Vegan Vanilla Cake - Loving It Vegan (2024)

4.94 from 580 votes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Author: Alison Andrews

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

• 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Nutrition information is based on 1 serve of 10 with a very generous amount of vanilla frosting.
6. Vanilla Frosting is from this recipe.