Description
This is the ultimate vegan birthday cake recipe!! Made with a secretly eggless yellow cake that’s so soft and tender, and topped with a decadent dairy free chocolate buttercream, this vegan birthday cake tastes just like the classic yellow cake mix! Make it gluten free as needed!
Ingredients
Vegan Yellow Cake:
- 3 1/2 cups (440 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (220 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 cup (220 g) unsweetened applesauce or dairy-free yogurt, room temperature
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vegan yellow food coloring (I would NOT recommend turmeric powder)
- 1 batch vegan chocolate buttercream frosting or vegan ganache
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×13 sheet cake pan or three 8″ cake pans with cooking oil, and line them with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, dairy-free yogurt, vanilla extract, sugar, and vegan yellow food coloring (start with 2-3 drops, then add more if needed, depending on the brand you use). Then add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt, and begin to whisk together while pouring in the dairy-free milk. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Bake: Pour the batter into the sheet cake pan, and bake for 33-35 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.
- Make the ganache: While the cake is baking, if you’re frosting with ganache, it’s best to make it now so that it has time to cool and thicken before frosting.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and allow the cakesto cool in its pan for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled completely (there is absolutely no warmth to the touch!), then you can prepare your chocolate buttercream if using that frosting.
- Prepare the chocolate buttercream: make the chocolate buttercream according to the directions in the post. You should yield about 6 cups of frosting.
- Assemble the cake: Simply frost your sheet cake pan and serve. If you’re making a layer cake, on a cake stand or a cake turntable, spoon about 3/4 cup of frosting onto the first layer. Use an offset spatula to smooth the frosting to the edges. Then place the second layer on top and repeat. Place the third layer on top and frost the outside of the cake, creating a crumb coat. You can either smooth the edges even more after chilling the crumb coat layer, or you can make swoops in the frosting. Decorate with sprinkles and serve! Enjoy!
- Storage: store any leftover cake wrapped in parchment paper and tinfoil, and in the fridge for up to 4 days or the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
Gluten free: you can use gluten free 1:1 baking flour here as needed. I recommend using King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten free flour and a tbsp of arrowroot starch or cornstarch.
Refined sugar free: you can use coconut sugar in place of granulated sugar.
Yellow coloring: I don’t recommend turmeric, as it reacts with the baking soda, and can cause an orange color. Sometimes it’s okay with the Whole Foods 365 food coloring, but other times, it can turn orange in spots. For vegan food coloring, I like Nomeca.
