Light fluffy and delicious vegan vanilla cake! Two layers of vanilla sponge, topped with a velvety vegan vanilla frosting and fresh strawberries.
This vegan vanilla cake is light fluffy and dreamy! But what you’re going to like most about it is how EASY it is.
I’m going to admit, I had to play around with this recipe for quite a bit before I got it right.
The first time it was delicious, but I used a flax egg and while a flax egg is GREAT for most cakes, in the case of a vanilla cake when you want it to have the glorious light color, well….it didn’t work out so well.
I ended up with a delicious cake that looked like a seed cake and nothing at all like a vanilla cake.
The next time I tried it, it ended up way too dry, so I knew I needed to adjust the flour ratio.
I’m happy to report that the recipe you see below delivers the ideal level of moistness and as you can see, the color is totally gorgeous!
The vanilla flavor comes through perfectly, and by pairing it with vanilla frosting, you get yourself a whole lot of vanilla heaven going on!
Strawberries on top add a dash of gorgeous color and offset the vanilla flavor just right. However, feel free to use whatever cake decorations you please.
The strawberry dilemma…
I love the fresh fruit, but of course it doesn’t keep. You also have the small problem of the strawberries running and making the cake soggy.
So it really only works if you’re going to serve it within minutes of placing those strawberries on top.
So if you’re going to keep the cake around for a few days, then choose a different decoration OR just add some sliced strawberries to the individual slices as you serve them.
Even kids can do it…
I made this with my niece when she came for a sleepover at her aunt and uncle’s house. Since vanilla is her favorite flavor for everything, she loved this cake.
So seriously – this cake is easy enough that a kid can do it (with supervision, of course).
It’s really quite petite.
Just a little note that this cake is quite a small petite cake!
I used cake pans which are 7 inches round. The layers on this cake are not very tall, but I think it’s a perfect size and you get 10 nice sized slices out of it.
If you want to adapt this cake to larger cake pan sizes, see our notes on how to do that below.
Vegan Vanilla Cake Q&A
Can I make this gluten-free? There are a few changes that are needed to make this cake really work great for gluten-free. We made the adaptations for gluten-free with our vegan gluten-free vanilla cupcakes and they came out beautifully. You can adapt that recipe from cupcakes to a layer cake (two 7″ layers) just like this one if you like.
Can I make this in 8″ cake pans? Yes, but because the maths can get a little tricky sometimes when you increase a recipe, I recommend you take a look at our vegan vanilla sheet cake recipe, that recipe adapts perfectly to two 8″ cake layers. Just bake it for 30 minutes instead of the shorter baking time recommended for a sheet cake.
You can also take a look at our vegan white cake which is made for 8″ cake pans. That recipe was adapted from this one and is basically a perfect vanilla cake, just adapted to be a little more ‘white’ in color (to fit the ‘white cake’ description) and to be 8-inches.
Can I make this in 9″ cake pans? This exact recipe will make a single layer 9″ cake. So if you want to make a single layer cake, you can make this vegan vanilla cake recipe exactly as is, but just have a single layer instead of a 2-layer cake. We did this for our vegan pineapple upside down cake. Alternatively, you can double this recipe for a 9″ cake with two layers. I have included the exact measures for doubling this recipe in the notes section of the recipe card below.
Can I make this into a bundt cake? Some have done it, if you read the comments below, it has been done. I don’t have a bundt cake pan so I haven’t got personal experience with that (yet!).
Can I make cupcakes from this recipe? Yes you can! We have already done it, check out our recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes, which is adapted from this recipe.
I’m pretty sure you’re going to love this vegan vanilla cake! It is:
- Light and fluffy
- Perfectly moist
- Spongey!
- Frosted with velvety vanilla frosting!
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly fresh for a few days or keep it covered in the fridge to stay good for up to a week.
Love vegan cakes?
Oh my word, you are SO in the right place! We are crazy about vegan cakes and have made a bunch of them. Here’s just a few:
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake – also a 7-inch layer cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake – a 9-inch layer cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake – a divine 8-inch beauty
- Vegan Carrot Cake – our super popular 7-inch layer cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake – also 7-inches
- Vegan Banana Cake – a 9×13 sheet cake or an 8-inch two-layer cake, it’s up to you!
If you make this cake (and I hope you do!) then please let us know how it goes by rating the recipe and leaving a comment. It’s so helpful and we love to hear how it worked out for you. Thanks so much.
And sign up to our email list for a gorgeous (and free) recipe ebook containing 10 delicious vegan dinner recipes and you’ll also stay updated with all our latest recipes.
Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 10
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Light fluffy and delicious vegan vanilla cake! Two layers of vanilla sponge, topped with a velvety vegan vanilla frosting and fresh strawberries. Ideal for special occasions.
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Cake:
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (240ml) Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or sub canola oil or other vegetable oil)
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or sub Apple Cider Vinegar)
For The Vanilla Frosting:
- 3 and 3/4 cups (450g) Powdered Sugar
- 3 Tbsp (45g) Vegan Butter
- 4 Tbsp Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)*
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
For Decoration:
- Fresh Strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.
- Add the sugar, baking soda and salt and mix together.
