Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Sandwiches

A gluten-free, no-mixer cake recipe baked into cookies and sandwiched together with fluffy chocolate buttercream!

A few weeks ago I made these Gluten Free Mini Vanilla Cupcakes. The batter would have made about 30 mini cupcakes, but my mini muffin pan only has 24 holes. Obviously I could have waited for the cupcakes to cool in the pan, removed them, and then used the rest of the batter to make more. I also could have used the extra batter to make one or two large cupcakes, but who wants to wash another pan for just two cupcakes? Not this girl. So I improvised.

I put a piece of parchment paper down on a cookie sheet, and spooned some of the cake batter onto it in little circles. I was pretty certain my cake/cookie experiment would be a failure. I thought that they would cook unevenly or spread out and all run into each other, and I would eat them just so they didn’t have to go to waste, but I certainly wouldn’t enjoy it.

Totally wrong. The cake cookies (very different from cookie cakes) were a huge success. I gobbled them up and made a mental note to make them again sometime. Well, that time has come.

My boyfriend had an office party this week and asked me to bake something for it. I thought cupcakes would be fun, but they can be such a pain to transport if you aren’t careful. I realized this was the perfect moment for the cake cookie. But not just a cake cookie, a cake cookie sandwich filled with fluffy chocolate buttercream. Totally easy to transport and super cute (obviously I have my priorities in order.)

The cake batter is the exact same as the Gluten Free Mini Vanilla Cupcakes, meaning there’s no need to get out a stand or handheld mixer for it. It’s just as easy and quick as a box mix, but way tastier than any gluten free box mix I’ve ever tried. The chocolate buttercream does require a mixer, but if you’re in a big hurry and want to cheat and use a storebought frosting, I won’t tell!

Scooping out the cake batter and putting it on a parchment paper lined sheet like a cookie is a little strange at first, but I promise the results are worth it. My biggest piece of advice would be to make the batter, then let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes on the counter before you scoop it. That will allow it to thicken up a bit and make the cake cookies puffier, rather than flat. I guess these look a little like whoopie pies. Frankly I’m not totally clear on what a whoopie pie is, but I think it requires a special pan. These don’t.

I used my small cookie scoop to scoop and portion the batter, about two teaspoons each. You don’t need a ton of room between the cookies, so I was able to fit 16 on a large cookie sheet.

All the deliciousness of a cupcake packed into a portable and easy to eat ‘sandwich.’ What’s not to love?

PS–I think these would be so adorable with the edges rolled in sprinkles, but I thought that might be a little too embarrassing for his office party.

Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Sandwiches with Chocolate Buttercream
Prep: 5 min   Bake: 12 min   Makes: ~25 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all purpose gluten free flour (I used Cup4Cup.)
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs, room temp
½ cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk.)
2 tsp vanilla
For frosting:
4 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate, melted + cooled (I used semisweet.)
1 cup butter, softened
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients (gf flour through salt) together well. In a small bowl or large measuring glass, whisk together wet ingredients.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk well to combine. Let batter sit on counter for 10-15 minutes.
4. Scoop two teaspoons of batter and form circles on parchment paper, leaving some room between each circle.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes until bottoms are turning golden brown and tops spring back when touched. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 10 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool.
6. For frosting: Melt chocolate and set aside to cool. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, or with handheld mixer, whip butter on medium-high for 5 minutes, scraping down sides as necessary. Gradually add powdered sugar with mixer on low. Once powdered sugar is all incorporated, increase speed to medium high and add the vanilla. Slowly add in melted chocolate and whip at medium high for two minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
7. Pair together cookies that are roughly the same size. With a knife, spatula, or piping bag (I used a ziploc bag with the corner cut off), frost the bottom of one of the cookies and then sandwich its matching cookie on top of it.