Vegan Little Debbie Zebra Cakes 🦓

Though I was more a Yankee Doodle dandy, Drake’s being my choice in snack cakes as a child, Little Debbie holds a special place in my heart for her hexagonal twin cakes. The waxy white chocolate giving way to creme-filled yellow layers—pure nostalgia. And now, a vegan version here, from start to finish, so you may dive into the memories too. You’ll likely need to get some special supplies in advance of hitting the baking bowl. Namely, the hexagonal cutter (I got this.) and the white chocolate.

Snack Cake

(Recipe adapted from Chloe. This yielded 12 mini cake layers to make 6 Zebra Cakes. Double if you need more!)

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup almond milk

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. I used a 17 x 11 to achieve thin layers.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large glass measuring cup, measure out milk. Add vinegar, oil, and vanilla and stir.
4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and whisk until just combined, taking care not to overbeat.
5. Pour cake mix carefully into center of baking pan, gently tilting and shaking all sides in an effort to even out the batter.
6. Bake cake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Watch it carefully as it’s very thin.
7. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes in pan before carefully inverting onto a wire rack. Slowly peel off parchment paper and allow to cool completely.
8. Flip cake onto clean, sturdy surface. Press hexagonal cutter into cake and wiggle gently. Repeat until you’ve done so to all the cake, cleaning cake crumbs off cutter as needed for crisp sides. I wound up with 12 layers cut.
9. Trim off excess cake around hexagonal layers carefully and use for another purpose (cake pops? parfaits? snacking?)
10. Store cake layers in a container in the fridge while you continue. I lined my layers with parchment paper in the storage container.

Creme Filling

Recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker.

½ cup vegan butter

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups sifted organic powdered sugar

1-3 Tbsp almond milk

1. Prepare you freezer for receiving the cooling rack of cakes. Line your cooling rack with parchment paper. Couple up cake layers, pairing a thicker layer with a thinner layer. Also note that the less smooth tops should become the inside layers of the snack cakes. Set each next to each other.
2. Add vegan butter to a large mixing bowl and use an electric hand mixer to cream until light and fluffy – about 1 minute. Then add vanilla and mix once more to combine.
3. Add sifted powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments and continue mixing until well combined and fluffy, scraping down sides as needed.
4. If too thick, you can add 1 Tbsp of almond milk at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
5. With a rubber spatula, scoop into a piping bag with a large circular tip. Pipe sharp to the hexagon’s edge and distribute flatly with an off-set spatula. I didn’t do that part and I wish I’d had. I didn’t realize there wouldn’t be much give when I pressed the top layer down. It’s pretty thick.
6. Freeze the layered cakes for an hour or so.

Coating and Drizzle

Before beginning this recipe, prepare your work station for enrobing your cakes as this will happen immediately after white chocolate is made. Remove cake and cream layers from the freezer and set to your left. Cover the counter with wax paper. Place a cooling rack on your right.

White Chocolate Coating

1 bag Pascha White Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil

1. Prepare your double boiler. Bring a small saucepan with some water to a boil. Place white chocolate chips in a fitted heatproof bowl and place on top of water. Stir constantly as it melts.
2. Once it is completely melted, add the coconut oil, stirring until both ingredients are combined and completely melted.

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Zebra Cake “Stripes” Chocolate Drizzle

1/2 cup whatever vegan chocolate you have laying around, roughly chopped

1 teaspoons coconut oil

1. Prepare your double boiler. Bring a small saucepan with some water to a boil. Place chocolate in a fitted heatproof bowl and place on top of water. Stir constantly as it melts.
2. Once it is completely melted, add the coconut oil, stirring until both ingredients are combined and completely melted.
3. Pour into a small piping bag fit with a number tip. Set in a clean bowl on top of the once-boiling water so it can remain warm while enrobing the tops of the cakes.

Enrobing Process

1. Once white chocolate is smooth and ready. Carefully dip all of the hexagonal sides of the cakes in the white chocolate. Set side-coated cakes on cooling rack to firm up. Once they are set enough to not be dripping, transfer entire cooling rack to freezer to continue setting. Scoop any dripped white chocolate that had dripped onto wax paper back into bowl.
2. Once cakes are firmly set–firm enough to handle the sides, dip the bottom of the cake into the white chocolate and turn chocolate side up on the cooling rack. Carefully aid the drips to keep the sides of the cakes smooth. Put cooling rack back into freezer.
3. Last will be the tops of the cakes. Dip tops into white chocolate and set wet side up on cooling rack. After all have been dipped, quickly pipe Zebra chocolate stripes using your piping bag. Let Little Debbie be your guide! See inspo below:

And here they are! My Vegan Little Debbie Zebra Cakes!

Now sit back and take a bite into nostalgia… jeez, it is sweet!