The ultimate vegan vanilla cake that’s incredibly tender, moist, and decadently sweet- yet, you’d never know it’s vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and healthier! Just 9 ingredients for the perfect vegan cake for any birthday, graduation, wedding, or holiday!
If you’re looking for a healthy vegan cake, look no further (except, of course, if you’re a chocolate fan… then go see my ultra rich paleo vegan chocolate cake 😉 ). This vegan vanilla cake is the ultimate vanilla cake. Period. Full stop. You don’t need another recipe.
It’s so incredibly fluffy and moist, you’ll be hard-pressed to determine that this cake is indeed vegan (and gluten free!). Plus, this cake is incredibly soft and packed with vanilla flavor that leaves you with a far from boring healthier vegan dessert.
In fact, you’ll scoff at it walking down the aisles of the grocery store because in your back pocket, you have the best vanilla cake recipe in the world, and little do those cake box mixes know, you’re about to wow your friends and turn them all into believers in making only making a vanilla cake recipe from scratch!
Yes, I am that confident.
I’m sure you want to know the catch. And I’m happy to report there is no catch. In fact, this vanilla cake is so dang good, you wouldn’t even know that it’s completely dairy free, gluten free, and egg free.
The even better part is that this vegan cake is just as easy as making a cake mix from the box, but when you can have the best vanilla cake ever , why even buy the mix?!
Vegan vanilla cake ingredients
You’ll be shocked at how simple the ingredients to this vanilla cake are. And guess what? It’s just 9 ingredients!
For the cake:
- Organic Flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour: either works here! For gluten-free flour, make sure that it is 1-to-1 and not all-purpose. I recommend Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur. Before adding the flour to the bowl, just make sure to sift it!
- Sugar: you can use coconut sugar or granulated sugar- just keep in mind that your cakes will be slightly tanner in color when using coconut sugar. Still just as delicious!
- Vegan Butter or Coconut Oil: you’ll be surprised that there actually isn’t a lot of oil/fat going into this cake! This cake is actually shockingly low in fat as far as cakes go.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: this basically acts as the “egg” that you’d typically find in other vanilla cakes. You can also swap in ground flax seed if desired.
- Vegan Buttermilk (made from scratch): just simply combine your favorite coconut or nut milk (or dairy free milk!) with a little apple cider vinegar.
- Vanilla Extract: you’re going to need a lot of vanilla in here, but trust me, it’ll be worth it. This is the best vanilla cake recipe from scratch because of the vanilla- literally makes it taste like you’re eating a Georgetown Cupcake vanilla cupcake! It’s insane!
- Leavening agents: this is just your average baking soda and baking powder! Please make sure that the baking powder hasn’t gone bad or was stored improperly- this is crucial for making sure our cakes rise properly. To make sure your baking powder is still good, check out how to test it!
For the vegan buttercream:
I go over how to make the ultimate vegan buttercream in the sections below. Trust me, I have people that have never tried dairy free frosting in their lives, and they’re saying it’s the best frosting they’ve ever eaten.
The trick to incredibly moist vegan cakes: vegan buttermilk
I feel like this is such an underrated trick, and I talk about it a bit in my Vegan Baking 101 guide.
If you’ve ever had a normal vanilla cake, then you’ll know that incredibly sweet yet ever so subtle tang that comes along with a fluffy and moist cake. That’s from the buttermilk. It also helps to give rise to the cake without drying it out.
So since buttermilk isn’t vegan, we’ll have to make our own- but don’t worry it’s so simple!
All you’ll need to do is combine your chosen dairy free milk with a little apple cider vinegar. Let the mixture sit for 5-7 minutes so that it can slightly curdle. Then use it in your recipe as you would regular buttermilk!
How to make a vegan vanilla cake
A part of what makes this vegan cake the best vanilla cake in the history of vanilla cakes is that it’s incredibly easy to make.
I’ve now tested this cake with two different methods so please read on, and for specifics, follow the recipe card below. This is a general overview of the directions.
The first method is without a stand mixer. For years I did all of my baking without a stand mixer. I even created, tested, and retested over 110 vegan dessert recipes for my cookbook without a stand mixer so please know that anything you can do with a stand mixer, you can do without! I’m proof!
