This vegan white cake is light, fluffy and perfect! Topped with a simple white buttercream frosting it’s a super pretty cake that’s perfect for a special occasion.
You might be wondering, what’s the difference between a white cake and a vanilla cake? Well…. not a whole lot really. In fact this recipe is based on our super popular vegan vanilla cake recipe.
The main difference between a vegan white cake and a vegan vanilla cake is just trying to make the color as light as possible.
To make this white cake as white as possible, I used a clear vanilla extract, almond milk, which is very white in color, and baking powder instead of baking soda. Baking powder tends to result in a lighter color for baked goods so worked great here.
How To Make Vegan White 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.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Mix together.
- Add almond milk, oil and clear vanilla extract and mix into a batter. Mix until just mixed, don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter between two 8-inch cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick insterted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
White Frosting
The frosting is a mix of powdered sugar, vegan butter, almond milk and clear vanilla extract. The frosting goes a little off-white as a result of the vegan butter, but once it’s on the cake you don’t notice that much anymore.
Simply add all the ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting off at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is fluffy and smooth.
Ingredient Notes
Almond Milk. We liked almond milk best for this cake as it’s very white in color so works well in that respect. Of course you can use a different non-dairy milk such as soy milk if you prefer.
Canola Oil. We used canola oil in this cake and either canola oil or vegetable oil work great. Melted coconut oil also works.
Clear Vanilla Extract. It’s ideal to use a clear vanilla so that it doesn’t darken the cake. Some white cakes also use a few drops of almond extract. We opted not to in this recipe but if you do want to, then just make sure it’s a very small amount as when it comes to almond extract a little goes a long way.
Recipe FAQ
This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Baking time would be around 20 minutes.
If you’d like this cake to be gluten-free then be sure to use a gluten-free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour.
Storing and Freezing
Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for a few (3-4) days. Alternatively store it covered in the fridge for up to a week. It’s ideal to let it come to room temperature before serving.
It’s also freezer friendly up to 3 months if you want to freeze it.
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Victoria Sponge
- The Most Amazing Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan White Cake
Ingredients
Vegan White Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cups Almond Milk (360ml)
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 2 teaspoons Clear Vanilla Extract
White Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (540g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 3 ½ Tablespoons Almond Milk
- 2 teaspoons Clear Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray two 8-inch cake pins with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the white sugar, baking powder and salt and mix together.
- Add the almond milk, oil and clear vanilla extract and whisk in with a hand whisk until just combined. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, almond milk and clear vanilla extract to the bowl of your electric mixer and start off at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until your frosting is thick and smooth.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly. Either use the spoon and level method: spoon it into a 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 on a food scale for the most accurate results.
- Almond Milk. We liked almond milk best for this cake as it’s very white in color so works well in that respect. Of course you can use a different non-dairy milk such as soy milk if you prefer.
- Canola Oil. We used canola oil in this cake and either canola oil or vegetable oil work great. Melted coconut oil also works.
- Clear Vanilla Extract. It’s ideal to use a clear vanilla so that it doesn’t darken the cake. Some white cakes also use a few drops of almond extract. We opted not to in this recipe but if you do want to, then just make sure it’s a very small amount as when it comes to almond extract a little goes a long way.
- Cupcakes: This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Baking time will be around 20 minutes.
- Gluten-Free: If you’d like this cake to be gluten-free then be sure to use a gluten-free all purpose baking blend in the same quantity as the regular flour.
- Storing: Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for a few (3-4) days. Alternatively store it covered in the fridge for up to a week. It’s ideal to let it come to room temperature before serving. It’s also freezer friendly up to 3 months if you want to freeze it.
- This recipe was first published in July 2018. We have updated it with new photos and a few small changes to the recipe. The original recipe used baking soda (1 ½ tsp baking soda + 1 Tbsp white vinegar) and melted coconut oil. We re-tested the recipe and found baking powder to work best for the color and preferred canola oil for the texture, though melted coconut oil does work just fine if you prefer to use that.
Alison says
Hi Alison, this looks great! I love all of your cake recipes. Best vegan cakes ever! Do you know how many cups of batter this makes?
I’ll be making 2 12in round cakes. Btw, You have a beautiful name… spelled the RIGHT way. Lol. ☺☺
Alison Andrews says
Hi Alison! Haha yes, it’s a great name, but the spelling does get tricky for some! I actually don’t know how many cups of batter it makes sorry! I am thinking you would likely need to double the recipe at least to get that size, but it might be even more than that. I have never used 12 inch baking pans so my experience level here is non-existent. Let us know what ends up working out for you! 🙂
Alison says
SO, I calculated it by myself, knowing you used 8 inch pans and knowing that they take approximately 4 cups of batter. The 12 inch pans that I used take approximately 8 cups, I could have doubled the recipe per pan but I went with a recipe and a half per 12 inch pan. It filled perfectly and they baked up nice and tall with a flat top. If I had doubled I would have had leftover batter. Which would not have necessarily been a bad thing LOL! The more cake the merrier haha. Your cakes are ALWAYS amazing and ALWAYS come out great! P.s. I wish I were able to post pictures here!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Alison, I’m so pleased it was a success. Thanks so much for sharing. If you’re on instagram I’d love to see the pics there! 🙂
Honesty says
Would I be able to make this in a sheet cake pan?
