One Bowl FRESH Vegan Strawberry Cake (No Food Coloring! Easy!)
This easy vegan strawberry cake is PACKED with fresh strawberries and so simple to make (no gelatin and just a whisk and a bowl!)! Layered with a fresh strawberry buttercream, this will quickly become your favorite spring vegan cake recipe!
The best homemade strawberry cake, vegan or not:
You are just going to love this fresh vegan strawberry cake. It’s full of fresh strawberries, bursting with sweetness, and deliciously light and tender.
And when I say it’s easy…as easy as my delicious one bowl lemon blueberry cake and vegan pistachio cake (you need only a whisk and a mixing bowl to make the batter!), and bakes SO lovely, you’ll be shocked to learn there are no eggs, no dairy, and no animal products whatsoever in this amazing vegan cake recipe.
And like my vegan strawberry cupcakes and peanut butter swirled strawberry sheet cake, we’re leaving the cake and frosting naturally colored pink from the strawberries. That’s right- NO food coloring whatsoever (because I really want to celebrate true natural colors!).
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The goal of this homemade strawberry cake was that it’s not only vegan (so no gelatin nor JELL-O mix here!), but it also uses simple ingredients. And the buttercream is made perfectly sweet with strawberry flavor thanks to the freeze dried strawberries!
Overall, this homemade strawberry cake is a win. It’s full of fresh strawberry flavor, lightly hinted with vanilla, tender, soft, and moist, and just an overall delight to eat.
Just like my vegan vanilla cake with loads of strawberry flavor.
It’s the perfect way to celebrate late spring, early summer, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, birthday parties (though my vegan yellow cake is LOVELY), baby showers, and more!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need for this vegan cake recipe:
- Flour: I’ve used both all purpose flour and gluten free 1:1 baking flour (a blend that contains xanthan gum is a MUST). I recommend King Arthur measure-for-measure gluten-free flour if you’re baking this as a gluten free vegan strawberry cake!
- Strawberry puree: We go over this in the next section, but all you’ll need are strawberries! Just like my fresh strawberry ice cream, we’re focusing on real strawberry flavor here. 🙂
- Dairy free yogurt: This is our vegan egg replacement. I love using yogurt in cake recipes because the acid in the yogurt helps to react with the baking soda and give our cakes a lovely rise AND tender texture.
- Vegan butter: I do recommend using vegan butter over coconut oil. The flavor is nice with the coconut oil, but you don’t get the same lift and height of the cake as you do with vegan butter. The reason being is that it’s a lot easier to emulsify the sugar into the butter rather than the coconut oil. Make sure you’re using unsalted vegan butter if you can. If you can’t find unsalted, then simply use salted and omit the salt in the dry ingredients.
- Sugar: I love using Florida Crystals sugar because it’s 100% organic and vegan (super important).
- Vegan buttermilk: a combination of dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. You can use soy milk or almond milk for the best results- or oat milk for soy and nut allergies! I’ve also used Forager Project drinkable cashew milk probiotic yogurt- it works JUST like buttermilk!
- Vanilla: Strawberries and vanilla extract just go so well together!
The key: fresh strawberry puree
If you’ve read online, then you know that you can’t just add strawberries to a vanilla cake and call it a day. Trust me, I’ve learned by experience!
For this vegan strawberry cake, all you need to do is blend the strawberries in a blender and incorporate into the wet ingredients.
You really need to be careful with how much strawberry puree is added to make sure there’s a strong strawberry flavor, while also not adding TOO much moisture to the cake (vegan cakes are already really moist!).
We’ve finally gotten down the perfect ratio, so I’m SO excited for you to try this recipe. It’s just perfectly moist, soft, fluffy, and FULL of fresh strawberry flavor- no extra work needed.
A deliciously fresh & easy strawberry frosting:
If you’ve ever tried to add fresh strawberries to a buttercream, then you know that it has a high potential of splitting. Trust me, I have been there before, and it’s so frustrating, so I feel you!
Enter in the new and deliciously simple vegan strawberry buttercream frosting.
