Easy Gluten-Free Lolly Cake Recipe: New Zealand Kid-Approved

Our gluten-free lolly cake recipe is a delicious GF twist on a traditional, no-bake New Zealand kid-friendly treat. Easy to make, we also offer alternative suggestions on some of the hard to find outside of NZ ingredients. It’s a must-try if you have gluten-free kids.

When we first moved to New Zealand over two decades ago, our girls were young, and traditional NZ lolly cake became an instant favorite. It was served at kid gatherings and at their friend’s homes.

Sweet, delicious, and colorful, it ticked all the boxes, although we didn’t know what lollies were, and it’s not really a cake; more of a log or a slice. But we learned quickly that lollies are candy, and the more, the merrier seemed to be the general consensus among kids.

Both the traditional New Zealand lolly cake recipe and our GF version are quick and easy to make and don’t require baking. More important when you’re a Kiwi kid is that they are fun to make, as kids use their hands to crush cookies and mix them all together. The most challenging part for kids seems to be waiting the 2 hours while it chills.

Personally, I generally crush with a blender and mix with a spoon, but I was “old” back then (according to the kids).

Fast forward to the present day . . .

We now have a fully gluten-free kitchen. Recently, we were invited to a potluck filled with kids, and our assigned item was dessert. Suddenly, lolly cake popped into my head.

The traditional New Zealand lolly cake is made from crushed malt biscuits (cookies), sweetened condensed milk, butter, and chopped Pascal Explorer lollies (candy), all mixed together, then rolled into a log and covered in shredded coconut.

As a gluten and dairy-free person, I was pretty sure there was no chance I could adapt it for me, but for a gluten-free diet, it was doable. We just needed to find the right biscuits, and after a few fails, we did.

What you need to make our gluten-free lolly cake recipe

• Gluten-free arrowroot biscuits, Mi-Dell Gluten-free Animal Crackers or Pamela’s GF Graham Crackers
• Pascal Explorers in NZ, Circus Peanuts in the USA, or other dense marshmallow fruit-flavored candy
• Butter
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Desiccated coconut

What are these strange ingredient terms in the lolly cake recipe?

First, you will need a few definitions if you pick up the traditional New Zealand recipe. We had to learn the hard way that while New Zealand is an English-speaking country, the English they speak isn’t exactly the same as what we knew from living in the States. So, before we dive in too deep, let’s define a few key terms:

• Lolly
  This means confectionary. It’s referred to as ‘candy’ in US English and ‘sweets’ in Britain.
• Biscuit
  A New Zealand word for any cookie.
• Pascal Explorers or Fruit Puffs candy
  These NZ creations are more challenging to explain. They are a bit like dense marshmallows and generally come in several colors in the package, usually yellow, pink, green, and white. In New Zealand, Pascal’s changed their politically incorrect name to Explorers in 2020. In the States, they are very similar to Circus Peanuts or marshmallow bananas.

The challenge of making gluten-free lolly cake

The classic lolly cake from New Zealand is made with malt biscuits. By definition, malt (barley) has gluten, so it is not surprising that no one makes a gluten-free malt biscuit. Our challenge was to find a biscuit with a similar texture that crushes up nicely. Honestly, it was a fun task. We settled on the GF version of either arrowroot or digestive biscuits in New Zealand.

Tips for making our gluten-free NZ lolly cake

1. Choose gluten-free cookies that crumble well.
2. When melting the butter with the sweetened condensed milk, keep the heat low to avoid burning the mixture. It should be just warm enough to blend smoothly with the dry ingredients.
3. Traditional lolly cake uses malt biscuits (cookies), giving the log a darker color and deeper flavor. You can achieve both with a milk-based caramel in place of the condensed milk. You can make the caramel yourself by taking an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk, stripping the label off, and simmering the can (covered in water) for 3 hours.
4. Ensure that the dry and wet ingredients are thoroughly combined before forming the log, and if you are making it with kids, let them use their hands.
5. We use natural wax paper to roll the mixture into a log, pressing firmly and evenly.
6. We coat the log evenly by rolling it through the desiccated coconut. This gives the lolly cake its signature look.
7. Store the lolly cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Some readers have asked . . .

Our gluten-free lolly cake recipe

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A few more gluten-free desserts

Photo Credits:

All photos on this page are either shot by our team or the guest author or stock images from Depositphotos.