- Add the soy milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar and give it a quick whisk with a hand whisk until just combined.
- Grease two 7 inch round cake tins with coconut oil (or spray with non-stick spray) and cut parchment paper into circles to fit the bottoms.
- Divide the batter evenly between them.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and using a toothpick, insert into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean then your cake is done.
- Move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Prepare your frosting.
- Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla and half of the soy milk.
- Beginning on low speed, mix with an electric mixer, slowly increasing speed. Add the rest of the soy milk, only as much as needed until it is smooth and creamy. If your vegan butter has a higher water content, you may not need to use all of the soy milk.
- If your frosting is still a little thin, add more powdered sugar, if it’s a little thick, add more soy milk (a drop at a time). The consistency must be thick enough that it doesn’t slide off the cake, but thin enough to be spreadable.
- When your cake is completely cool, add frosting to the top of one of the layers.
- Add the second layer on top and frost it completely, using a knife to carefully frost the sides of the cake.
- Decorate with fresh strawberries and serve right away.
- If you’re not serving right away, then omit the strawberries or serve them on a plate alongside the cake, so it doesn’t get soggy.
Notes
*I highly recommend you weigh the flour for the best results. Flour measures can be tricky, so weighing it on a food scale is the best way to ensure accuracy.
*The cake tins used in this recipe are 7 inches round. If you want to make this cake for 8-inch cake pans, see our vegan white cake recipe which is an 8-inch cake or our vegan vanilla sheet cake which adapts perfectly to two 8-inch cake layers. If you want to adapt it to 9-inch cake pans see our full instructions below.
*If you want to double this recipe for a 9-inch layer cake, then the ingredients list will be as follows: 3 and 1/2 cups (438g) All Purpose Flour, 2 cups (400g) White Sugar, 2 tsp Baking Soda, 1 tsp Salt, 2 cups (480ml) Soy Milk, 4 tsp Vanilla Extract, 2/3 cup (160ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Canola Oil, 2 Tbsp White Vinegar. Everything else including baking times, remains the same. The frosting as listed in the recipe above will be enough to spread generously onto the top and middle of a 9-inch layer cake but not enough to frost the sides as well. Take a look at our vegan buttercream frosting recipe which is enough to frost this whole cake when made as a two layer 9-inch cake.
*Only add fresh strawberries to this cake if you’re going to be eating it right away. The strawberries are a fabulous addition to the flavor of this cake, BUT they run and can cause sogginess. So if you are keeping this cake for a few days, then either don’t use strawberries at all or just add some strawberry slices directly to the individual cake slices when served.
*Nutrition information is based on 1 serve of 10 with a very generous amount of vanilla frosting.
*Vanilla Frosting is from this recipe.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 10)
- Calories: 441
- Sugar: 65g
- Sodium: 290mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6g
- Carbohydrates: 83g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 3g
Keywords: vegan vanilla cake
Thanks for a great recipe! I love that you have answered so many questions about conversions for size and time, took the guessing out for me! This was delicious! I made it for my family because if my son’s allergies to milk and eggs but I’d make it as a go to anytime. I used rice milk in the batter and unsweetened vanilla almond milk for the frosting. I baked it in a 9in round exact as posted and it was perfect. Thanks!
Any idea on the bake time for cupcakes?
★★★★★
Thanks so much Michelle! So glad it was a success! Bake time for cupcakes is around 22-25 minutes. 🙂
i had never tried a vegan dessert, but this cake is the best cake ever, it’s fluffy and delicious. I loved it .
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much!
Hi Alison as I’m sure you’re aware it’s kind of hard to get flour these days so only managed to get self-raising flour. Would I still be able to use this? And if so would I have to omit the baking soda or still add it in?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Amore, I think it should be fine, I would possibly reduce the baking soda by half (still use it though as it reacts with the vinegar) and also omit the salt from the recipe since self raising already has added salt. All the best!
Pretty tasty but when I removed it from the pan, it completely crumbled. Like into a pile. Not at all salvageable but pretty tasty!
Hi Jennifer, did you make any substitutions on the flour? This has happened if someone has made a substitution on the flour and used something like rice flour. The result doesn’t hold together in this case. Also, make sure you line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper. 🙂
Live and Learn… I want it to make it a bit more healthier so’ I used oat flour, which it works perfectly for pancakes, and it was not that firm. Still Yummy!
However, I made this recipe in the past following your instructions and it was Amazing!
Haven’t been able to do it on 7’pan, hard to find in stores, need to check online.
★★★★★
Hi Carla, yes the issue with alternate flours can be that they don’t support the structure of the cake. Glad it was still yummy though! If you have 9-inch cake pans then this works great for that size too (measurements in the notes section of the recipe).
Hi there Alison,
Several members in our family are planning on baking this cake in honor of my granddaughter’s first birthday next week.
Since we can’t be together due to current events, we plan to connect remotely to celebrate this sweet girl! Yesterday, I read through all the comments and noticed someone had success with baking in a bundt cake pan. Today, I have searched through the comments twice and don’t see this comment. I wanted clarification to see if they use the recipe for the 7″ round or if they used the 9″ amount. What would you recommend?