The second method is with a stand mixer. My wonderful boyfriend and his family surprised me with a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas, and I literally broke out into tears. This was on my list to treat myself to for the longest time, so of course, I was a basket case. And I immediately got baking the day after christmas!
Either way, you’ll end up with a wonderful vanilla cake that will wow a crowd!
Making a cake by hand method:
Before we begin, make sure that you’ve prepared your vegan “buttermilk.” Simply whisk or mix together the nut milk and the apple cider vinegar and set aside.
Then preheat the oven to 350F and grease three cake pans (you can use either 6″ or 8″ cake pans) with olive or coconut oil, along with parchment paper.
- Next, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt together in a large bowl. Set this aside, and in a medium bowl, whisk together the applesauce, the homemade “buttermilk,” melted coconut oil, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until it’s a nice and smooth vanilla cake batter.
- Pour the cake batter evenly into both cake pans and place in the oven on the middle shelf to bake.
- Once they’re done, remove them from the oven and let cool in the pans before removing and placing onto a cooling rack.
Making a cake with a stand mixer:
If you are making this vanilla cake with a stand mixer, you’ll actually start with the wet ingredients first!
- First, whisk together just the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
- Next, you’ll cream together the softened vegan butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves into the butter about 3 minutes. I used the flat beater paddle. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Then add in the unsweetened applesauce and vanilla, and continue to beat again on medium-low speed, then increasing it to medium speed until combine, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Gradually add in half of the flour mixture, followed half of the vegan buttermilk, and continue beating until the entire flour mixture and the buttermilk are in the batter. Beat until the dry ingredients are just incorporated, being careful not to over mix. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Then divide the batter into the cake pans and bake!
How to make a vegan vanilla buttercream frosting
Making a vegan buttercream frosting is actually quite easy and really quite literally is the icing on the cake that makes this the best vanilla cake in the world.
You’ll need only a few ingredients: vegan butter, vanilla, a nut or coconut milk, and organic powdered sugar.
Make sure that your vegan butter is softened, basically at room temperature like you would make a normal buttercream frosting.
- Add the butter to a large bowl and cream it using a hand mixer.
- Then add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and continue to beat until it becomes a thick buttercream.
- Add in the vanilla extract here, as well as any needed coconut or almond milk to make it to the desired thickness you’d like.
Then frost your beautiful healthy vegan cake!
You can leave the sides completely naked, fully frost them, or go for the slightly exposed look that I did, and you won’t even need a frosting knife! Just simply add a little bit of frosting to the knife and essentially, you’re gently “scraping” the frosting alongside the edges of your vegan vanilla cake.
How to decorate a cake:
This is my absolute favorite part.
I’ve been getting really into different pipings and designs on cakes lately, as well as learning to get that really smooth look to frosting using a cake turntable and bench scraper.
However, I also love the nice swoops that a spoon creates, along with my ever favorite decoration: flowers!
For cake decorating, I highly recommend purchasing a cake turntable for ease of frosting both in-between and on the outsides of the cake layers.
A bench scraper is also helpful as well for getting a really smooth exterior.
Any leftover frosting you can color or leave as is, and pipe onto the sides and top of your cake for fun decoration- sort of like how I did my homemade vegan wedding cake!
Vegan Cake Tips & Troubleshooting
I want to make sure that you’re getting the best vegan cake every single time, so let’s go over some common technical issues!
Why is my vegan cake dense?
This happens for a few reasons. Sometimes, if your ingredients aren’t room temperature (i.e. something is very cold and something is very hot), it will throw off the texture in the cake and cause it to be gummy rather than fluffy and moist.
The easiest fix is: patience! Make sure that you’re allowing all of your ingredients to come to room temperature.
Another reason this can happen is if you don’t sift your flour. Make sure that you do this! Otherwise, you’ll end up with a gummy mess!
Why did my cake collapse?
It’s natural for cakes to slightly sink after baking, but if it completely collapsed in the middle, this could be due to a few reasons. Sometimes, our ovens aren’t actually the temperature that they say they are, and that can yield an unevenly baked cake.
Another reason could be because the dry ingredients weren’t properly whisked together or that the batter was under-mixed in general.
Be sure to read through all of the directions before beginning!
How much frosting between the cake layers?
I recommend using about 3/4 cup to a cup if you’re doing a 6″ cake, like I did. If you’re making an 8″ vegan vanilla cake, use about 1 1/2 cups!
