Absolutely delicious vegan vanilla cake. You’ll only be upset you didn’t have the recipe before. Just 9 ingredients! Can be Top 8 Allergen Free!
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Simple, classic, delicious. Vegan vanilla cake is just want you need!
Whether you are vegan for the animals or dairy free for an allergy, you have likely shown up to a party where cake or cupcakes are being served. Only to find that once you arrive to the event that you aren’t able to have any of the desserts because they are not dairy free and egg free.
It’s heartbreaking. Even more upsetting if it’s a children’s party for your child.
But this vegan vanilla cake is the answer.
This dairy free vanilla cake is perfectly homemade. There is no artificial flavorings and it’s perfectly moist.
Top with the most delicious dairy free vanilla frosting or chocolate frosting. The choice is all yours.
No more play dates and parties and holiday get togethers that you have to be worried about not having the perfect dessert.
Instead take your own and enjoy everything else right along with everyone.
What ingredients do you need to make vegan vanilla cake?
In order to make this vegan vanilla cake you need just 9 ingredients! You’ll need a few more, depending on the frosting that you choose.
Full amounts of each ingredients is listed In the printable recipe card below.
The ingredients that you need for these vegan vanilla cupcakes are:
- Flour (use gluten free if needed- we like this GF flour)
- Vegan Sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Coconut oil (see below for allergies)
- Vanilla Extract
- Unsweetened Dairy Free Milk (we like oat)
- Apple Cider Vinegar
That’s all the ingredients you need for this dairy free vanilla cake.
How to do you make a vegan vanilla cake?
In order to make this vegan vanilla cake, you’re going to start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease your 9″ cake pans or, if oil free, use silicone cake pans.
In one bowl, add the dairy free milk and the apple cider vinegar together with the melted coconut oil. Let that mixture site for 10 minutes.
You do this to form a dairy free buttermilk as the acid causes the milk to curdle. We add the coconut oil in there because it doesn’t affect the curdling and it’s just another wet ingredient.
Meanwhile, in another bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Then, add the vanilla and stir just until incorporated.
Pour evenly into the cake pans.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool.
While it is baking make the frosting of your choice (see options below) and then once the cake is completely cooled, spread frosting over.
CAN I MAKE THIS INTO VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES?
You can absolutely make this into dairy free vegan cupcakes.
Since this is making a layered cake and you may not want that many cupcakes, we’d encourage you to check out our vegan vanilla cupcake recipe post for adjusted ingredients for cupcakes.
HOW DO I MAKE THIS VEGAN VANILLA CAKE LOOK EXACTLY LIKE YOURS?
We get it. No one likes “Pinterest fails”. You see something and think, “that’s out of my league, no way I’m trying that.” Take a deep breathe and instead say, “I’m going to following these steps and make the best cake I’ve ever made.”
Step 1: It’s all about positive thinking.
Step 2: You need to follow some really important tips that we’re going to share with you on how to make the best dairy free vanilla cake that actually looks like it came from a bakery. Your guests (and yourself) are going to be blown away.
Here’s our tips for making this cake look exactly like ours in the picture:
- Follow the instructions pretty please. Cake baking is a science, especially when making a dairy free/vegan cake. The sifting and exact ingredient amounts are very important. Every step has a purpose to ensure the perfect dairy free vanilla cake.
- We have a thick double layered cake in the photos. That is due to use using these specific 9″ cake pans. There are an inch higher (2.5″ instead of 1.5″) than most 9″ cake pans. If you only have the 1.5″ high 9″ cake pans, then we would suggest making a triple layer cake with 3 cake pans.
- Make sure that you evenly distribute the cake batter into the cake pans. You can use a scale to make sure that they are all within a small range of each other.
- When the cakes are cooked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to allow the cakes to cool evenly.
- Let the cakes cool to touch, then remove them carefully to wax paper to cool completely. DO NOT RUSH. Let it cool completely.
- When ready to make the cake – use a cake leveling tool to make sure there’s no uneven tops.
Tips for piping:
- We used a Wilton 1m Icing Tip.
- Place a small amount of frosting down first on a rotating cake stand, then your first layer. The frosting acts as a glue so the cake won’t slip.
- Use a piping bag and a large round tip and pipe frosting in a circular motion from the outer edge completely in to the middle.
- Use a cake spreader to gently even out layer of frosting. Place next layer and repeat step 6. Place third layer on top. Step back and see if there is any gaps in between the layers. If there are, place enough frosting in those areas to get frosting to the edge of the pan.
- Use a cake scraper to go around the cake and ensure evenness around the entire cake. This step is really important. Place frosting on the top of the cake and more on sides if needed and frost evenly. Using a spreader on the top and the scraper to even evenness.
- Get creative. If you can’t get as smooth as you want or even as you want – you can also add toppings like crushed nuts or chocolate shavings, or drizzle chocolate syrup along the edge so people focus on that. Plus it looks better either way.
