This One Bowl Vegan Strawberry Sheet Cake is so easy to make and the perfect way to use up fresh strawberries. So soft and perfect sweetened.
Just eat the cake! And by cake I mean this beautiful one bowl vegan strawberry sheet cake.
This cake is bursting with spring time flavors, it’s so fluffy and soft, and the strawberries just pop with flavor.
We all deserve the cake when we want and this one is made in a sheet pan and just one bowl in order to be quick and easy! You will absolutely love how simple it is to make this beautiful spring vegan cake.
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VEGAN ONE BOWL VEGAN STRAWBERRY SHEET PAN CAKE INGREDIENTS:
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make this dairy free strawberry sheet cake:
- Flour – We are using all purpose flour for this recipe. For the best results, we recommend spooning the flour into a measuring cup and then leveling any excess off the top.
- Vegan sugar – Cane sugar is what we are using. If you want to learn more about why your sugar may not be vegan, you can learn more by clicking on the link.
- Strawberries – The star of the show, we mean cake! We recommend using fresh in season strawberries, locally available if possible. If not, we recommend using frozen strawberries that have been thawed since they are picked at peak sweetness.
- Nondairy milk – You can use any non-dairy milk of your choosing. We tend to use oat or almond.
- Apple cider vinegar – We use vinegar to make a vegan version of buttermilk. When the nondairy milk and vinegar sit together for a few milk, it begins to curdle and mimics that taste of dairy buttermilk.
- Strawberry Extract – We highly recommend using strawberry extract in this cake because it really makes the strawberry flavor prominent.
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
- Flour – If you’d prefer, you can sub all the all purpose flour for cake flour. Also, you can use a gluten free 1:1 flour blend for this recipe. We recommend King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 blends.
- Sugar – You could swap with date sugar or coconut sugar if you are trying to pick a healthier alternative. Do not sub brown sugar for the cane sugar and it would cause to much moistness and a more dense cake.
- Berries – You could make this cake with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and more!
- Acid – Vinegar acts as our acid to make the vegan buttermilk. It also creates airiness and helps your create be more moist. You could sub this with white vinegar or lemon juice instead.
- Oil – The oil can be subbed for unsweetened applesauce in the same proportion to make this cake oil free. Vegan butter or any neutral oil could also be substituted for vegetable oil. Note: use a vegan butter than has a higher fat percentage and water is not listed as the first ingredient.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST VEGAN ONE BOWL VEGAN STRAWBERRY SHEET PAN CAKE?
- How to make this super fluffy? – Definitely use the spoon method mentioned above for measuring. Also, use a sifter to sift in the dry ingredients. These two things ensure there are no clumps and it’s the exact proportion of ingredients.
- How to make this a moist cake? You can combine the dairy free milk and vinegar together ahead of time and let these two things sit together for at least 10 minutes. This creates a vegan buttermilk and the curdling of the milk creates more moistness when added to the cake.
- How do I make my cake not dense? Do not use beaters for this vegan cake recipe. Beating leads to a more dense cake since the beaters mixing develop gluten within the flour. Using a whisk and a spatula by hand will create a less dense and therefore more fluffy cake.
- How do I not over bake my cake? You should start checking your cake at the 35 minute mark. Completely remove the cake and use a cake tester or toothpick to check. Insert it into the middle of the cake and when it is removed it should come out clean. Do not leave the oven on or the temperature will drop too quickly. Check at 5 minute intervals after that.
- Where in the oven should my cake go? Make sure to cook your cake on the middle rack of your oven. Too high up and your cake will burn. Too low in the oven and you will have a cake that is unevenly cooked.
- Can I just chop strawberries? We get it, it’s easy to just chop and drop than get out another appliance in your kitchen and pulse to perfection. But trust us, this is not what you want to do. Dropping chopped strawberries into your batter will give you a more vanilla cake with chunks of strawberries. That’s not what we are going for here. We want strawberry infused cake and you need to puree the strawberries as described in the instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions For Easy Vegan Strawberry Cake:
How do you make strawberry puree?
To make the strawberry puree, you just throw fresh (or thawed frozen) strawberries into a blender and pulse until you have a nice consistency. You do not want a smoothie here so don’t over process. You want it to be chucky with little bites of strawberries. See photo above.
What size pan is a sheet pan cake?
The standard size of a sheet cake pan is 9x13x2. This means that it is 9 inches wide, 13 inches long and 2 inched deep. Some sheet cake pans are 9x13x3 so 3 inches deep. That will not affect this cake at all.
Should I use a metal or glass pan?
You can use either! Glass makes for a better presentation if serving in the pan if that’s important to you. Alternatively, you could also put parchment paper down in metal or glass and remove the entire cake if you’d like to serve it that way.
One important note is that metal cookies faster than glass so make sure to check a metal pan on the shorter end of the timing scale versus the longer end.
I only have round cake pans, can I use that instead?
Yes, you can. Just grease two round cake pans and divide the batter evenly into each pan. You will likely want to double any frosting recipe and double layered cakes typically use more frosting.
How to make sure my cake does stick to the pan?
You want to make sure to liberally oil the pan. You can do that with a spray can of oil or you can use you hands to spread oil around in the pan. Make sure to oil the sides, the bottom and any corners well. Additionally, to ensure it comes out easier, you can line the bottom of your cake pan with parchment paper allowing some overhang to use as handles to lift the cake out.