Can I make this vegan cake ahead of time?
Yes! I recommend making the vanilla cake part up to a day ahead and storing it wrapped in an airtight container or with plastic wrap at room temperature.
Then when you’re ready to make finish the cake, prepare the frosting and serve.
How do I store this cake?
Any leftovers you have can be sliced and then stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Additionally, you can freeze the cake, and let it thaw in the fridge for 4 hours when you’re ready to enjoy again!
You can also leave this cake at room temperature for up to a day if covered and stored in an airtight container.
I just know you’re going to love this homemade vanilla cake recipe as much as I do. I mean, it really is the best vanilla cake recipe in the world!
Say goodbye to cake mixes, because you’ll never go back to store-bought with a recipe this good and this easy 😉
I hope you absolutely love this vegan vanilla cake! It’s truly one of my family’s favorites and is always requested for a birthday or celebration (but you can just make a cake for the heck of it!).
Let me know how your cakes went over in the comments below, along with giving it a rating so that others may find it!
I look forward to seeing how you decorate them on Instagram and Pinterest!
Happy Baking, my loves!
More healthy vegan cake recipes:
Ultra Rich Paleo Vegan Chocolate Cake
Super Moist Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake
Paleo Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make something from The Banana Diaries, I would love to see your creations! Make sure to leave a review in comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find the recipe. Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook for more vegan recipe inspiration!
PrintThe Best Vanilla Cake Ever (And it’s vegan!)
The ultimate vegan vanilla cake that’s incredibly fluffy, moist, and decadently sweet- yet, you’d never know it’s vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and healthier! Just 9 ingredients for the perfect vegan cake for any birthday, graduation, wedding, or holiday!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Vegan Vanilla Cake:
- 3 1/2 cups organic flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour, sifted (do NOT skip- add in 1 tsp arrowroot powder if using gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour, see Note)
- 1 1/4 cup cane sugar or coconut sugar (see Note)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cup unsweetened dairy free milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (to be mixed with coconut/almond milk)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegan butter or coconut oil, softened
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract (yes, tablespoons!)
Vegan Vanilla Buttercream:
- 2 cups vegan butter, softened
- 4 cups organic powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2–4 tbsp unsweetened dairy free milk
Instructions
No equipment version:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease three 6″ or 8″ cake pans with olive or coconut oil.
- Add apple cider vinegar to unsweetened coconut/almond milk and set aside. In a separate bowl, melt the vegan butter or coconut oil and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add dairy free milk and apple cider vinegar mixture, coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla together. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until there are no more clumps of batter. If your cake batter looks a little dry, you can add in by the tablespoon a little more coconut or almond milk.
- Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans.
- Place cake pans into the oven and bake for 22-24 minutes (for 6″) or 27-30 minutes (for 8″), or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a drying rack to cool completely before frosting.
Stand mixer or hand mixer version:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease three 6″ or 8″ cake pans with olive or coconut oil.
- Add apple cider vinegar to unsweetened coconut/almond milk and set aside.
- Whisk together just the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Next, you’ll cream together the softened vegan butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves into the butter about 3 minutes. I used the flat beater paddle. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Then add in the unsweetened applesauce and vanilla, and continue to beat again on medium-low speed, then increasing it to medium speed until combine, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Gradually add in half of the flour mixture, followed half of the vegan buttermilk, and continue beating until the entire flour mixture and the buttermilk are in the batter. Beat until the dry ingredients are just incorporated, being careful not to over mix. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans.
- Place cake pans into the oven and bake for 22-24 minutes (for 6″) or 27-30 minutes (for 8″), or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a drying rack to cool completely before frosting.
Vegan Vanilla Buttercream:
- When ready to frost the cakes, add vegan butter to a large bowl or stand mixer and cream for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, continuing the beat the mixture until it’s a thick buttercream.
- Add in vanilla and 2-4 tablespoons of coconut/almond milk and continue to beat until desired texture.
- Frost cake and enjoy!Â
Notes
Make sure that you add in a tsp of arrowroot powder or cornstarch if using gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour. This will give the flour more like a cake flour texture when baked- very tender and moist!
If you use coconut sugar, your cake will be slightly tanner in color- but still delicious!!
