I know full well that to enjoy my favorite treats of yesteryear I’ve got to recreate them myself!
One of my favorite candy bars as a kid and even into my adult years was the Almond Joy
So today I am transforming that candy bar into the most amazing Vegan Almond Joy Cake
Complete with homemade almond joy bars on top!
With that sticky, gooey coconut filling in between each layer.
And a thin coating of chocolate buttercream and ganache poured over every inch of it!
This is a building on recipes project which as you know takes several recipes to get to the final layer cake
But if you work ahead and prep some things a day or two before it makes the job less stressful.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
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Notes for Success:
Sweetened condensed milk is used in the filling recipe and you can use store bought or homemade simply by bringing 1 -14 ounce can full fat coconut milk to a boil with 1/3 cup of sugar and then reduce on simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour
Or until the mixture reduces down to 1 cup and is thickened, it will get thicker as it cools
This recipe was created a few years ago, before I had developed the Easy Coconut Cake Recipe
So as you see it is a combination of Vanilla Cake and Chocolate Cake with the coconut portion being just the filling.
But for a more Coco-nutty version of this cake, I’ve updated this cake recipe below to include the recipe for Coconut Cake instead of the vanilla!
For those who prefer to make the original version simply use a half recipe of my Bakery Style Yellow Cake instead of the coconut cake
For the coconut almond joy candies I add a bit of almond flour for binding.
I have coconut flour listed as an option for those who do not use almonds, but I do not prefer coconut flour at all in fact I find it very offensive tasting!
Vegan Almond Joy Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Recipe Chocolate Buttercream
- ½ Recipe Chocolate Cake
- ½ Recipe Easy Coconut Cake *see notes
- 2x Recipe Ganache
For the Coconut Almond Joy Filling
- Sweetened Shredded Coconut 3 cups
- Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 cup *see notes
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
- Almond Flour or Coconut Flour ½ cup *see notes
- 12 Whole Roasted Almonds for the candy bar centers
Instructions
- READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY MAYBE TWICE! SO IT MAKES SENSE! THERE ARE A LOT OF STEPS!
- First prepare your cake recipes as per the instructions on those recipe posts & bake the batter into 7" cake pans
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare the ganache icing let it cool at room temperature to a pourable consistency about 80F
- Next make the buttercream recipe as per the instructions on that blog post, but before you add the chocolate to make it chocolate buttercream, remove 1 cup of vanilla buttercream to be used for the coconut almond joy filling below
- To make the almond joy filling, combine the shredded coconut, vanilla and your choice of flour together in a large mixing bowl until comnioned and creamy.
- Now form your almond joy candies from a small portion of this (I made 12 fun sized candies and had exactly enough filling left for my cake)
- Dip the frozen candy bars into some ganache and let set on a cooling rack
- Now add that reserved vanilla buttercream to the remaining coconut filling for a creamier cake filling
- Assemble the cake as shown in the video
Notes
Almond Joy Cake can be kept at room temperature for 1 day, but for longer storage keep refrigerated for up to 1 week wrapped to prevent drying. Bring to room temperature before serving for best results.
Would it work for me to substitute the sweetened condensed milk with coconut butter in the almond joy recipe? It seems similar .. maybe I can use unsweetened shredded coconut with it? since it might prove too sweet?
Yes I believe you could use coconut butter, if it is sweet, then maybe use half unsweetened coconut and half sweetened?
This sounds (and looks) amazing!! I’m so glad you’re back!!!
Awe thank you Lisa for the kind welcome back!
Hi Gretchen
All the best with the Vegan venture, I will not be baking Vegan , i love butter, cream , milk ,meat and fish .
Thank you for the non vegan recipes presented in your other life and good luck .
Please watch your B12 count.
Sincerely Diana.
Thanks Gretchen, this recipe will make a wonderful birthday treat for a friend of mine.
My grandson is allergic to soy, nuts and dairy so I’m looking forward to trying your recipes. What is Vegan margarine/ butter? Is it hydrogenated ? I assume I can’t use soft tub margarine. Can I use coconut milk instead of soy?
Hi! Earth Balance also has a soy free variety but you can use margarine too.
I prefer not to use the soft tub style whenever possible, its just….softer…LOL
Yes to any milk alternative of your choice, coconut works great in all recipes
(also use coconut flour in place of the almond flour if you are going to make the candy bars)
Hi Gretchen,
I’m so happy with your vegan blog!
Love ❤️ it ?
Happy to see more?
Thanks Joyce!!
Do you have a written recipe for the almond Joy candy
Yes its the filling recipe listed here. If you read the whole thing it will make sense, I used the filling (divided) to make 12 candy bars and had exactly enough left to fill the cake. SO if you didnt want to make the cake at all, just make the filling recipe and it will probably made about 4dz candy bars
Gretchen, can I use 8 inch baking pans? This looks so good! Though I am nervous about how vegan baking can be
satisfying… I hope it is, since I am a Baker by trade… Thank you
Hi! Yes you can, adjust this recipe to fit into 8″ pans for sure.
You will have slightly thinner layers though, so of course your bake time will be a bit shorter.
I think you will be pleased at the outcome! You picked a GREAT cake to try for your first vegan experience!!
Hi gretchens, what is the vegetable shortening and what are the other things can use for it?
