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. You can also make this cake as a three layer 6-inch cake, or a single layer 9-inch cake.
To adapt this cake to different size cake pans, see our notes on how to do that below.
Vegan Vanilla Cake Q&A
You can try simply swapping the regular all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend.
Yes, this recipe makes a perfect three layer 6-inch cake cake. Bake for 20 minutes.
Yes, but the layers are just a little thinner. You can also take a look at our vegan Victoria sponge cake recipe which is this recipe, adapted for 8-inch cake pans. 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.
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.
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!).
Yes you can! We have already done it, check out our recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes, which is adapted from this recipe.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly fresh for a 2-3 days or keep it covered in the fridge to stay good for up to a week.
The cake is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. You can freeze it either frosted or unfrosted (but definitely don’t add strawberries if you plan to freeze it).
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Cake:
- 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (220g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or Other non-dairy milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil (80ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
For The Vanilla Frosting:
- 3 ¾ cups Powdered Sugar (450g)
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter (45g)
- 4 Tbsp Soy Milk or Other non-dairy milk*
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
For Decoration:
- Fresh Strawberries Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 7-inch round cake pans (*see notes) with non-stick spray and cut parchment paper into circles to fit the bottoms.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Add the soy milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar and give it a quick whisk with a hand whisk until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between your two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire 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.
Video
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. This cake recipe as is will also make a three layer 6-inch round cake (bake for 20 minutes) or a single layer 9-inch round cake (bake for 30 minutes). It can also be made as a 9×9 square sheet cake (bake for 20-25 minutes). 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 the cake recipe for our vegan Victoria sponge. If you want to adapt this recipe to fit two 9-inch round cake pans see our full instructions below.
- If you want to double this recipe for a 9-inch round two layer cake, then the ingredients list will be as follows: 3 and ½ 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, ⅔ cup (160ml) Canola Oil, 2 Tbsp White Vinegar. Everything else including baking times (30 minutes), 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.
Hayley says
Could this be doubled and made in a 9×13 pan?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Hayley, we have made this as a sheet cake and you can make it 9×13, check out our vanilla sheet cake recipe. 🙂
Tay says
Hi there! How do I go about turning this recipe into cupcakes 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tay, this is all covered in our blog post. We have made this into cupcakes for our vegan vanilla cupcakes. 🙂
Anna says
Dear Alison
we don’t have Vegan butter where I live, we just have margarine and I was told they are not the same, is there anything else I can use for the frosting instead of Vegan butter?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Anna, if you can get a dairy free margarine this will work perfectly. 🙂
MANIDEEP RANA says
Thanks for this recipe. I only have a 10 inch pan and I would love to try this recipe so I had a couple questions.
Are the 9 inch measurements here for two 9 inch pans?
Can I use the 9 inch measurements and bake it in a single 10 inch pan and then cut it?
Alison Andrews says
Hi there, yes it is for two 9-inch cake layers. So if you want to make it 10-inch you can, but it would be two 10-inch layers, they would just be slightly thinner but it would still be fine. I don’t think it would work great to make it in one cake pan, the cooking time would be much longer and it would be difficult to get the inside to cook properly. All the best!
Mitz says
Just wondering how far in advance you can make this cake and what’s the best way to store it to keep it fresh. Thanks
Alison Andrews says
It can be stored at room temperature (covered) for a few days, or in the fridge for up to a week, but it’s definitely going to be at its best in the first couple of days.