Keywords: vegan vanilla cake, gluten free vegan vanilla cake, healthy vegan cake, healthy vanilla cake, best ever vanilla cake
Hi! Have you tried freezing these cakes at all? Wanting to make ahead, freeze, then thaw and decorate a few days later. Wondering if the texture will stay the same. Thanks!
Hi Zoe! I haven’t tried freezing them before, but I have heard you can freeze the layers before dirty icing the cake, you just need to let the layers thaw a bit before frosting! If you don’t want to freeze them, you could easily make these cakes the day before you want to decorate them without freezing, and they’ll be perfect!
Hey, is there any way I can sub the regular flour for almond flour? or coconut flour? Really appreciate all these wonderful and diverse recipes 🙂
Hi Tiffany! Aw you’re so sweet- thank you for the kind words 🙂 for the recipe, I haven’t subbed in almond and coconut flour yet, but I have tried this Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour (NOT the GF flour in the red bag, this one is in a blue bag- TOTALLY different results!), and it worked perfectly!
I just made this recipe and it absolutely slaps. I love it! It is super dense but in a good way and it’s really good and vanilla-y. I iced it with choc-banana icing and it was really delicious. Super moist and great texture. My family loved it, (my aunty on a zoom call said it looked great but she couldn’t have any because you know, isolation things). This is a perfect vegan cake and one of the only ones without granulated sugar, so good!
★★★★★
Aw my goodness I am just so happy to hear it!! Thank you so much for such a wonderful review, and I’m so happy to hear you loved it! ENJOY!
Thank you for the recipe! I love baking but haven’t been vegan baking for long and I was disappointed with how things were turning out without eggs. This is the first time I’ve tried applesauce in a recipe as a replacement and it came out beautifully.
★★★★★
Aw I am just so happy to hear it!!! Thank you so much! Enjoy! 🙂
First of all, these photos are absolutely stunning! And secondly, this cake is AWESOME! I find a lot of vanilla cakes to be wayyyyy too sweet, but this one has the perfect balance that really allows that vanilla flavor to come through 🙂
★★★★★
You are truly too sweet, thank you so much!! I appreciate your kind words 🙂 Enjoy!
The recipe looks amazing! I was just wondering if I could substitute the applesauce for vegan yogurt as I have no applesauce on hand? Thank you!
Hi Chloe! So sorry for the delay! Vegan yogurt will work just fine in this recipe as a substitute (1:1 ratio 🙂 ). Enjoy!
If I wanted to use regular butter for the butter cream, would you recommend salted or unsalted?
Hi Lauren! You can use unsalted 🙂
I made this cake yesterday with some chopped peaches mixed in for a summer treat and it was wonderful! I used yogurt in place of the coconut oil and it still came out tender and fluffy. The cake was delicately sweet and the vanilla flavor definitely came through – exactly what I was looking for in a vanilla cake recipe. Thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to make it again.
★★★★★
My goodness, this is just truly lovely to hear!! Thank you so much for the sweet words and the rating!! Also love that you used fresh peaches!! What a genius idea!
Too TOO beautiful I just can’t!! Definitely baking one of your cakes this weekend. Now I have another question along with the “what do you do with all the food” one: what camera do you use? And how do you get the beautiful pour shots such as when pouring maple syrup on your pancakes? Thanks again, Britt!
Aw thank you!! That means the world to me 🙂 I use the canon mark 5d! And lotssss of practice haha!! There are great tutorials online!
Thank you so much for your replies, Britt! I’ve read the Canon mark 5d is the best indeed, but pricey as well! Who knows, when I’m done with school and ready to take my own level up a notch, I might upgrade! 😉 Thanks for being the best inspiration, I truly look up to you everyday! xx
This looks amazing!! I tried using flaxegg as a egg replacement but had black specks throughouut and excited to try this instead. I was wondering can you use this recipe to make a 2 layer 8/9″ cake instead?
★★★★★
Aw I’m so happy!! Yes, so a flaxseed will have some specks because it’s not a puree like applesauce! I recommend using applesauce if you can, but then again, if you don’t mind the look, the taste will still be amazing! You can absolutely make a 2 layer 8″ cake out of it! The bake time will be a bit different- I would start looking at how it’s browning (look for a light gold color) around the 30 minute mark, and use a toothpick to test!
