Fall in love with vegan baking with this indulgent Peanut Butter Mud Cake! Dairy free, gluten free and egg free, this mud cake is made with almond meal, creamy pure peanut butter and cacao.
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{NOTE: This recipe is an oldie from November 2014 that has been updated as of June 2017. I’ve made a few small tweaks to the recipe based on more accurate ingredient measurements, and some improved baking techniques that I’ve picked up over the years.}
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As a gluten-free baker, I often rely quite heavily on eggs when making cakes. But seeing many beautiful vegan cakes pop up across my Pinterest and Instagram feeds all of the time, I really wanted to give one a go. This peanut butter mud cake is one of the first vegan and gluten free cakes I’ve made myself that I’ve really enjoyed and wanted to share with others.
Using ground flax as my vegan egg replacement, I’ve managed to keep this peanut butter mud cake rich, moist and decadent. Combined with almond meal, which is naturally higher in oil content than a regular flour, you get that nice thick mud cake texture. It’s not a fluffy cake, no! But this is the way it’s meant to be. The thick fudgy icing (made simply with dates and more peanut butter, of course) makes it an especially wonderful treat, I think.
Please note, this cake is not super sweet. However, if you would like to alter this and make a more noticeably sweet cake, simply swap the rice malt syrup in this cake to maple syrup. This is sweeter gram-for-gram than the rice malt syrup. If you consume honey, you could use honey instead too, but I appreciate this isn’t a technically vegan substitute. However you make it, I hope you enjoy a slice or two of this peanut butter mud cake – and serve up a slice to someone you love as well!
Vegan Peanut Butter Mud Cake
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 200 mL water
- 100 grams almond meal - 1 cup
- 28-30 grams cacao powder - 3 tbsp
- 18-20 grams coconut flour - 2 tbsp
- 2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large banana overripe, weighed peeled - you will need 100-120 grams of banana
- 1/2 cup peanut butter - natural 100% peanut butter
- 1/3 cup rice malt syrup or maple syrup* - 83 mL
- 3 tbsp coconut oil measured melted - 60 mL
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Date Frosting
- 7-8 medjool dates - about 120-130 grams
- 1/4 cup peanut butter - natural 100% peanut butter
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make your flaxseed egg replacement. Combine the ground flaxseed + 200ml of water in a small bowl, whisk together and then leave until the mixture combines to a gel-like substance, whisking occasionally to help it blend. This will take about 15 minutes, so you can continue with the recipe until it's ready.
- Preheat oven to 160˚C and line a small (20 cm diameter) cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
- Combine the dry ingredients - almond flour, cacao, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt - in a large bowl.
- Take a small saucepan and add the peanut butter, rice malt syrup, coconut oil and vanilla. Over a low heat on the stove, melt the ingredients together to they're smooth, then remove from the heat.
- Mash the banana into a puree. Then, add the peanut butter mixture, flax "eggs" and mashed banana into the dry ingredient mix and combine into a smooth batter. It should look quite thick.
- Scoop the batter in to your lined cake tin and smooth the batter down evenly.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes to an hour until the top of the cake feels dry and cooked. The cake should feel just firm (not rock solid!) all over the surface, if gently touched. Leave to cool, removing from the tin after 30 minutes or so.
- For the icing, remove pits from the medjool dates and then soak dates in very hot water for 15 minutes to soften. Remove from the water but reserve the soaking liquid. Add dates to a food processor with peanut butter, cacao powder, vanilla and 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid. Blend. Check the consistency. If it's too thick to spread as an icing add a few more tablespoons of soaking liquid and blend again. Repeat until you have the right consistency, then spread over the top of the cooled cake.
Notes
Hi, it looks beautiful!
Where I live is not easy (or affordable) to find maple syrup, can I substitute with regular granulated sugar, or dark brown sugar? Or make a syrup with sugar and water?
Hi Van! You could make a syrup with any kind of sugar and water and that would be fine 🙂
it was quick and easy to make, followed instructions exactly. DELICIOUS, thanks for sharing!
Yvonne, it makes me so happy to read this comment! 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know, I’m so glad you enjoyed this one.
A recipe worth trying
Thank you so much for the positive feedback Arthur!
This looks amazing!
Would you be able to substitute the rice malt syrup with maple syrup? Also are there any alternative substitutes to the dates? I’m after some low gi as I’m making the cake for someone who needs to eat low gi. Many thanks!
Hi Lucy!
Thank you for your kind words 🙂 You can absolutely substitute the rice malt syrup with maple syrup if you would rather use that. With regards to the dates, there are lots of options here as they are just used in the icing. You could blend a few tablespoons of maple syrup with some peanut butter, cacao and vanilla extract to form a smooth icing, or even try blending in some coconut butter or avocado into it too for a thicker icing (though you’ll need to add some maple syrup or liquid stevia into the icing mix too to keep it sweet). All the best, let me know how it goes! Monique x
What did you put on top as garnished ? The red ones?
They are freeze dried raspberries 🙂
This looks amazing!
Would you be able to substitute the rice malt syrup with maple syrup? Also are there any alternative substitutes to the dates? I’m after some low gi as I’m making the cake for someone who needs to eat low gi. Many thanks!
I am going to try this recipe and I can’t wait, but I was wondering if you could swap the rice malt syrup in the main cake for more dates…. And if so how many do you reckon would work? Thanks for your thoughts 🙂
Hi Charlotte!
I have not tried the recipe with the dates as a substitute, however based on my experience I would say that 4-5 medjool dates would be sufficient. To replicate the syrupy consistency of the rice malt syrup, it might be best to soak the dates in boiling water first so they are very soft and liquid-like (if you can blend them into a date paste that’s probably best to keep the cake nice and smooth!). Another option would be to try maple syrup. Hope that helps! Monique x