We look forward to tasting this!
Hi Laurie, what size is your bundt pan? The main concern with baking it in the bundt pan is it will take a lot longer, so in that respect, using the smaller scaled recipe (7-inch) would probably work best unless your bundt pan is enormous!
I’m excited to try this recipe on the 9th for my birthday – do you have any recommendations for flavored icing recipe’s that might go well with it? I was thinking of just playing with icing flavor to mix it up a little. I’m so excited – great reviews and looks delicious!!!! Thank you for sharing this! 🥰
Hi Jenna, something like the strawberry frosting from our strawberry cake would be great!
Can I substitute white sugar for brown sugar or coconut sugar? These are the only ones I have and I can’t get any other ones right now.
PS: I havent tried this yet but I rate it 5 stars anyways cuz I love ur blog, website, writings, photography and recipes anyways.😀
Hi Anya, yes you can, but it will change the color of the cake, making it much darker. That not a problem though!
Hi! Making for my mom’s birthday this week. Would vanilla soy milk make this too sweet?
Hi Hilary, vanilla soy milk will work great! 🙂
Hi I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I rated it 5 cuz I love ur blog anyways.
I am an 11 year old vegan baker and I wanted to make something for my moms birthday. BUT. Our only cake pan is 10 inches round and this is the only recipe I can do, with my ingredients. So can you please tell me how to adapt it to 10 inch!!!
★★★★★
So glad you like the blog! Thank you! Do you have a single 10-inch pan or two 10-inch pans? If you only have one pan then I would make it as is, in one layer, no changes to the recipe. It will be a little thinner but that’s not a big issue and that will keep things simple. If you have two 10-inch pans then I would double the recipe (we have measurements in the notes for how to double it). It will still be a little thin on the layers but that will also be the easiest way to go about it.
This is my second time making it and my second review!
The first time was for some vegan guests at a birthday party. My older sister liked it so much she requested it for her birthday!
My sister is turning 40 today so I made her this cake and left it on her porch 🙂
She was so excited.
I didn’t use vegan frosting, I had some Swiss meringue leftover from another birthday cake so I used that. But the cake worked perfectly again and my sister is excited for her “virtual” birthday party.
This time I used three 6 inch pans so they were short layers and it worked well. Last time I used two 6 inch pans. Worked well too!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for sharing and the great review Mary! So glad it worked great in three 6-inch pans too!
I doubled the recipe to make this in a 9inch round cake pan. After 50 mins the cake interior is STILL not cooked through. I’m looking for some help and enlightenment here. haha. The only difference is I added a small vanilla pudding mix to the recipe since I read that makes it more moist, but everywhere I read says a toothpick should still come out clean after being cooked.
Hi Anna, if you double the recipe then it needs to be in two 9-inch cake pans. If you’re doing it in a single 9-inch cake pan then there would be no need to double the recipe. If you doubled the recipe and baked it in a single pan then this would explain why it isn’t cooked after 50 minutes, as that would be one thick cake. 🙂 Also adding in vanilla pudding is a variable that I wouldn’t count on working at all! However, you can try tenting it with foil so that it doesn’t over-brown on top and cook it as long as needed and it might still work.
The cake is just amazing. I made my own icing but the cake was the best! Thanks
★★★★★
Thanks Juliana!
Wow. Never commented on a recipe before. Absolutely delish. My non-vegan fam thought this was excellent!! Topped with kiwi, strawberries and blueberries.
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks so much!
Delicious, light, fluffy good flavor. Thinking I might make it next time with fresh lemon juice instead of extract.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it Geri! Also check out our lemon cake if you want to make a lemon version. 🙂
I have made this cake three different times for different occasions and it never disappoints. My family loves it! It’s fluffy, easy to make and delicious!
Thumbs up!
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Brenda! Thanks for the great review.
Can you substitute a gluten free flour and still get the same result?
The best is to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. 🙂
Hi I want to do a 6inch & 8inch deep cakes for a birthday cake. How much mixture should I make?
Hi Angela, I’m really not sure. Maybe someone else will be able to help you who has adjusted this cake for something like that.
Hello!
Will using something other than olive oil change the taste negatively? I usually don’t use olive oil in cakes..
Thanks!
Not at all! I regularly use canola oil in this recipe too. It’s just when I first published it I had used olive oil but this is not an important part of this recipe at all, any oil will really do fine here! 🙂
Hi
Can you make this cake the day before then decorate the next day?
Yes absolutely!
This vegan recipe is amazing! after doing so much research on egg and dairy free cake for my daughter who is allergic I decided on this recipe. It is as easy as you describe and so tasty! the only amendment was I reduced sugar by 50g because the oatly barista milk I used is quite sweet already. It was most and delicious. We made 6 layers 9inch with jam inbetween, covered in your frosting to make the most amazing unicorn birthday cake. To see my girl touch, lick and eat a ‘safe ‘ cake made her birthday even more special. thank you. p.s. I’ve already had the request from another mum with allergies to share the recipe!!
★★★★★
So happy to hear this Vanessa! And that cake sounds amazing! Thanks so much for posting and the wonderful review. 🙂