- *Bonus Tip: If you want to frosting the cake but keep a clean cake stand, cut four 7″ pieces of wax paper and overlap them before placing the first layer on the cake stand. When you are completely done frosting the cake, carefully remove the four pieces of wax paper.
WHAT ARE SOME VEGAN FROSTING IDEAS FOR THIS CAKE?
One great thing about cakes is that you can mix and match frostings! We absolutely love doing this. Some ideas for vegan cake frostings are:
- Vegan Vanilla Frosting
- Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- Vegan Strawberry Buttercream
Leave a comment below and tell us what frosting flavor you want to see next!
Can I make this a top 8 allergen friendly vanilla cake?
There are a few ingredients that we are looking at for Top 8 allergens, but it is possible to make these Top 8 safe.
To start, use a gluten free flour (we like this GF flour). Please note that you should allow the cake to cool and keep at room temperature.
Then, use a safe for you dairy free milk. We like oat, but you could use hemp or flax or pea milk for a top 8 free milk.
And finally, the melted coconut oil can be swapped with another oil like canola or you can use a soy free, dairy free butter like Earth Balance soy free in the red tub.
What other delicious vegan desserts should I try?
Once you have perfected these vegan vanilla cupcakes, you may be looking out for other delicious dairy free cupcakes or cakes. Here are some dairy free dessert recipe ideas. Dairy Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Vegan)
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Dye Free Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Apple Pie
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
Pin this Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe for later:
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Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups unsweetened oat milk
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted (can sub with another neutral oil)
- 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 cups flour (use GF flour if needed)
- 2 cups vegan cane sugar
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla powder (or 4 teaspoon vanilla extract)
Choice of Frosting (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line 9" pans with parchment paper and grease the pans.*We use these 9" pans (see post for details if you don't have these)
- In one bowl, add the dairy free milk and the apple cider vinegar together with the melted coconut oil. Let that mixture sit for 10 minutes.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
- Then, add the vanilla and stir just until incorporated.
- Pour until approximately ½ of the way.
- Bake for 38-42 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. *If using 3 pans, check for doneness around 33-35 minutes.
- *While cake is baking, choose a frosting to make. Store in fridge until cake is cooled completely. Spread frosting across the layers. *Note: We tripled the frosting to make this cake with a crumb layer and the piping.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
originally published on 1/25/2019. Updated on 8/12/19.
I’ve made this many times. It is such an easy and forgivable recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I do want to know if you’ve tried to make it with cake flour to have a more airy effect? And if so would it still be 4 cups of CF? Thx in advance!
Hi Zayri! We definitely haven’t tried this ourselves, but realistically it should if you add an extra 1-2 tbsp of cake flour per cup of all-purpose flour called for in the recipe. Glad you’re enjoying the cake!
Thank you so much for this outstanding recipe! Also, the YouTube was hilarious and entertaining to boot! My 12 year old wanted to make a cake for her vegan dad’s birthday. Neither of us are really great in the kitchen ;-D so I was nervous as this was going to be the only main dessert for his party. We went with a larger portion for a bigger cake and followed instructions to a T! I am SO happy with how it turned out! We even added our own touch on top of the frosting (crumbled freeze dried strawberries) and it looked beautiful. Everyone who had a slice raved about it (even those who are good bakers). And my hubby had TWO slices because he was the birthday boy afterall 😉
love that! Happy belated birthday to your husband!
Hi Larisha, thank you!!
Just un update, I filled it with lemon curd (without sugar) and add sliced apples (drizzled with lime juice); and the vanilla frosting for topping. Nobody believed it was a vegan cake, they loved it!!
For next time, I’ll bake it for 1h10 because the top bottom needed more time to finish cooking.
Thank you again for this recipe!!
I fixed this recipe for my husband and the gluten free version for myself. They were both great! They rose a lot more than the other vegan and gluten free cakes we’ve made in the past. Thank you for your recipes!
We are so glad that you are enjoying them!
I’m so glad I tried this recipe! This is the first cake I’ve ever made that is fluffy, moist. I’d put less sugar, but I was too scaried to change the recipe and ruin my bithday cake (again). I put all the batter in one pan (30 cm), it took of baking 55 min at 380 F. I’ll fill it with apple and glaze it with lemon curd to cut the extra sugar. Thank you very much guys!!
Happy Birthday Layane! So glad that the recipe worked well for you!
I’d never baked a cake in my life and I get nervous when recipes have too many ingredients or steps. But the preparation for this cake seemed beginner-friendly, so I nervously gave it a try. I am super pleased to say that it came out amazingly! Perfectly moist and just the right amount of sweetness. I’ll definitely be visiting this site again—I see more delicious vegan cakes in my future!
Awesome! We’re happy to hear that!
I used 1 cup melted Miyoko’s vegan butter in place of the oil and used 2 9″ x 1 1/2″ Wilson round pans. Baked 45 minutes. Turned out great.
So glad you enjoyed it