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)
Katie,
This is something I would make all the time. Thank you so much for a great recipe! I can’t wait to try it, I have all the ingredients too! as an athlete, i always need snacks like this!
Its amazing how many raw vegan foods taste like cake! I created a brownie mixture yesterday and everyone thought is tasted just like cake.
These look great and also fun.
She sounds gorgeous!
The bars look amazing, I’m trying this tonight! I also have a question: does anyone know where I can get sprinkles with natural dyes, since regular food dyes are petroleum based I don’t buy them anymore and my kids would love to have some once in a while 🙂
there’s a recipe somewhere online that shows you how to make your own sprinkles…instead of using normal food colour you could use natural colorants like a few drops of beet juice to make red or pink.
Thanks, I’ll check it out 🙂
Look in the baking section of Whole Foods for Let’s Do Organic brand :).
Thank you, I’ll see if I can find it 🙂
These look sooo good. I’m heading out to the store shortly and you’ve added a few things to my list! LOL Thanks as always for another great recipe. 🙂
Wow, these look and sound excellent! Can’t wait to try. I love cake batter, but don’t want all the sugar. The sprinkles are cute and will be great for kids! Love the sprinkle shakers too! It seems like what you don’t put time and energy into happen to be a kid’s best friend. I use to love the boxes things came in just as much as the gift. 🙂
Katie, these are fantastic!!
Thanks for sharing, and for all the substitutions and nutrition info!
Can’t wait to make!!
Bwahahaahaaahaaaa!!!! That’s story is hilarious! And I will be making these soon!
These look fabulous – I’m LOVING the color combinations.
Oh no! I think you forgot a question of the day :(.
These look fabulous, though. Making them tomorrow, as soon as I get rice crispies!
LOVE YOUR SITE!!!!
Katie,
I really enjoy your recipes! It’s nice to find something to satisfy my sweet tooth without the added guilt:) I have a question relating to some of your recipes where the instructions say to press down as hard as you can with something heavy. It seems to me that the contents end up “squeezing out” through the sides when I press hard. Am I doing something wrong?
Tana
Use a smaller pan, maybe? If it’s in a pan that’s suited for the recipe, it’ll have nowhere to go when you press down hard ;).
Or use a giant piece of wax paper and fold over the side, so it stays put at least on one side.