This vegan vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream is free of dairy and eggs with a gluten free alternative included. Fluffy, moist, and delicious, this is THE go-to cake for both vegans and non-vegans!

I think we can all agree that there’s no lack of dessert recipes on this blog. While I’m not vegan, I have a sensitivity to certain dairy products, so many of the treats I make are dairy-free and vegan friendly.

Cakes have always been one of my favorite desserts to make. When I first got married, a friend gave me a Southern Living cookbook and I quickly began making some of the recipes to impress my new hubby. I broke it in by making their classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. It was the first time I had ever made a homemade “non-box” cake, and let’s just say it wasn’t what I was expecting!

While the flavor was good, the texture was a little dry, almost cornbread-like. I had gotten too use to the fluffy, moist, and artificial qualities from boxed cakes. My homemade cake had a subtle vanilla flavor instead of that intense fake “birthday cake” taste and wasn’t bright yellow like boxed yellow cakes either…probably because I didn’t have yellow dye no. 5 on hand. 😝

Instead of shying away from homemade cakes, I was determined to make them better. I began making birthday cakes for my family and friends and was constantly trying new recipes. After having kids, I quit my job to stay home with them and in order to earn a little extra cash, I started a small side business making custom birthday and weddings cakes. Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of cakes and now can whip ’em up in no time!

I have plenty of cake & cupcake recipes here on the blog to choose from, many of which are free of gluten, dairy, and/or refined sugar. But I also wanted to add a go-to vanilla cake. One that wasn’t necessarily “healthy,” but delicious and perfect to enjoy on special occasions.

This cake does use natural sugar as opposed to coconut sugar or maple syrup, which helps to give it that fluffy texture. Coconut sugar works well in this Chocolate Pudding Cake and Chocolate Chip Coconut Oat Bars, where the distinct caramel flavor complements the other flavors in the recipe, but would be too overpowering in this simple vanilla cake. Since syrups tend to be a little heavier, eggs are used to give rise to the cake and to hold the overly moist cake together. In order to keep this egg free and not too dense, I found that granulated sugar worked best.

If you’re looking for a cake which is free of refined sugar, check out this Vegan Chocolate Cake or this Lemon Layer Cake with Fresh Berries!

This cake is fluffy, moist, and pretty simple to make. Even though it doesn’t have eggs, this is hands down my favorite vanilla cake recipe, whether you’re vegan or not! I love the combo of strawberries with vanilla cake, so I added fresh strawberry slices in between each layer, along with the strawberry buttercream, but you can leave it plain too, if you’d like.

Here’s this same cake I made previously with a cream cheese glaze drizzled over top! Whether you add the glaze or not, the cake is delicious! Hope you enjoy it, friends!

Vegan Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Buttercream

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★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

• Author: Joscelyn Abreu
• Total Time: 25 mins
• Yield: 8–10 servings 1x

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Description

This cake is incredibly moist and delicious, whether you’re vegan or not! Just sub regular milk and butter for a non-dairy version. Gluten-free vanilla cake recipe also included! Makes one 8-inch three layer cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Vegan Vanilla Cake: (gluten-free version below)

• 2 cups almond milk or other non-dairy milk (can also use regular milk if not vegan)
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup avocado oil, melted refined coconut oil, or other neutral tasting cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• seeds from 1 vanilla bean, optional
• vegetable shortening or coconut oil, for pans
• parchment paper
• fresh strawberry slices
• strawberry buttercream
• cream cheese glaze, optional
• fresh strawberries for decorating, optional

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake:

• 1 2/3 cups almond milk (or other milk of choice)
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose measure for measure flour blend
• 1 cup super fine almond flour (This helps the texture significantly so I don’t recommend subbing for more gf all-purpose flour)
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup avocado oil or other neutral tasting cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• seeds from 1 vanilla bean, optional
• vegetable shortening or coconut oil, for pans
• parchment paper

Strawberry buttercream: (Vegan vanilla buttercream here)

• 1 cup vegan butter* (I like Miyoko’s European Style unsalted vegan butter. Can also use regular unsalted butter if not dairy-free)
• 1/2 cup all-vegetable shortening or more unsalted butter*
• 4–5 cups powdered sugar, to taste
• 4–5 tablespoons ground freeze-dried strawberries (about 1 1/2–2 cups whole freeze-dried strawberries)
• 3–4 tablespoons milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional Cream Cheese Glaze: (As seen in last photo. White Chocolate version here)

• 8 oz. vegan cream cheese (or regular cream cheese if not vegan)
• 1/4 cup coconut syrup, maple syrup, or other sweetener of choice, or more to taste
• 3 tablespoons melted dairy-free butter
• almond milk, if needed to thin the glaze

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Instructions

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine milk with vinegar and set aside to sour.
2. Grease two (for thicker layers) or three (for thinner layers) 8-inch pans and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle, cut to fit the pan, and then grease the parchment paper circle. I don’t recommend skipping this step or your cakes could stick to the bottom of the pan. Set pans aside. Alternatively, you can line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients—flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt until well combined.
4. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour milk with a whisk or mixer and beat just until blended and smooth. Don’t over-beat.
5. Evenly distribute the cake batter into the three pans and place onto the middle rack in the preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cake/cupcakes will be pretty light in color. More or less time may be needed depending on your oven.
6. Let cakes cool for several minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool thoroughly. Cakes are the easiest to frost when they are wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen overnight.
7. To decorate, place on cake layer upside down on a decorative stand or plate. To keep the plate clean, you can tuck strips of parchment paper under the cake to catch the frosting.
8. Use an offset spatula to spread the buttercream evenly across cake layer. Top with berry slices, then another layer of cake. Repeat steps with remaining layers.
9. Frost the top and sides of layered cake with remaining buttercream. Chill cake in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and go around the cake with a straight edge scraper to get a clean and smooth look.
10. Top with optional glaze and decorate with fresh strawberries. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Buttercream:

1. Beat butter and shortening until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternately with the tablespoons of milk and beat until incorporated. Add strawberry powder and vanilla and continue to beat until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add more or less strawberry powder to taste.

Optional Glaze:

1. Beat cream cheese, sweetener, and butter together until smooth. If needed, thin with a little almond milk to get a pourable consistency.

Notes

*Vegan butter is usually salted, so it adds a bit of salty flavor to this buttercream. If you can find unsalted vegan butter, use that instead. For less salty flavor, use more shortening in the place of the salted butter.

• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Category: Dessert, Vegan, Dairy-Free

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Simple Strawberry Shortcake

Layered Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache