Outstanding Homemade Vegan Ding Dongs

It’s no secret that Ding Dongs are the king of cakes according to Hostess. Well they’ve always had a special place in my heart. I remember how the chocolate snaps when you bite into one, the cream was just so delicious, and you really couldn’t have just one pack. You and I both know you can house 4 ding dongs easily. The name is a little funny, ding dong, but other than thinking of idiotic people I know, usually the tasty cake takes first place in my mind. Idiots come in close second.

So anywhoozers, the cakes you see here, well they’re Outstanding Homemade Vegan Ding Dongs made by your’s truly. Hooray (and the crowd goes wild)! They’re made with ingredients that not only make them vegan, but healthy at that. Yes, I said healthy you didn’t read that incorrectly. Now you must be wondering how? I know you skeptics out there are thinking, this phenomenal looking cake filled with cream and covered in delicious chocolate is in no way good for you. Well….they are. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, in this case don’t judge the cake by the bake. That made zero sense I know but I had to, you get my point.

Healthy chocolate vegan cakes are easy to make. You can sub egg for applesauce, or flaxseeds, you can use almond milk instead of regular milk, and you can use coconut oil instead of the gross vegetable oil (<~~yuck). Point is, the ingredients are on point. As for the cream, well come on you know it’s coconut whipped cream but made with a vanilla essence to really have it resemble the cream from the original. In my opinion, these are better than the original because you aren’t eating anything you cannot pronounce. And we all crave cake at some point in time so why not make it one that’s not going to leave you feeling like Kim K’s ass on steroids.

Here’s how it happens, you make an 8″ vegan chocolate cake, take a circle cutter or glass of some sort (which is what I used and it was about 2 1/2 inches) to make the cut outs. Make sure the cake is cooled completely before you do this. I got 7 good sized cakes out of it, the bigger the cutter the bigger the cakes, and the smaller the cutter the more mini cakes you’ll have. Mine were somewhere right in the middle, the actual size of a ding dong.

Once you have your cut outs, don’t discard any leftover cake. Uuum duh save that for other deliciousness, like I don’t know, say to just eat by itself, or to dip in leftover coconut cream and chocolate, add it to parfaits, whatever you want! You know you can do like anything with chocolate cake. Breakfast? Yes please. Lunch? Yes please. Dinner? Yes, please. Sleeping? Yes, please. See, so anything goes. If anyone judges you for it, unfriend and unfollow immediately, really hit em where it hurts. Take their likes away…haha. I kid I kid 🤔

There’s two ways you can fill up the cakes with cream. Step one: fill up a pastry bag with coconut cream and use any fitting that has a small hole. With that tip you’ll want to poke a hole in the center of the cake and fill it with as much cream as possible. Be generous. You can also make multiple holes to have the cream distributed throughout the cake evenly. Essentially, the more cream filling the better. No one likes to bite into a cake and there’s like a pin drop of cream. 😩

Step two: you can scoop or cut out cake from the center and enter the cream that way. This way is less cream efficient but will get the job done.

Some of my cakes cracked on the tops and sides because I filled them up with so much cream, they puffed out. I was feeling all like oh hell yea, that’s going to be one hell-of-a-cake. And oh, it was.

The reason why you want the cakes cooled completely is because if they are still hot or warm in the middle the cake will just absorb the cream. We want that to not happen. Ya feel me. Ok good.

Once your cakes are cream filled they are now ready to be submerged in melted dark chocolate. This is the final step that brings this childhood (now healthy) snack back into your life. Please say hello…

I know I know, let’s take a moment and gather all that in….*taking a moment☝🏻.

To make the melted dark chocolate, use any chocolate you want, just make sure it’s good quality and vegan. You’ll want at least 1 cup of melted dark chocolate and add into that 1/4 cup of coconut oil. Melt that down anyway you’d like. I prefer using my oven for this. I place the chocolate and coco oil in an oven safe bowl and let it melt down for about 10 minutes. When it’s done I give it a good stir (carefully) and it’s ready for some cake. Let the dipping begin!

This part creates one hell-of-a-mess but the outcome is totes worth it. Make some room in your freezer, line a cutting board with parchment paper. Dip each cake into the chocolate. Place the cakes bottoms down on the lined cutting board. Use a spoon to add more chocolate where needed. Your hands are going to be a chocolate crazy mess, embrace that.

Once all cakes are completely covered, place in the freezer for 10 minutes so the chocolate sets into that nice hard shell. The cakes won’t freeze, this part is just necessary so the chocolate becomes that delicious outer coating we all love.

Now that you’re chocolate is set, you have officially made your Outstanding Homemade Vegan Ding Dongs. The once no good for you snack, is now back and I’m standing here with (mouth) arms wide open, taking it all in. 😯

Wasting anytime NOT making these cakes makes you that other ding dong I was talking about.
Haha, Enjoy! 😚

Recipe adapted from thediva-dish.com

Print Recipe

Yield: 1, 8" cake or 7 mini cakes

Outstanding Homemade Vegan Ding Dongs

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Chocolate cakes with a cream filling and a dark chocolate coating. Not only are they vegan, they're good for you.

Ingredients:

The Cake

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose gluten free flour
• 1/3 cup cacao or cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup pitted medjool dates
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1/2 cup almond milk, unsweetened

Coconut cream

• 1 can of full fat coconut cream, left in the fridge overnight
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Dark Chocolate Coating

• 1 cup dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup coconut oil

Directions:

The Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray an 8" round cake pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in one bowl: flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cornstarch.
3. In another bowl whisk together all wet ingredients: coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla extract, almond milk, and date paste. Date paste is made by blending the 1/2 cup of dates with 1/3 cup of water. With this amount you will still have a some date chunks left but that's ok.
4. Fold wet ingredients in with the dry until well combined.
5. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. When fully cooked remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut Cream

1. Scoop out cream and place in a bowl along with the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Use the leftover water for smoothies. Whip that up, nice and creamy. I just used a spoon for this but if your coconut cream is extra firm you can use a hand mixer.

Dark Chocolate Coating

1. Place chocolate and coconut oil in an oven safe bowl and melt down for 10 minutes. Once chocolate is melted remove from oven and set aside until ready to assemble.

The Assemble

1. Using a circle or glass make cut outs from the 8" chocolate cake.
2. There's two ways you can fill up the cakes up with cream. Step one: fill up a pastry bag with coconut cream and use any fitting that has a small hole. With that tip you'll want to poke a hole in the center of the cake and fill it with as much cream as possible. Be generous. You can also make multiple holes to have the cream distributed throughout the cake evenly.
3. Make some room in your freezer, line a cutting board with parchment paper. Dip each cake into the melted chocolate.
4. Place the cakes bottoms down on the lined cutting board. Use a spoon to add more chocolate where needed. Be generous.
5. Once all cakes are completely covered, place in the freezer for 10 minutes so the chocolate sets into that nice hard shell. The cakes won't freeze, this part is just necessary so the chocolate becomes that delicious outer coating we all love.
6. After the chocolate has set, remove from the freezer and serve right away! Waste no time. These store well in a ziplock bag in the fridge for up to 5 days...Enjoy!

• Once the chocolate hardens it won't go back to being liquified.
• Any flour would work in this recipe.