Kate says
Hi Alison, I’m on the hunt for a vegan vanilla chocolate chip cake recipe. I haven’t come across many options. I really love your vanilla cake recipe. Do you think mini chocolate chips could be added to the batter? Thanks so much.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kate! My only worry would be that the chocolate chips all sink to the bottom. I would adjust the recipe to make the batter as thick as possible, so I would make vegan buttermilk (1 Tbsp lemon juice + soy milk up to the 1 cup line and let it curdle) to use instead of regular non-dairy milk and then I would use melted coconut oil instead of a different oil as that is thick and as you mix it into the batter it gets even thicker. And then add chocolate chips in last. If you do that, I think this would work as a a chocolate chip cake. Let us know how it goes! All the best! 🙂
Liana says
Hi Alison,
I tried this recipe last night and it didn’t turn out quite as I expected. The texture of the cake was a bit coarse and the flavor reminded me of cornbread, funnily enough. I didn’t have white vinegar or soy milk on hand, so I used apple cider vinegar and ripple (pea milk). I also wanted to avoid using my expensive EVOO so I used regular vegetable oil, and I was feeling lazy so I used Pam instead of coconut oil to grease the pan. I cooked the batter in a single, 9 inch round tin. I followed everything else to the letter. I’m not sure what I did wrong. Is there anything I can do to improve the texture or flavor? Would using cake flour help? Any suggestions would be appreciated, as it seems like a really handy recipe to have, and I’d love to try it again!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Liana, sorry to hear it didn’t work out this time. This is one of our most popular cakes that has been made so many times, so I know it definitely works and I hope you’ll try it again! 🙂 I’ve never used ripple, but I don’t think any of those subs sounds like it would have been the issue. Check for freshness of your baking soda, and also don’t overmix the batter, these are things that can potentially cause an issue. Otherwise using too much flour (which is easy to do unless you measured it with a food scale?) can also affect the texture. Hope it works out better next time you try it! 🙂
Shireen says
My daughter has an egg allergy. I was wondering if I could use regular milk instead of soy or other non-dairy milk in the recipe?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Shireen, any milk would be fine. All the best!
Cheryl says
Hello! was wondering why isn’t baking powder used in this recipe? and is it okay to add it? 🙂
Pamela says
Trust me her recipe rises up beyond perfectly the way she has it. The buttermilk and baking soda together are leaving agents so normally if a recipe calls for buttermilk or vinegar you would just use baking soda ????
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Pamela! 🙂
Pamela says
You are very welcome!! You are so amazing to share these with us and I love the fact that they’re not all weighted down with egg replacements, I know there are times when we need them, but thanks to enlightening us when we don’t, this his how my grandma did it when she was out of eggs ????
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cheryl, it’s really not needed in this recipe, the baking soda and vinegar combination does all the work and it rises wonderfully. 🙂
cheryl says
Thanks Alison 🙂
Julie Johns says
Can this cake be frozen?
Alison Andrews says
Sure!
Pooja says
Hi Alison, Made this cake last week. It was delicious! Can I use the same measurements to make a chocolate cake?
Alison Andrews says
Hi! So glad you enjoyed it! I really recommend you check out our classic vegan chocolate cake, it is very similar to this recipe, just adapted to be chocolate! 🙂
Veena says
Hi Alison,
I want to bake a small cake. Can the recipe be halved?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Veena, sure, just be really careful with your calculations and it should be fine. 🙂
Aurelis says
Hi Alison, can I substitute all purpose flour with garbanzo bean flour?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Aurelis, we have options to make this gluten-free discussed in the post. Garbanzo bean flour will not work.
MNNice says
This is one of the most delicious and moist cakes I’ve ever baked. It turned out great on my first try and it was so easy! Will be making it again and again. I cannot wait to try your other vegan cakes as well.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks so much for the great review! 🙂
Aviva says
I made this cake for mother’s day this year. I was a bit nervous as I always get when serving a recipe I’ve never made before. My kids are not a fan of cream so made vegan royal icing and sprinkles to decorate instead. I only made it as single layer cake in a slightly larger tin (I think it’s a 9″) and cooked it for 45-50 minutes.
OMG it was incredible!
Will definitely be using this recipe from now on for my vanilla cake cravings. Everyone loved it!
Thank you!!!
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing and the fantastic review. xo
Cheryl says
Hi there! Should I follow the recipe using weight or cups measurements? From what i know 1 3/4 cup flour isn’t equal to 220g…
Thanks :))
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cheryl, a cup of flour weighs 125g so the measurements are correct. It will be most accurate if you do follow the recipe by weight, especially if you are in a country where the cup sizes may be different (we use US cup sizes).
Cheryl says
Oh right! Thanks Alison :))