Suzy Q Cake Recipe

A delicious, copycat recipe, this Vegan Suzy Q Cake is a cream-filled devil’s food cake recipe with lots of fluffy, creamy filling. It’s like a Ding Dong snack cake! Just like the snack you used to buy at the store! Just imagine two rich, chocolate cakes with a thick layer of fluffy cream filling in between and topped with more cream filling.

What You Need

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:

• All-purpose flour
• Cocoa powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Granulated sugar
• Vegan butter
• Vegetable oil
• Apple cider vinegar
• Cold water
• Plant-based milk
• Vegetable shortening
• Vanilla extract

How to Make Vegan Suzy Q Cake

Vegan Hostess Suzy Q Cake recipes are pretty easy to make! Start with heating your oven to 350F. Spray 2 round cake pans with vegetable spray.

In a medium bowl, pour the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.

In a mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter, oil, and sugar and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining wet ingredients and mix again until creamy.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix again until well combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.

Bake 20–25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Once done, remove the cakes from the oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes, before inverting onto plates or wire wracks, to cool completely.

For the Suzy Q Cake Filling Recipe

This type of cooked flour frosting is technically referred to as an Ermine Frosting. For this Suzy Q Cake Filling Recipe, combine the milk and flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil while stirring. The mixture will thicken. Once it’s very thick, transfer to a lidded container, then cover and refrigerate until completely cool.

Note: Don’t get too worried if lumps form in this mixture. You can always run it through a food processor to break up any lumps.

In a mixing bowl combine the vegetable shortening, sugar, and salt. Beat on high until the sugar is dissolved. Rub a little bit of it between your fingers, if it’s grainy, the sugar has not dissolved yet. This may take several minutes. 

Once the sugar is ready, add the vanilla and the cooled flour mixture, beating until smooth and creamy.

Spoon about half of the fluffy filling over the bottom cake, spreading evenly across the top. Then place the second cake on top of that. Spread the remaining fluffy filling evenly over the top cake.

Snack Cakes That Aren’t Vegetarian

The last time I looked, the Suzy Q Snack Cakes ingredients included beef fat. Who would ever believe that a snack cake isn’t VEGETARIAN!

It’s a problem I had to solve.

A Homemade Suzy Q Cake Recipe

A friend of mine introduced me to this homemade cake she called the Suzy Q. It’s like a grown-up version of the childhood favorite snack cake! She shared the recipe with me.

Her recipe had eggs and milk, so I devised a plan to make a vegan version. It was fairly easy to veganize the cake, which is the case with most cake recipes. Obviously, if there are a lot of eggs involved in a cake, it can get a little tricky. But that wasn’t the case here.

This recipe requires a mixer to make the frosting so light and fluffy, but it’s definitely worth it!

Adapting this Vegan Suzy Q Cake

Sometimes that means uber-healthy food, and sometimes it means complete indulgences, like this one. However, if you prefer to make some changes to the recipe, I’m all for it. In fact, I’ll help you get started with this list of suggestions:

• You could skip the fluffy filling and go for a vanilla drizzle, like this Ginger Pear Cake
• You could add some peanut butter to that fluffy filling
• If you want to make a Banana Suzy Q, use my Vegan Banana Cake recipe
• You could make these into cupcakes and insert that fluffy filling in the middle and on top
• Make this cake in a 9×13 baking pan and spread the fluffy filling over the top

There you go, lots of ideas to adapt this recipe. However, you slice it, be sure to serve this vegan Suzy Q cake with my Vegan Hot Cocoa. It’s SO good!

More Vegan Cake

Vegan Suzy Q Cake

A delicious, copycat recipe, this Vegan Suzy Q Cake recipe delivers a chocolate cake with rich, creamy filling, just like the snack you used to buy at the store!

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 18

Calories: 392kcal

Author: Marly

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup vegan butter , softened to room temp
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups cold water

Fluffy Filling

• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plant-based milk
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Chocolate Cake

• Heat your oven to 350F. Spray 2 round cake pans with vegetable spray.
• In a medium bowl, pour the the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter, oil and sugar and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining wet ingredients and mix again until creamy.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix again until well combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Once done, remove the cakes from the oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes, before inverting onto plates or wire wracks, to cool completely.

For the Fluffy Filling

• Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil while stirring. The mixture will thicken. Once it's very thick, transfer to a lidded container, then cover and refrigerate until completely cool.
• In a mixing bowl combine the vegetable shortening, sugar, and salt. Beat on high until the sugar is dissolved. Rub a little bit of it between your fingers, if it’s grainy, the sugar has not dissolved yet. This may take several minutes. 
• Once the sugar is ready, add the vanilla and the cooled flour mixture, beating until smooth and creamy.
• Spoon about half of the fluffy filling over the bottom cake, spreading evenly across the top. Then place the second cake on top of that. Spread the remaining fluffy filling evenly over the top cake.

Recommended Equipment

Electric Mixer

Cake Pans

Spatula

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Nutrition Facts

Vegan Suzy Q Cake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 392 Calories from Fat 171

% Daily Value*

Fat 19g29%

Saturated Fat 7g35%

Sodium 239mg10%

Potassium 98mg3%

Carbohydrates 54g18%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 34g38%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 291IU6%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 27mg3%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Did you make this recipe?

Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!

Enjoy!