time and another cake). Decorate with a few extra cookies.
Disclosure: I was not hired by any of the linked companies above to advertise for them. I either really like them or it just made sense to share!
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