These healthy cake batter energy bars will rock your face off.
Addictively delicious no-bake energy bars that taste surprisingly like cake batter.
It’s weird, but they really do!
Now that I’ve finally started posting videos (what took me so long?!), I’m going back to some of the most popular recipes of three to four years ago to remake them, add videos, and see if I can make the original recipes even healthier.
In the case of these cake batter bars, I’ve improved upon the original recipe—this new version makes a much bigger batch and is also lower in sugar.
The sprinkles add a fun touch, but it’s actually not the sprinkles that make these bars taste like cake batter, so feel free to omit them if you desire.
The first time I made these cake batter energy bars was on one particular Saturday afternoon when a friend came to visit with her four-year-old daughter.
With the leftover sprinkles, we thought it’d be fun to make sprinkle maracas by pouring the sprinkles into containers (as seen above) and shaking.
But the little girl was more interested in a family of bugs she found in front of the house.
Using leaves and rocks, she spent about an hour constructing a home for “Bobby” the roly poly bug.
Then she decided he needed food, and so she proceeded to dump the entire contents of her sprinkle maraca onto the ground for Bobby to eat.
Obviously Bobby took no interest in this sustenance.
But I think we’ll now be getting ants.
Going back to these cake batter bars.
Just 6 ingredients in these easy-to-make and kid-friendly energy bars that need no refrigeration and can be customizable to fit allergy-friendly diets as well.
My favorite nut butter to use in these bars is cashew butter, but any nut butter—or even Sunbutter or Peabutter—will work here.
As always with my recipes, be sure to use pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla or vanilla flavoring.
And you can replace the sprinkles with raisins or even mini chocolate chips if your heart desires.
Protein powder can also be added if you want a higher-protein snack bar.
Cake Batter Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice crispies (brown, white, or gf)
- 1 cup oat flour, or make your own by blending rolled oats then measuring 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp roasted cashew butter, or allergy-friendly sub
- 1/2 cup agave or honey
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- handful sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- *If desired, you can replace up to half of the oat flour with your favorite protein powder.Combine all dry ingredients and stir well. In a separate bowl, whisk together liquid ingredients to form a thin paste. (If your nut butter is cold, warm it a little for easier mixing.) Then stir together all ingredients to form a batter. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment or wax, and smooth the batter into the pan. A trick is to use a second sheet of parchment over top to spread the batter and press it firmly into the pan. Really press it down as hard as you can. Refrigerate or freeze to harden, then cut into bars.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
Homemade Chocolate Bars (3 Ingredients)
i’m game for anything that tastes like cake batter! and sprinkles always make everything more fun!
these sound so good! Clearly I need to get some sprinkles into my pantry ASAP!
Haha that story is adorable!! Great recipe, too!
Too bad I’m attached to my face. And too bad for the cute guy across the street, too. I’m pretty sure he LOVES my face.
I love cashew butter and of course, anything with sprinkles. Can’t wait to try these! 🙂
Hi Katie, I Love, love your site. I refer and use your recipes often. I am making the cinnamon bun pie for my husbands birthday breakfast this morning:) I am quite a bit older than you and I’m a fitness instructor. I know that you are a runner as I am too but, just wonder if you ever done any strength training. Such as, Yoga or Pilates or weights??? It is so important as a woman to do strength training. Anyway, checkout my site and let me know your thoughts as my site is brand new. I could use some feedback!!! Thank you for helping everyone live a Helathier Happier Life.
Namaste to you!!!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Good luck with your blog. I’ll be sure to check it out :).
Yes I do lift weights. I don’t really enjoy it, but I know it’s important.
This made me laugh. 🙂 I ended up finding this really great weights class of all things and it has made all the difference for me.
Yes, definitely recommend taking a class!
Yum, these look so delightful and I mean how can you resist sprinkles! 🙂
Katie… do you care about stuff like Carmine in your sprinkles?
(being a vegan, you know. Just wondering. I don’t think bad of you if you don’t, really 😉 )
Hi Tanya,
My sprinkles don’t actually say “carmine” in the ingredients (although it could fall under the “artificial flavors” I guess). I’m a vegan first-and-foremost for ethical reasons, so my goal is to show others how incredible (and do-able) it can be to live a cruelty-free lifestyle. I try not to worry about artificial flavors, as nit-picking or having to call up a company over trace ingredients will only turn others off from the lifestyle. I wrote more about it awhile ago in a post. If you’re interested, it’s near the bottom of this post: https://lett-trim.today/2010/07/25/diet-is-not-religion/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
That doesn’t mean I have anything against people who DO call companies up and make sure they’re living 100% vegan (or as close to it as possible). I think we’re all just trying to do the best we can.
I totally understand!
If I decorate stuff for others I sometimes use the “regular” sprinkles. Here, they all do have carmine. They also often call it E120. =/ but for me I try to find vegan ones. Even though they are really expensive. But however, I do like your attitude! there is no 100% vegan! 😉
Tanya & Katie, I am totally with ya! I’m vegan for ethical & health reasons, but I try to maintain a flexible attitude. The perfect vegan is something I’ve given up years ago–that said I do my very best to buy animal & cruelty free products whenever possible.
You can make your own sprinkles! (I’m not vegan, so I don’t know if this recipe fits, but it might be adaptable if it’s not!) http://iambaker.net/homemade-sprinkles
Um, If it’s cake-batter flavoured, and it’s solid, wouldn’t it just be cake? Or cake-flavoured? Or y’know, just vanilla-sweet?
I guess you’re right! In retrospect, I probably should’ve called then Funfetti Energy Bars. For some reason, I’m conditioned to automatically think “cake batter” whenever I see something with sprinkles.
I couldn’t wait to try this recipe, so I’ve already had a taste. They taste like cake batter–not cake. Cake batter has a distinctive flavor that is different from a baked cake. I wouldn’t consider these “vanilla-sweet.” I think Katie’s recipe title is spot on.
These are awesome! I didn’t even bother with the sprinkles, and they still taste like… yes, cake batter. Not cooked cake, but really cake batter!
Love love love them, Katie. My happy family thanks you :).
And you look gorgeous as always.
I’ll have to remember to buy some rice krispies and more cashew butter! These look delicious!