Using freeze dried strawberries (blitzed in a food processor) in lieu of fresh strawberries is the move. If you can’t find freeze dried strawberries, you can use strawberry preserves (NOT strawberry reduction) or a strawberry jam– these both work for making an amazing vegan strawberry buttercream (like my blueberry frosting recipe).
But I do advise caution, as too much liquid in your strawberry jam will cause the buttercream to split. Stick with fresh strawberry preserves, if you can!
The other thing to note is sifted powdered sugar. This will give you that really creamy and lush strawberry buttercream that will complement your homemade strawberry cake so beautifully.
I had some extra buttercream, so I decided to pipe the rest on top and top with fresh strawberries!
Final cake tips & tricks
- Make this a sheet cake! Simply bake the cake in a 9×13″ cake pan for 35 minutes and frost as you would regularly 🙂
- I recommend using just fresh strawberries: Unlike my blueberry cake, which can use frozen blueberries, since strawberry puree makes up a main portion of the batter, we really don’t want frozen and cold ingredients going into our cake batter. It will yield a really gummy texture. Try to use fresh strawberries if possible!
- Make it a gluten free strawberry cake. As I mentioned above, this can easily be made as a gluten free strawberry cake!
- Don’t over mix the batter. Over mixing the batter will often times lead to the cake not rising and/or a gummy texture. Mix until there are JUST no more dry streaks.
- Bake with either 6″ cake or an 8″ round cake pans. The cake in the photo is over an 8″ cake that I baked in two layers and sliced in half. You can also do a three layer 6″ cake or just two massive layered 8″ cakes! You can also bake this into a strawberry sheet cake as well!
- Turn into vegan strawberry cupcakes. If you want to make this vegan strawberry cake as strawberry cupcakes, go right ahead! The current recipe below will yield 24 cupcakes.
You’re just going to LOVE this fresh vegan strawberry cake as much as I do! It was such a hit with my family, and I just know yours will love it too.
If you make this cake, let me know by leaving a comment down below, as well as a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find this recipe!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful cakes, so be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest!
Happy cake baking!
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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print
One Bowl FRESH Vegan Strawberry Cake (No Food Coloring! Easy!)
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy vegan strawberry cake is PACKED with fresh strawberries and so simple to make (no gelatin – just a whisk and a bowl!)! Layered with a fresh strawberry buttercream, this will quickly become your favorite spring vegan cake recipe!
Ingredients
Vegan Strawberry Cake:
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegan buttermilk or Forager Project drinkable cashew milk probiotic yogurt, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (170 g) vegan butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
- 1 cup (240 g) strawberry puree*, room temperature
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups (440 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour*
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/3 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1 batch vegan strawberry frosting
Instructions
- Prep: First make the vegan butter milk. Mix together the dairy free milk with the apple cider vinegar to curdle and become a vegan buttermilk. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F and line two 8″ cake pans or three 6″ cake pans with parchment paper and lightly oil.
- Make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, dairy free yogurt, strawberry puree, and vanilla extract until combined and smooth. You don’t want any clumps of butter. If it’s easiest, you can melt the vegan butter first and allow it to come to room temperature. Sift in the remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt) followed by the vegan buttermilk, and mix JUST until there are no more dry streaks (being careful not to over mix the batter).
- Bake: Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans, and place the cake pans into the oven. A 6″ cake will take around 28-30 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. For two 8″ cake layers, bake for 30-35 minutes, and test with a toothpick.
- Cool: Once the cakes are baked, remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to fully cool before frosting.
- Make the strawberry buttercream: Once cool, make the strawberry buttercream per instructions.
- Assemble and frost: To assemble the cake, add about 1 cup of frosting in between each layer, smoothing to the edges of the cake. Frost the outer edges as well. If you have any reserved frosting, you can pipe decoration onto the top and bottoms of the cake as well!
- Serve & enjoy! Top with fresh strawberries and enjoy!
Notes
Sheet cake option: Bake the cake in a 9×13″ cake pan for 35 minutes at 350F.