Alison Andrews says
Yes, you can adapt to a sheet pan cake, if it’s a half sheet pan the baking time will be shorter, about 20 minutes. If it’s a quarter sheet pan then the baking time would likely be closer to 30 minutes, just keep a check on it. You can also check out our recipe for Vanilla Sheet Cake. 🙂
Michele K says
I am truly impressed. Not only is this cake flavorful but it is perfectly moist. When I first cut into it (the day after baking it) I was a little sad because it *looked* dry but my family assured me that it was perfect!!! Then I had a piece and well… I wanted to finish the cake off all by myself :)Thank you for adding this to our lives!!!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Michele, so happy to hear it was a hit! And so glad it wasn’t dry! I also look at my pictures now and think, hmmm, does it look dry? But I know it wasn’t dry! Hahaha, anyway thanks a million for the awesome review and so glad it was enjoyed.
Jo says
The taste was wonderful but it seemed to be not cooked through and I cooked it for 10 minutes extra. Used all purpose GF flour….any ideas
Alison Andrews says
Gluten-free all purpose flour is a good choice for making this gluten-free but often oven times will vary and this can be even more true when you’re adapting a recipe for gluten-free. I would leave it for even longer next time and make sure it passes the toothpick test (no wet crumbs on the toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake).
Vinita Kadam says
Hi Alison,
Thank you for this super easy recipe. Have a question. Can I use cake flour instead of APF?
Best regards
Alison Andrews says
Hi Vinita, I’m not sure! I think it might be fine, but I have not tested it as I don’t get cake flour in my part of the world. As far as I know, it has a lower proportion of gluten in it, so IF the cake turns out a little more crumbly then I would imagine that would be the cause. But it’s worth a try and let us know how it goes if you try it! 🙂
Shiana says
Awesome. I wanted to make a mini layered cake and this recipe made the perfect amount of cake and frosting. I added a 1/2 tsp cinnamon as I wanted to give it a little more flavour and it worked perfectly. I used Kremelta for the frosting and again, I perfect result.
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! 🙂
Jas says
This is delicious thank you for sharing! Do you have measurements for a 6” and 10” cake? Thank you!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jas, our vegan vanilla cake is made in 7″ cake tins and could also be done in 6″, it would just result in a taller cake. I think this recipe could make a single 10″ cake, the recipe would have to increase for a 2-layer cake. 🙂
Jas says
Ok perfect!! Thank you very much!!
Anita says
I tried to substitute sugar in cake with stevia extract (plus applesauce for bulking, it was gross, such a bad idea), so I am trying it again, and doing it EXACTLY.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Anita, haha yes, you’ll have a much better result next time. But experimenting is always good too, helps to know what does not work! All the best! 🙂
Lydia Smollen says
Can you do this recipe with a gluten free flour blend? I personally use Bob’s Red Mill 1-1
Alison Andrews says
You could, and that is a perfect flour to use for this purpose.
Alexis says
Can you make this cake with pastry flour instead of all purpose flour?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Alexis, I haven’t tried pastry flour, it might work but I’m not sure. Let us know if you try it. 🙂
Olivier says
Sorry for my english, I’m French…
I’ve made this cake for new year’s eve and it was amazing ! I love to cook and I think I’m not too bad (that’s what my friends say) but I never succeeded in desserts… until this time ! The recipe is so clear and so easy that my cake was awesome! I mixed few red fruits with sugar to make a grout and it was delicious.
Just a little detail : the butter cream was a bit sandy-textured while I mixed it for at least five minutes. Is it normal or did I made something wrong ?
Anyway, thanks a lot for your recipes and see you soon !
Alison Andrews says
Hi Olivier, thanks so much for the wonderful review, I’m so pleased it was a success! Regarding the sandy texture to the frosting, did you by any chance use a more coarse type of sugar? The reason I ask is on a different cake recipe a reader made a frosting using homemade powdered sugar, so she refined it herself in a blender and it was too gritty. It has to be powdered sugar, which is also called icing sugar or confectioners sugar and I’m not sure what else it might be called in other countries, but it is the most refined of refined sugars. If you use anything that is slightly more coarse in texture (such as super fine sugar/caster sugar) then it will be too gritty no matter how long you mix it for. Hope that helps! 🙂
Olivier says
Hi Alison,
Thanks a lot for your answer ! When I read the recipe for the first time, I thought “powdered sugar” was what we call in french “sucre en poudre”, that means the white sugar we put in coffe or tea for example. But I remembered that a long time ago I made a cake with butter cream in which I used some “sucre glace”, that we can translate as “icy sugar”, and, a short research on a translator site confirmed me it was that sugar I got to use. So I used the right sugar. I used the vegetal butter just coming out of the fridge, do you think I should warm it a little bit before adding the sugar to integrating them better, and then cool the preparation before using it on the cake ?
In my precedent post, maybe the word “sandy” was not right, I should said “very, very lightly granular”, and anyway, the most important is that the cake was absolutly delicious and I just wanted to know if I missed something.
Alison Andrews says
Oh I see, it sounds like you did everything perfectly, I’m not at all sure why it would’ve been a bit granular. I make it with vegan butter straight from the fridge all the time and it’s never like that so I don’t think the butter temperature would have an impact. Maybe it would be good to try a different brand of powdered sugar next time and maybe that will help. Thanks for the update and yes, most important thing is that it was delicious! 🙂
Kim Kelly says
We made a double recipe of 4 layers for a rainbow cake – it was amazing and added coconut extract to the icing … loved the texture – such an easy recipe, a real winner
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! So happy to hear that, thanks for the great review. 🙂
Guljan says
Hello! I wanted to make this for a baby’s 1st birthday. Can I use cane sugar, instead of granulated?
Alison Andrews says
Sure! 🙂
olga says
would this work ok with gluten-free flour blend?
Daniel says
If the frosting ended up to sweet…how can i lessen the sweetness?
Silke Damgaard says
If you add a little bit of salt it should lessen the sweetness of the frosting.
Anna Andrews says
Light, fluffy and perfect cake for all occasions