Plant-Based Dubai Chocolate Bar Cake
The viral trend is officially a CAKE! You've seen the unique, crunchy, creamy Dubai Chocolate Bar (the famous pistachio bar) take over your feed. Now, I'm taking the iconic filling and stuffing it inside a rich, decadent, and completely plant-based chocolate layer cake. This is the ultimate vegan dessert mashup! Get ready to bite into that signature crunchy texture blended with creamy, homemade pistachio cream filling, all nestled between moist chocolate cake layers. It's a truly incredible experience and it's totally refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and 100% whole food plant-based vegan!
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup rolled oats organic
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup deglet dates or medjool
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups soy milk unsweetened, or plant based milk of choice
Pistachio Cream
- 1 cup pistachios shelled
- ½ cup cashews or almonds
- ⅓ cup deglet dates or medjool
- ½ cup water
Chocolate Frosting
- ½ cup deglet dates or medjool
- ¼ cup cashews or almonds
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup soy milk unsweetened, or plant based milk of choice
Chocolate Chip layer
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips vegan
Topping
- ¼ cup pistachios finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cake
- Grind the oats in a blender until it is a rough flour.
- Add to a large mixing bowl along with the almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and whisk to get out any clumps.
- Add dates, vanilla, vinegar and half of the soy milk to a blender and blend until the dates are completely pulverized.
- Pour mixture into the bowl with the flours and add the remaining soy milk and stir well.
- Pour into a parchment lined 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Bake for 38 minutes.
- Once cake has finished baking, while still hot, pour the chocolate chips over half of the cake, letting the heat of the cake melt the chips so that you can gently spread it evenly over that half of the cake.
- Let cake cool completely. If the chocolate chips haven't hardened once the cake is cool, you can put the cake in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to harden the chocolate chip layer. It needs to be hardened so that you can spread the pistachio cream on top without them mixing together.
Pistachio Cream
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend well.
Chocolate Frosting
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until it is silky. If there are still chunks of date after blending for a while, you can pour mixture through a sieve to get out any chunks.
Assembly
- Cut the cake in half so that there are two cakes, one with the chocolate chip layer and one without.
- Place the cake with the chocolate chip layer onto a plate or cake stand.
- Spread the pistachio cream evenly onto that cake layer.
- Place the other cake on top of the pistachio cream layer.
- Evenly spread the Chocolate frosting over the cake and decorate as you wish with the chopped pistachios. I sprinkled them around the top edge of the cake.
- Keep covered in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
Calories: 448kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 14gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gSodium: 221mgPotassium: 701mgFiber: 10gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 343IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 222mgIron: 4mg
Jill you have done it again! I cannot wait to make this cake!
Looks divine! Based on the nutritional profile you posted, how many servings are there?
8
Made it yesterday. It was great. My blender had trouble completely turning the pistachio mix into a cream but it didn’t diminish the cake at all.
You are amazing!! These are perfect ingredients!!
My first time wanting to try this receipe. What I like is sugar free and oil free. I am also allergic to cow’s milk protein. Yes, trying plant based receipes. Never enjoyed the hyped Dubai chocolate. Love cashew milk, yogurt. Tried soy milk.
Thanks for your amazing recipes! I only have 3 dates; could I use maple syrup to make up the deficit, do you think? ?
no, It also needs the fiber from the dates for the right consistency.
We decided to make this for our Christmas dinner tomorrow. Trouble is it may not last until then. Utterly gorgeous! That lovely crisp layer of chocolate in the middle is so subtle but so lovely. A heavenly recipe! Thank you Jill!
The cake – great! The frosting…. this is my new go to chocolate dip/frosting for everything. I use it to pour over all my favourite cake recipes, and to dip strawberries in!
In your recipe it says to use either deglet or medjool dates, but would I use the same amount since in one of your videos you say to use less medjool dates than the deglet. Is one sweeter than the other or is there a size difference? Thanks!
Usually deglet dates are quite a bit smaller and a little less sweet than medjools. If I use the cup measurements then you can use either. I usually only say “use half if you are using medjools” when I am referring to a few dates. Hope this helps.
I recently made this cake for New Year, and it was an absolute hit! Rich, indulgent, perfectly balanced—and the best part? Adults and toddlers devoured it. Watching little faces light up with every bite was pure joy. It’s rare to find a dessert that feels this decadent while still being made with nourishing, wholesome ingredients.
Thank you, Jill!
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it =)
I’m thinking of making this as cupcakes and using the pistachio cream as the frosting, skipping the chocolate frosting. Do you think this would work, and if so, what temperature and how long would I bake it for? Any idea how many cupcakes this would make or should I halve the recipe? Also, what’s the best way to store it, and how long should they be good for? Thanks!
My best guess is that it would make 6-8 cupcakes and I would bake them for about 20 minutes at 350°F.
Hi Jill… this recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. Quick question- what chocolate chips did you use? Were they sweet or unsweetened chocolate chips? If unsweetened, does that layer become overly bitter?
I only use the unsweetened kind. We are used to it but you can use whatever kind you like.
I think you could also use cocoa nibs for the crunch.
good idea, wish I would have thought of that =)
Lady, you have outdone yourself. Made this for my birthday and have been re-making it regularly ever since.
Thank you =) I am so glad you are enjoying it.
Is there any way to make this cake without using almonds or cashews? An almond flour substitute and a substitute for the icing?
No, it really needs the fat from the nuts.
I actually did substitute extra oat flour and some cassava flour for the almond flour, used walnut milk for the soy, and used walnuts with the pistachios instead of cashews in the filling and icing.
It turned out great! Everyone enjoyed it and said we should make it our go-to party cake that meets everyone’s dietary needs as well as still tasting great for the ones who are used to “typical” desserts.
Thank you!
That’s fantastic!
Wonderful! The cake as a whole was perfect, your chocolate frosting will be our new go to for any and everything!
I watched the video for this over a month ago, and my about to be five-year-old asked for it for his birthday cake. Tonight was the night, and it did not disappoint. Excellent cake, THANK YOU.
Are you using raw pistachios? I can only seem to find roasted/salted. I’ll have to special order – other than Amazon, any market suggestions?
No, they were roasted. I couldn’t find any raw either.