Gluten free: you can easily make this vegan strawberry cake gluten free by using a gluten-free flour blend containing xanthan gum (super important!). I love using King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten-free flour with 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch.
Strawberry puree: It’s really best to use a kitchen scale here if you can! 240 g fresh strawberries = 240 g strawberry puree. However, 1 cup strawberry puree is ABOUT 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, so it’s a bit different. Simply blend the strawberries in a blender or food processor until pureed. Then incorporate into your cake batter.
I made the cake! It was great! My non-vegan partner thought it was very tasty.
I will say you really need to have the butter softened or melted for the cake portion. If you don’t, you will have butter chunks and the batter won’t come together. I had to microwave the first part to get the butter to meld into the cake batter.
It could have a stronger strawberry flavor…I think this cake would be great with fresh strawberries in the middle or the jam! That will obviously alter the life of the cake (probably won’t last as long). But overall, amazing. It was fun to make!
Hi Britt! Can’t wait to try this cake. I normally use King Arthur flour but I don’t have enough and I’m in a pinch. Would Bob’s 1:1 work with the arrow root powder? Thank you 🙂
Hi Brittany! So I’ve had people say it works- personally, I don’t like the results, but others have found it successful -you can definitely give it a go!! The arrowroot DOES help a lot!
Perfect! Thank you so much, I didn’t end up making it this weekend so I will stick to the King Arthur for now. I just bought your book! I can’t wait to try some new recipes 🤗
Omgsh I can’t wait to hear how you think of it! Definitely let me know what you think of the recipes- and of the strawberry cake when you do get a chance!! 🙂
Hi Britt! First things first…your cookbook is GORGEOUS! There are so many amazing recipes in here!! I have yet to make a recipe directly from the book as I just received it but….I have made many of your cakes over time- your Vegan Vanilla cake, Vegan Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake and your small batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes (my fiancées fave) and they have all turned out to be crowd pleasers!! No one can believe that the cakes are vegan — and I also only bake gluten free (so a two-fer!) and with your magician like recipes I have quickly turned nay-sayers to believers all thanks to you. My next adventure besides the Strawberry Cake will be switching from the 1:1 mixes to the oat flour recipes. I follow a auto-immune protocol diet, inflammatory foods for me are mostly dairy, gluten, sugar and now I do my best to stick to minimal ingredients. When those three components are paired together it’s no bueno- but one of them (every now and then) won’t hurt too much. I still want to enjoy these amazing desserts without suffering- you make that possible. So thank you! ♥️
Can cake flour be used in place of AP flour?
Yes it can! It’s a bit more delicate, but does work
How would you reccomend storing/assembling if I want to make it on a Friday for a party on Saturday? I was considering 2 options, which would you suggest?
1. Wrap the cake layers in plastic and store in ziplock in the fridge over night. Make icing and store in fridge in airtight container. Assemble and first day of.
2. Assemble and frost cake on Friday and store in the fridge over night.
3. Something else?
Hi Emily!! So you can either make the cake on friday in its entirety, frosted and all, and chill it in the fridge overnight- the frosting will keep it insulated so that it doesn’t dry out! OR, which is the option I do a lot, you actually can make the cake layers friday and instead of refrigerating, you actually leave at room temperature, wrapped tightly. This will make sure they’re still moist. Then assemble the next day- it’s whatever you have most time to do!
Just made those for my son’s birthday and I’m so excited to see how it turns out! I made it gluten free but not dairy free. Does it refrigerate well before slicing? I’m hoping it’s good for the party tomorrow!
Absolutely GORGEOUS!! Your strawberry frosting is STUNNING!
I had an old lady tell me that this is the best cake she’s ever had in her life. high praise thanks to you and your amazing skills.
This is amazing 🙂 WOW!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! This just made my day!
Hi, I was wondering if I can make it gluten free but not vegan? Like the butter, buttermilk, and yogurt?
So with all of my recipes, I’ve never tested the non-vegan version (though some readers do use dairy instead of dairy-free, and find great success!). I just can’t speak to it because I haven’t tried it. I’m so sorry I can’t be more help here! Anecdotally, it can work, but I can’t speak to the results.
