Dave and I had a joint birthday party this past weekend and I wanted to make something really spectacular for dessert. Two years ago I made a vegan DQ style ice cream cake that was out of this world. So the pressure was on to make something equally amazing.
Awhile back, I pinned these amazing looking vegan butterfinger cupcakes and then a few weeks ago, another one of my favorite bloggers posted this butterfinger cake. Ever since then, I’ve had bufferfingers on the brain and settled on making a butterfinger cake.
I wanted a buttery, peanutty cake for the cake layers that wasn’t too peanty. A cross between an intense peanut butter cake (like the one in VCTOTW) and a buttery white cake. I didn’t find any recipes that fit this bill so I made up my own and it worked absolutely perfectly in this cake! I topped each cake layer with chocolate ganache and crumbled butterfinger candy and then frosted the whole thing in a chocolate buttercream and topped with more butterfinger candy.
The final result was even more delicious than I had hoped. In my opinion, it’s probably the yummiest cake I’ve ever made.
Below are all the recipes and step by step instructions. It does take a bit of work, but it’s well worth it in the end!
Step 1: Make the butterfinger candy. This can be done a few days in advance (as long as you can resist eating it all). I used this recipe and followed it exactly (except I didn’t coat the candy in chocolate). I’ve had problems making candy in the past until I read that candy thermometers are often off by a few degrees which can make a huge difference. I calibrated my thermometer in boiling water first and sure enough it was showing 5 degrees cooler which explains why my candy always ends up rock hard. Knowing that, I stopped the butterfinger mixture at 285 and it worked out perfectly! The candy tastes amazing on its own. Dave and I literally did a happy dance in the kitchen when we tasted it!
Squares of vegan butterfinger candy
Step 2: Make the cake.
1 ¾ cup soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup Earth Balance vegan margarine (2 of the baking sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 350 and line the bottom of 3 9 inch round pans with parchment paper and grease the sides.
In a measuring cup or small bowl, combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar, stir and set aside. In a large bowl, beat together Earth Balance, peanut butter and sugars until creamy and well combined. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Alternate adding the flour and soy milk to the peanut butter mixture, beating each time until incorporated. The batter with be really thick and not pourable. Scoop the batter equally into the 3 prepared pans and smooth out to the edges as best you can. It will smooth itself out when baking so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes and then remove and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
Butterfinger cake layers cooling
Step 3: Make the ganache and buttercream frosting.
While the cake is cooling, you can make the ganache and frosting.
Chocolate ganache
½ cup soy milk
1 tbs vegan margerine
2 tbs maple syrup
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Bring the soy milk and margarine to a gentle boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the maple syrup and chocolate chips. Stir quickly until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Set aside to cool. You want it to cool for at least 30-60 minutes before using or it will be too runny.
I used the chocolate buttercream recipe from VCTOTW but I only added 2 cups of powdered sugar instead of the full 2 ½ cups.
Step 4: Put the cake together
Place most of the butterfinger squares in a large ziplock bag. Cover the bag with a towel and hit with a hammer a few times to break the squares up into crumbles with a few big pieces remaining. Alternatively you could pulse them in a food processor, but that’s way less fun.
Place one layer of the cake on a nice large plate. Top with a thick layer of ganache and sprinkle liberally with butterfinger crumbles. Place the second cake layer on top of the first and top with ganache and crumbles. Top with the third cake layer.
Assembling the cake
Frost the entire cake with the buttercream frosting and cover the top with remaining butterfinger crumbles. Then enjoy your ridiculously decadent vegan treat!
The finished cake!
A slice of vegan butterfinger heaven