Hello, vegetable shortening is a solid fat used interchangeably with butter (or in this cake vegan butter) I use it in many recipe specifically buttercream because it gives stability. In baking recipes though it has a higher melting point than butter
Hi Gretchen: I love your recipes, what’s up with vegan cakes?? Where can I find the normal cake recipes which do not use the above ingredients such as flax seeds, vegan chocolate??
I still have my non vegan blog open at http://www.gretchensbakery.com for as long as I can afford the cost to keep it open 🙂
What do you mean by 3/3 cocoa?
woops thanks! 1/3
Will it be ok to sub the Vanilla cake soy milk for almond milk?
yes fine
Hi! Gretchen I been following you since you have the bakery, I love all your recipes but I’m not vegan so I was wondering if you still have the old recipes, hope you do and if you can share be awesome. If not I respect your decision any way I still watch your channel ? thank you for your time and congratulations you are amazing ?
Hi Martha thanks. I still have my old blog up at gretchensbakery.com for as long as I can afford to keep it open. Not sure how much longer that will be though 🙁
Any way u could sell us your old recipes? Perhaps a book? I too treasure your old recipes. Your smbc is my go to and everyone’s favorite! Of course I’m still around for all the new recipes as well. I too am vegetarian. Not vegan. Everything looks and sounds awesome.
Hi Samantha that’s so Great thanks! I really do hope you will try the vegan recipes, they really are perfect!! You will fast realize you never needed all those animal ingredients in the first place!! Im sorry but I do not have the old recipes anymore, they were housed only in the database and that website has shut down. I did not keep any copies for myself since I no longer have use for them, however I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing them at this point even if I did keep them, the recipes laden with animal derived ingredients promote the very industry that is torturing animals by the billions daily, leads to all sorts of human illness, not to mention the disease and destruction animal agriculture is on the planet.
Again I really hope you will give the recipes a try! Thanks for the support! Gretchen
Hi Gretchen! Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes you post! I’d say your vegan cakes are THE best!
Do you think I can use unsweetened shredded coconut? Should I add some sugar to it?
Thank you!
HI Thanks! You can add sugar if you like, But I would wait and see how you think it tastes before you do. The condensed milk has sugar and maybe you will think it is sweet enough. If not add a couple tablespoons of confectioners sugar to taste
Hello Gretchen! I would like to know if it would be possible to indicate where you buy your vegan ingredients? I would like to make the vegan recipe, but the ingredients are not always easily available. Thank you again, I love your recipes!
Hi Danielle thank you! (and thank you for the Youtube comment as well!) I usually only link to ingredients for the more obscure items, for the other things like Vegan Butter and Cream Cheese I just buy at Shop Rite (my local supermarket) In the past- like this video was originally from 2017 and I was just starting out with my vegan recipes, I was saying things like “Earth Balance Butter” instead of just vegan butter. So that could be confusing, since not everyone gets the same brands as me. But other wise the ingredients can be changed to whatever brands you can get. Anything specific you can’t find just let me know and I will try to help!
This cake sound wonderful. Almond Joy was one of my favorite candy bars too.
Gretchen, I have been looking for your Crumb Bun Cake recipe but cannot find it under Cake Recipes. Also, I must be overlooking the Search tool. I used to use it often but I’m not seeing it any longer. Can you give me the link, please.
Hi Thanks! CLICK HERE and HERE TOO
?, HELP, I cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong. I have made numerous cakes from your website but this chocolate cake is not working for me. I made it yesterday and there was barely enough batter to put into two 7” pans. It did nor rise at all so turned out to be like fudge, though not fudge, unfortunately.
Today I measured out the ingredients again (I do use gram weight). Double checking all ingredients but still got the same result. What do you think I’m missing? The vanilla cake is fine. Trying to make it for the feast tomorrow so may have to find a different chocolate cake but would still like your input. I’m so frustrated because of wasting all these ingredients. I have been following you before you sold the bakery and have always had stellar results.
Hi Martha! I emailed you!
Hi Gretchen, I am making the Almond joy cake, and the Chocolate cake layers are half the height of the vanilla cake layer. Is it supposed to be that way or am I supposed to double the chocolate cake recipe?
Hmm, as I am looking at the recipe, it looks like I did provide HALF the recipe for chocolate cake for 2 layers since a full recipe makes 3 thicker layers
The vanilla cake recipe is also halved since we only need 1 layer of cake, but the ratios of the recipes aren’t exactly the same so the vanilla cake *((even in my finished cake as you see)) is thicker than the 2 chocolate layers.
If this is bothersome, you can always slice the vanilla cake recipe in half and make a 4 layer cake.
Sorry for the confusion!
Thanks Gretchen, I did end up making a 4 layer cake as you suggested and the results were just as good!
awesome!!
I see the chocolate ganache icing recipe but nothing for the chocolate glaze. Would you add that link to this cake, please. I did a search and got every kind of glaze except the one I need. Thanks, Gretchen. Hope you have a great holiday.
Hey! thanks for pointing that out! yikes! Updated! refresh your browser and it should show up (separate recipe under the main)
Thanks for your replies. I plan to bake this cake this morning and have it ready for my guests today. Thank you so much.
Can I use regular condensed milk and flour for the coconut filling? I’m not brave enough for the vegan journey yet.
I’ve made it for my daughter’s birthday. She liked it very much. https://katinspajz.blogspot.com/2020/12/almond-joy-torta.html