I have made this cake at least five times. It’s a winner! Thank you!
When I make it, I always have leftover purée, so I add that as a layer, in the cake – it really pumps up the strawberry flavor!
So so happy you love it so much, Jennifer 🙂 That’s awesome! Thank you for the review! Enjoy!
Great recipe. So delicious and fresh tasting. I did have the issue of the buttercream splitting. I made it work but definitely will use freeze dried strawberries next time.
Could it be made with regular dairy products? Would quantities change. ?
Hello! I plan to make this for my baby’s smash cake! What dairy free milk and yogurt do you recommend? Thanks!
Omgsh wonderful!! I use three tree’s almond milk or oat milk, and for yogurt, I use Forager Project cahewmilk (their new Greek style is amazing here!)! But Kite Hill also works wonderfully!
I made this cake for the vegan guests at my daughter’s wedding. Made the cake layers one week early and froze them. Four days before the wedding, I made the cream cheese strawberry icing and built cake with frozen layers. Traveled 4 hours with cake in cooler then refrigerated the cake for 2 days until wedding. The guests raved about it! Delicious!!
This is just wonderful 🙂 Thank you SO MUCH for this wonderful review!! And congratulations to your daughter!! What a wonderful gift to give her 🙂 Thank you again, and enjoy!!
This cake is AMAZING! Multiple of my non-vegan friends were asking me for the recipe which is how you know its truly a standout!! Its refreshing and flavorful, and looks beautiful too! The cake strikes the perfect balance of sweetness for me.
I used Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese which is generally my favorite vegan cream cheese, and it worked really well for the icing!
This might become my go-to cake for birthdays and events! Its pretty easy to make and is such a crowd pleaser.
ahh thank you so much for sharing that! I love to hear that. It’s always a great one!
I’ve made this cake a zillion times now, it has become a family favorite! Thank you so much for your hard work in creating and perfecting this recipe.
I have a couple questions. I want to make it again but I am only able to find frozen strawberries. Can I cook frozen strawberries and so the smashing through the strainer method? I could’ve sworn you had an option to do cooked strawberries but I can’t find it anymore? Was this an option before? Thanks so much!
Omgsh this is the best- seriously thank you so much for this kind review!! Now for your questions, so no need to cook the strawberries, but honestly if you let the strawberries thaw overnight in the fridge from frozen, you can use as is, just letting it come to room temperature from the fridge to countertop if that makes sense!
Hello! I plan to make this cake for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Can I use regular milk/butter/yoghurt as she’s not vegan? Is there any other things that I need to tweak with these changes? Thank you 😊
Oh I hope you love!! So with all recipes, I’ve never tested them non-vegan. Anecdotally from other readers that have used dairy product where I say dairy, it apparently has worked, but I just can’t guarantee anything! They’ve done it without alterations to quantities too!
Thank you so much for your prompt reply! No worries at all, I’ll give it a try! Will definitely report back once I attempt it this week! Hope you have an amazing day 😊
could I use this for tres leches?
Oh definitely!
Can I make this into a Bundt cake?!
Hi Amira, I haven’t tried it with a bundt cake pan but it should work. Just adjust the bake time accordingly!
Delicious! I made it for my Bible study ladies who are seasoned bakers and they loved it. I am learning how to bake after I became dairy free and had so few tasty options available to me. I have shared the recipe with several of the ladies!
This is amazing!! So so happy to hear it, Rita 🙂 Thank you so much for the review! Enjoy!!
One of the best cakes I’ve ever made! Nice and moist and a very good amount of strawberry flavor from both the cake and the icing!
Hi Matt! Isn’t it sooo tasty. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for sharing!!
Followed the recipe and the result was an amazingly delicious cake. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is just fabulous!! Wow 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing! So glad you loved it! Enjoy!
Do you think a non-dairy greek yogurt or a regular non-dairy yogurt is better? Also, I was confused by the flour. If we use AP flour, do we need to add something to it? Thank you!
I personally love the non-dairy Greek if that’s available to you! And for the flour, if you’re using all-purpose flour, you can just use that!