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Lolly cake is a beloved New Zealand classic—if you grew up in NZ, chances are you’ve had a slice (or five!) at a birthday party or bake sale. Traditionally made with malt biscuits and fruit puff lollies, it’s a nostalgic favourite with its chewy, buttery texture and bursts of colourful sweetness.

This Gluten-Free Lolly Cake keeps all the flavours and fun of the original while being coeliac-friendly. After plenty of testing (and enthusiastic taste-testing from my son!), I’ve found the perfect biscuit combination to recreate that classic taste and texture. Whether you're making it for a special occasion or just because, this easy no-bake treat is sure to bring a little Kiwi nostalgia to your kitchen!

Table of Contents

Rectangle dish with wavy edges on bench top with GF lolly cake showing pieces of explorer lollies inside.

Ingredients you will need

Ingredients for GF lolly cake on bench top with text overlay.

Ingredient Notes, Substitutes, & Alternatives

Gluten-Free Biscuits - For the best texture and flavor, I like using a mix of GF arrowroot biscuits and GF gingernuts in this recipe. Traditional lolly cake is made with malt biscuits, but since malt contains gluten, there’s no true gluten-free alternative. This combination gives the closest colour and flavor to the original.
Lollies - I use Pascall Explorers because they’re gluten-free by ingredient, making them a great option for this recipe. Some fruit puffs are also gluten-free, but always check the label to be sure before using them.
Brown Sugar Brown sugar adds a lovely caramel flavor to the lolly cake. If you’d rather skip caramelizing it with the condensed milk, you can swap the condensed milk for caramel condensed milk instead.
Salt - After lots of testing (and plenty of taste-testing with my son!), we found that just a pinch of salt makes this recipe even better. But if you prefer, you can leave it out.

Step-by-step instructions

Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make my Gluten Free Lolly Cake recipe, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.

Step one: Crush the biscuits to a fine crumb. I do this in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor you can also place the bags bisuits in a clean bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.

Chop the explorer lollies into one centimetre pieces.

Biscuits crushed in a food processor and Explorer lollies chopped into small pieces in a bowl on bench top.

Step two: Place the butter and brown sugar in a large saucepan (a pot large enough to hod all of the lolly cake ingredients). Heat the butter and brown sugar over a medium heat until the butter and sugar are melted.

Add the condensed milk to the melted butter and sugar mixture, continue to heat the mixture while stirring in the condensed milk, until you get a thick caramel.

Hand holding a whisk stirring together butter, brown sugar, condense milk melting on stove top.

Step three: Remove from the heat, stir through the salt, biscuit crumbs and chopped explorer sweets. I leave then leave mix to cool down for a few minutes

Split the lolly cake mixture into two equal portions, roll into two logs.

Hands rolling half the GF lolly cake mixture into a long log with other half of dough in a ball on bench top.

Step four: Roll these two logs in desiccated coconut, then wrap tightly in cling film (glad wrap).

GF lolly cake log rolling in metal dish with desiccated coconut covering it.

GF lolly cake inside cling wrap into a cut in half cardboard handy towel roll.

Step five: Chill in the fridge until firm (at least 2 hours), then slice into 2 centimetre slices.

Enjoy!

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Top Tips

Want a perfectly round lolly cake log? Here’s a simple hack (you may have seen it in my Christmas Sprinkle Cookies) that makes shaping and chilling easy.

Prepare the mold: Take a sturdy cardboard tube (like from a paper towel roll) and cut it lengthwise so you have two halves.

Shape the log: Wrap your lolly cake log tightly in cling film, then place it inside one half of the tube. Squeeze the two halves of the tube together around the log—this will help it maintain a perfectly round shape.

Flatten the ends: Stand the tube upright on your counter and use your fingers to press the end of the lolly cake log down firmly. This helps compress and round out the shape.

Repeat for the second log.

Chill the logs: To keep them round while chilling, place each log in one half of the cardboard tube and transfer them to the fridge.

A six image collage showing how to make a perfectly round Lolly Cake log.

Hand holding a piece of GF lolly cake showing pieces of explorer lollies inside. Rectangle dish with wavy edges in background on bench top with lolly cake inside.

If you tried this Gluten Free Lolly Cake recipe please leave a star rating and let me know how you go in the comments below. I love hearing from you!