Would it work if I decreased the sugar in the cake? Maybe 3/4 cup? And how would the cake ingredient measurements be if I wanted to make an 8 inch triple layer? I don’t have 6 inch pans. Thanks.
Hi Jody! You can safely decrease the sugar in the cake to 1 cup, but any less might alter the taste drastically. No need to adjust for 8″! You’ll be able to fill the cake pans just fine! The cakes will just take about 5 minutes longer to bake, but check them after 27 minutes to see how they’re doing!
Ok sounds great, thank you! I’ll let u know how it turns out!
Unfortunately, the result was a flop. I baked in 3 8- inch cake pans. They came out flat, like really thick pancakes. Underneath, in the bottom of each cake there are numerous holes. Not sure what I should do with these now. Don’t even know if making frosting is worth it.
Hi Jody- I’m so sorry to hear this!! Do you mind walking me through what you did (any ingredient swaps, were the ingredients room temperature, were the leavening agents stored in a cool place/not expired, etc)? I’ve tested it countless times in both 8″ and 6″ cake pans, but it sounds like there was something wrong with the baking powder if it didn’t rise. Again, I’m so sorry this happened!
Hi! This recipe looks great and I can’t wait to make it for my Mom’s birthday!
I have a couple questions, first could I replace maple syrup for some of the sugar? And secondly, I only have sweetened mylk in my house… so how much should I reduce the sugar content by?
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to eat this 🙂
Aw that’s so wonderful!!! I hope she loves!! So I wouldn’t recommend using maple syrup in lieu of sugar, as it will throw off the wet to dry ratio. However, you can reduce the sugar to account for the sweetened mylk to 1 cup sugar!
I hope you all love! And happy early birthday to your mom! 🙂
Hi, do you think I could use oat flour in place of the all purpose flour? Thanks 🙂
Hi Tessa!! I’m actually working on testing out cakes with oat flour 🙂 Stay tuned! This one I haven’t quite nailed down the texture, but I’m working on it! For now, I recommend using gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill (blue bag, not red!) or King Arthur!
Hi!! Would these work as cupcakes? If so, what baking time would you recommend?
Thanks!
Kat
★★★★★
Hi Kat!! Aw you are too sweet, thank you!! So I actually have a vanilla cupcakes recipe that’s based off of this 🙂 You can find that here: https://thebananadiaries.com/best-vegan-vanilla-cupcakes/ Enjoy!!
Ah perfect!! Thanks so much!! I see you mentioned you can sub vegan yogurt for apple sauce 1-1 for this recipe. Can I do the same for the cupcakes? 🙂
Yes you can!!! 🙂
Hi there!! I want to make this for my sister’s birthday but I wan to add in some vegan chocolate chips for a chocolate chip cake. Do you think that would change the texture or baking time? I can’t to try this after reading the reviews seeing how wonderful it turned out for everyone! 🙂
Aw thank you so much!! It shouldn’t change the bake time too much, if at all (sounds like a wonderful addition!). I would just check the doneness with a toothpick or with the bounce-back test nearing the end of the designated bake time! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Is there any healthy sub for powdered sugar? I try to stay away from refined sugars altogether
Hi Heidi! You can use coconut sugar that you turn into a form of powdered sugar (by pulsing it for about 15-20 seconds in your food processor). However, that will give the frosting a caramel color. As long as you’re okay with that, then it’s a wonderful substitute!
Hi, can’t wait to make this. Just want to check as think I’ve had a problem when using US recipes ( I’m from uk). Is your temperature 350F fan? Or just a normal oven, think this conversion keeps messing up my bakes lol, thanks!
Hi Olivia! I apologize for the delay in my response!! Yes, it’s a fan oven (convection in the US, but fan in the UK!). I hope that helps!
Hi there !
Can I use soy milk instead of nut/coconuts milk for the buttermilk?
Yes absolutely!
The frosting is truly unbelievable. I’m normally not a frosting person, but I couldn’t get enough of this frosting. I sliced up a ripe banana and put the slices in the batter and baked them into the cake which was delicious too. Thank you so much for an amazing and easy to follow recipe!
★★★★★
Aw I’m so happy to hear it!! LOVE the banana idea 🙂 Thank you so much for this review! Enjoy!