Cake Batter Frosting (v)
I’ve been baking and frosting a ton of cakes and cupcakes lately, and one thing that I’ve realized is how much I love cake batter frosting. I’m a fan of all things funfetti or cake batter-flavored, and that includes frosting - especially when the cake batter frosting also happens to be vegan! There’s a secret ingredient to make this vegan cake batter frosting taste just like cake batter, and it may not be as surprising as you may think.
The inspiration for this vegan cake batter frosting recipe actually comes from a favorite childhood snack of mine - Dunkaroos! I used to love snacking on Dunkaroos when I was a kid, and I distinctly remember being sad when they were discontinued. Well, I was in Ralph’s the other day and saw Dunkaroos in the snack section for the first time in years! My face looked just like Macaulay Culkin’s in Home Alone. I was so excited, and immediately reminisced about my favorite thing about Dunkaroos, which is the cake batter frosting that you dip the cookies into. Yum! And I just knew in that moment that I had to recreate that Dunkaroos frosting at home, and make it vegan.
Making cake batter frosting at home is easy and pretty quick. The secret ingredient that you need for this cake batter frosting recipe is - dry cake mix! Yes, cake mix naturally has that delicious birthday cake taste that we all know and love. So, adding cake mix to a regular frosting recipe makes a lot of sense when making cake batter frosting.
Some cake batter icing recipes call for using store-bought cake mix, but most of those cake mixes include dried milk and therefore are not vegan. But, making your own cake mix at home is easy - just use the base of any cake recipe that you already know in love, using just the dry ingredients only. But, since we are adding the cake mix into our frosting and eating it as-is, it’s important to heat treat the flour before using to eliminate any possibility of contamination.
If you take a look at any bag of flour, it will note that flour should not be eaten raw. This is because there is a risk of contracting E-Coli in raw flour. Flour may not look like a raw food but it is, so it’s important to be safe and heat treat the flour before using it in our cake batter frosting recipe. All you need to do is preheat your oven to 300 F degrees, and ‘bake’ the flour at that temperature for about five minutes. Allow the flour to cool completely before using it in this recipe. That’s it!
Now that your flour has been heat treated, go ahead and whip up a quick homemade cake mix by mixing the flour with some white sugar and salt. That’s the dry base for any cake recipe, and that’s what we’ll be using for our frosting recipe. To make the frosting, start by whipping vegan butter until it’s fluffy, and then add your powdered sugar. Once that’s mixed together, add in some of your cake mix and whip it again until incorporated. Feel free to add a bit of non-dairy milk at the end to thin out the frosting if it’s too thick. Finally, don’t forget to add lots of vanilla and sprinkles!
Recipe
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins
Rest Time: 1 hr
Active Time: 10 mins
INGREDIENTS
Homemade Cake Mix
1/2c flour
1/4c white sugar
pinch of salt
(or, use 3/4c of your favorite store-bought cake mix)
Frosting
1/2c vegan butter, softened
1.5c powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4c sprinkles
1 tbsp non-dairy milk (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Heat your oven to 300 F degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spread the flour on top in a thin layer. Bake for 3-5 minutes, being careful to make sure it does not brown. Allow the heat treated flour to cool completely before proceeding. (If using store-bought cake mix, then measure 3/4c of the mix and follow these same instructions).
Mix the cooled flour, sugar, and salt in small bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the vegan butter for 3-5 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar in 1/2c intervals until incorporated, pausing to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
Now, add in your homemade cake mix and whip again for 3-5 minutes until fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix again. If the batter happens to be too thick, add some non-dairy milk to thin it out.
Add in sprinkles and mix for a few seconds until incorporated. Enjoy!