My cake is stuck to the pan, now what?
If your cake is stuck to the pan after cooking, then we recommend that you wait until your cake is completely cooled and then place it into a fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes. Then, take a butter knife and go around the edges. Carefully, try to lift it up enough that you can get something under it like a spatula and then very slowly push side to side to lift up.
If you put it in the freezer, you can leave on the counter to thaw back out at room temperature.
Can you make this Top 8 Allergen Free cake?
The ingredients that are in this vegan strawberry cake that are not Top 8 Allergen free is the flour and potentially the dairy free milk.
For the flour, I’d suggest something like GF Measure for Measure by King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Flour Blend. Just use a safe for you nondairy milk like oat or flax.
Can I make this an oil free vegan strawberry cake?
Yes! We have tested this recipe using unsweetened applesauce. You can replace the oil with the same amount of applesauce and pour in when the directions say to add the oil.
CAN I MAKE THIS INTO VEGAN STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES?
You can absolutely make this into dairy free strawberry cupcakes. Simply make the recipe as normal and then instead of greasing a sheet cake pan, spray a cupcake pan or fill with liners. Fill each one up ¾ of the way. You’ll want to reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
Can I make this vegan strawberry cake ahead of time?
You may be wondering if you can prep this cake ahead of time. The answer is yes!
You can make the cake and the frosting up to 3 days before needed. Prepare them the same way. You can either frosting before or after, but it should be store in an air tighter container in the fridge.
Can I freeze this one bowl vegan strawberry sheet cake?
Yes! We do recommend that it be frozen without the icing if possible, but if not it can still be frozen. Our recommendation is to wrap in foil and then put into an air tight container or bag to reduce the risk of freezer burn.
Can I use a different frosting other than vegan buttercream frosting?
Vegan Buttercream Frosting is what is shown in the photos.
If you’d like, you can try the following :
Side note that our strawberry frosting is naturally dyed pink, but if you want other colors of frosting, you can choose the buttercream or vanilla frosting recipes and then either dye with a natural food color or your normal choice of food coloring.
What are other vegan cake recipes that I should try?
Just because you have food allergies or preferences, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to have great tasting desserts. We’d even venture to say that these are better than their “normal” counterparts. These are some other dairy free cake recipes that you should try:
Get even more vegan cake inspiration on our site!
Pin this one bowl vegan strawberry sheet cake for later!
One Bowl Vegan Strawberry Sheet Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup fresh strawberries (about 7-8, more for topping)
- 3 cups all purpose flour (can sub gluten free 1:1 blend)
- 1 ½ cups vegan sugar
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil (can sub with applesauce or another neutral oil)
- 1 ¼ cup dairy free milk
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon strawberry extract (optional or just add more vanilla)
Instructions
- Make the strawberry puree: Add the fresh strawberries to a blender and blend until small pieces remain. Do not over do it.
- Grease a 9×13 cake pan. Set aside
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk together.
- Add in oil, dairy free milk, vinegar, and both extracts. With a spatula, mix together until almost combined.
- Add the strawberry puree and fold together just until completely combined.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
- Bake for 35-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool before frosting.
For the Frosting
- While cake is baking, click the link for the frosting of your choice and follow the instructions to prepare.
- Once cake is cooled, spread frosting across the top of the cake.
- Top with additional sliced strawberries if desired.
- Cut and serve.
- *Chopped pistachios are crumbled on top of the cake in the photos. Not required.
Sonia M
This was so easy and delicious! used the vegan buttercream frosting with powdered freeze dried strawberries to turn it pink!
LarishaBernard
Love that! So happy to hear you enjoyed
Amy Angelo
Hi there! This looks so good and have been trying to find a vegan sheet cake recipe for my daughter’s birthday! Can I make this without the strawberry puree? If so what could I sub to make it moist? Applesauce? (same amt?) Thx!!!
LarishaBernard
Yes!
Meg Jones
I made this for Memorial Day Weekend with Make It Dairy Free’s strawberry buttercream icing. It was delicious! It tasted a lot like a pound cake and was so delicious with the fresh strawberries throughout the batter. My non-vegan family members loved it and even went back for seconds!
LarishaBernard
So happy to hear that!
Meg Jones
I made this for Memorial Day Weekend with Make It Dairy Free’s strawberry buttercream icing. It was delicious! It tasted a lot like a pound cake and was so delicious with the fresh strawberries throughout the batter. My non-vegan family members loved it and even went back for seconds!
LarishaBernard
So happy to hear that it was a hit with everyone!
Raquel Osorio
Best Bday cake I made for my son. We’re talking 21 years of cakes. You guys rock and I had the best time watching the ice cream bars review. Oh, the sacrifices you both make… Hope the girls got a piece of the action later 😉
LarishaBernard
We are so happy to hear that! Happy birthday to your son! We appreciate you taking time to leave your thoughts!
The girls definitely had some (they were at the end of the video)
Megan
I made this with the strawberry frosting. The cake was very moist and delicious! My non-vegan friends had no idea it was dairy and egg free and it was much enjoyed by all!
Dylan
Love the idea of using leftover strawberries since it’s getting to be picking season. Is there no video for this one?
LarishaBernard
No video yet for this one! Enjoy 🙂