This pretty pink vegan strawberry cake is light and fluffy and topped with a gorgeous vegan strawberry buttercream frosting.
This vegan strawberry cake is a dream. Topped with a delicious strawberry buttercream frosting it’s a strawberry lovers dream come true!
It’s made with fresh strawberry purée which is just fresh strawberries puréed in the food processor. So it’s loaded with strawberry flavor.
It’s also light, fluffy and wonderfully moist.
If you love delicious vegan cakes then you’ll also love our gorgeous vegan Victoria sponge our vegan banana cake and our most amazing vegan chocolate cake too.
Ingredients You Need For The Cake:
Ingredient Notes
- Canola oil – can be replaced with vegetable oil or any neutral flavored oil. We have even made this cake with a light olive oil and it worked great.
- Distilled white vinegar – reacts with the baking soda and causes the cake to rise. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Fresh strawberries – are puréed in the food processor to make strawberry purée.
- Strawberry extract – may also be called strawberry essence or strawberry flavoring, it’s the same thing and will do the job perfectly. If you can’t get hold of it, then you can replace it with vanilla extract. The strawberry purée will still provide plenty of strawberry flavor.
- Red gel food color – The strawberry purée and strawberry extract on their own give the batter a lovely light pink color, but we found that it didn’t hold when baking. So we needed to add in a little red gel food coloring to get the beautiful pink color. You can omit this if you don’t mind about the color, but as you can see the result of using the red gel food color is a nice shade of pink that holds up well through the baking process.
The Frosting
Frosting Notes
- Strawberry extract – as with the cake, if you can’t get hold of strawberry extract then simply replace it with vanilla extract.
- Strawberry purée – make a little extra purée from fresh strawberries than you need for the cake batter so that you have some left over to use in the frosting.
- Vegan butter – you can use any brand of vegan butter but a firmer option will always work best in a frosting.
How To Make Vegan Strawberry Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Prepare your strawberry purée by adding fresh strawberries (washed, stems cut off) to your food processor and puréeing until smooth. In order to get enough purée for both the cake recipe and the frosting use 10.5 ounces (300g) fresh whole strawberries.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Add strawberry purée, oil, vinegar, strawberry extract and red gel food coloring to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between three 6-inch cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom).
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes before removing them from the cake pans and placing them on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Add powdered sugar, vegan butter, strawberry purée and strawberry extract to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth. If it’s too thick, add more strawberry purée.
- When the cakes are cooled, frost with the strawberry buttercream frosting.
- When the cake is frosted, it’s ideal to let the frosted cake set up in the fridge for one hour before serving.
Recipe Tips
Measure the flour correctly. Either use the spoon and level method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup, or weigh it out on a food scale for complete accuracy.
Don’t over-mix the batter. Mix the batter until it’s just mixed and then stop mixing. If you over-mix the batter it will affect the texture and rise.
Bake the cakes immediately. When the cake batter is ready, transfer to your cake pans and bake them right away. Don’t let the cakes sit for any length of time before baking or it may affect the texture and rise.
Adapt for different cake pans. This cake adapts to different size cake pans as follows:
- Three 6-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- Two 7-inch round cake pans – bake for 25 minutes.
- Two 8-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes (note that the cake layers are quite thin).
- One 9-inch round cake pan – bake for 30 minutes.
- One 9×9 square cake pan – bake for 25 minutes.
Recipe FAQ
If you’d like to make this cake gluten-free then use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend in the same quantity as the regular flour.
If you want to make cupcakes then check out our recipe for vegan strawberry cupcakes, the recipe is adapted from this cake.
Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week.
Yes, this cake is freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Strawberry Purée (232g)
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tsp Strawberry Extract
- ⅛ tsp Red Gel Food Color
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 2-3 Tbsp Strawberry Purée
- 1 tsp Strawberry Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Set aside.
- Prepare your strawberry purée by adding fresh strawberries (washed, stems cut off) to your food processor and puréeing until smooth. In order to get enough purée for both the cake recipe and the frosting use 10.5 ounces (300g) fresh whole strawberries.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Add strawberry purée, oil, vinegar, strawberry extract and red gel food coloring to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared 6-inch cake pans and smooth down.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes before removing them from the cake pans and placing them on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, 2 tablespoons of strawberry purée and strawberry extract to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth. If it’s too thick, add more strawberry purée.
- When the cakes are cooled, frost with the strawberry buttercream frosting.
- When the cake is frosted, it’s ideal to let the frosted cake set in the fridge for one hour before serving.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. Either use the spoon and level method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup, or weigh it out on a food scale for complete accuracy.
- Strawberry extract – may also be called strawberry essence or strawberry flavoring, it’s the same thing and will do the job perfectly. If you can’t get hold of it, then you can replace it with vanilla extract. The strawberry purée will still provide plenty of strawberry flavor.
- Red gel food color – The strawberry purée and strawberry extract on their own give the batter a lovely light pink color, but we found that it didn’t hold when baking. So we added in a little red gel food coloring to get the beautiful pink color. You can omit this if you don’t mind about the color, but as you can see the result of using the red gel food color is a nice shade of pink that holds up well through the baking process.Don’t over-mix the batter. Mix the batter until it’s just mixed and then stop mixing. If you over-mix the batter it will affect the texture and rise.
- Adapt for different cake pans. This cake adapts to different size cake pans as follows:
- Three 6-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes.
- Two 7-inch round cake pans – bake for 25 minutes.
- Two 8-inch round cake pans – bake for 20 minutes (note that the cake layers are quite thin).
- One 9-inch round cake pan – bake for 30 minutes.
- One 9×9 square cake pan – bake for 25 minutes.
- Make It Gluten-Free: If you’d like to make this cake gluten-free then use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend in the same quantity as the regular flour.
- Storing and Freezing: Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week. It’s also is freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- This recipe was first published in January 2018. It has been updated with new photos and the recipe itself has been slightly updated and simplified.
Cake turned out great!
Hi can I double the recipe to make one thick layered 8 inch cake? I want to make a two layer 8 inch cake that has nice sized layers
It would be a very thick cake! I think it may be too thick to bake nicely in the middle. It would be better to use 9-inch cake pans if you double it or else just increase the recipe by half for two FAT 8-inch cakes.
Hi! I made the cake tonight in a 9 inch round but it never rose. It’s only a little more than inch thick. It still tastes great, but what would cause it to not rise? Thanks.
Hi Kiki, did you by any chance use baking powder instead of baking soda? This recipe requires baking soda, which reacts with the vinegar and causes the rise. We also have other tips in the ‘recipe tips’ section that may help!
I definitely used baking soda. I’d like to make it again, I’m just trying to catch my mistake. Thank you for your help.
I think my baking soda was too old. Going to try again.
Hi Alison
I’m interested in making this cake for my mum’s birthday soon.
But when I read the recipe, I notice that there are no egg substitute (like flax eggs) or milk.
How does the cake work without them.
Hi Suzy, they are just not needed at all. Lots of our cake recipes don’t use egg substitutes.
Hi,
This recipe is awesome, easy to make and is a keeper. Thank you so much. I frosted the cake with strawberry buttercream and it was delicious. I have a question, is this cake stable to be used under fondant ?
Hi Nafeesa, so glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t used fondant myself, but based on feedback on some of our other cakes I believe they do work fine with fondant. All the best! 🙂
Thank you so much for your response.
Can this cake be baked in a bundt pan
Yes I think so! The baking time would differ depending on the size of your bundt pan but generally it would be a longer baking time than a layer cake so just keep a check on it. All the best!
Wow! This cake is so good! I tried my first slice and my mind went ???? I followed everything to the dot. The only thing I changed ( due to lack of 6″ round pans) were the molds. I used 7″ square molds. I love strawberries! Who doesnt really? And when If ound your recipe I was willing to try something new. No regrets. My trustee taster ( my youngest from my brood) concurred with my opinion. We we both blown away by how yummy this cake is. I am happy I found a true recipe. Most blogs have recipes that are not at all like their pics or description. You share the hall of baking greatness with Mary Berry in my best of the best category. For everyone. Just follow directions exactly. Youll love it! Thank you Alice.????
Thank you so much! So happy to hear it was a success!
The cake and frosting are delicious. I had a few issues though, totally my fault. The batter was like cookie dough. Not sure what I did wrong there? Also the top and sides of the cake were somewhat tough and crispy. Not sure what caused this to happen; I used baking spray. I ended up slicing off the tops before I frosted the cake. All in all it is delicious and the whole house smells like strawberries.
Hi Maria, so glad it still turned out good! If the batter was super thick, it’s possible you used too much flour? I recommend either the spoon and level method or weighing it out on a food scale. The crispiness has happened to me in the past when I was a bit too heavy handed with the baking spray so that is a possibility. But as long as it turned out good in the end that’s all that matters! 🙂
Hi, the cake looks delicious and I want to try it soon for my friend’s birthday. Just a question please can I reduce the quantity of the powdered sugar in the frosting? Any other alternatives? Thank you so much.
Hi Amy, if you want to reduce the powdered sugar then the best way would be to reduce the whole frosting recipe, so just reduce it by half and use a lot less. It won’t work to just reduce the powdered sugar without also reducing the other ingredients. An alternative would be topping it with vegan whipped cream instead. 🙂
Thank you so much.
How many cupcakes will this make?
Hi Christen, rather check out our strawberry cupcakes recipe that is based on this recipe. 🙂
Made this, but instead of all the strawberry ingredients I used mango purèe. Turned out well, sweet and beautifully yellow!
Sounds delish!
I want to make this for valentines day with two nine inch pans, how would I change the measurements?
Hi Priya, you would likely need to increase the recipe by half, or double it (for two fat 9-inch layers). The recipe as is will make a single layer 9-inch cake.
I was asked to bake my very first vegan cake, and they wanted strawberry. As I looked through different recipes this one stood out to me the most and I’m so happy I chose it. They LOVED it!! Thanks so much for such an awesome recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, Can white sugar be replaced with powdered sugar? What I have is white sugar with big grains, is that ok? Will they melt alright?
Granulated sugar is the right kind of sugar for the cake, but it won’t work well for the frosting. You need the very fine powdered sugar for the frosting, but the sugar you have is just fine for the cake, hope that helps!
I love the cake, but the frosting is very sweet. Any tips for adding lemon juice or something to cut the sweetness?
The first time I made this cake I was making this cake gluten-free and followed the recipe exactly, but the cake batter was like dough and baking didn’t save it. This time I had to make alterations cause the Red Mills 1 to 1 GF flour was too heavy and the cake wasn’t rising. I added 2 1/2 tsp of baking soda, instead of 2 tsp, and 3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk and it came out perfect.