Description
Easy and Fun vegan pastel layer cake that’s perfect for a healthier Easter cake or spring dessert! Completely dairy free, gluten free, and naturally colored!
Ingredients
Scale
Pastel Cake:
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour (sifted)
- 1 cup coconut or cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
- 1 1/4 cup dairy-free milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1/3 cup olive oil or coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon natural vegan red food coloring or beet powder
- 1 tablespoon natural vegan green food coloring or spirulina
- 1 tablespoon natural vegan blue food coloring or blue butterfly pea powder
Vegan Buttercream:
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease four 6″ cake pans with olive or coconut oil.
- Combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes until it begins to curdle. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.
- Add in the dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar mixture, applesauce, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Mix the batter until there are no more clumps of flour left.
- You’ll need 3 more medium-sized bowls. Divide the batter amongst the 3 bowls and the current bowl evenly. You’ll have 4 total bowls of batter, all evenly distributed. Leave one bowl untouched- that will be the yellow/white layer.
- In the remaining 3 bowls, add the red food coloring to one, the green to another, and the blue to the last bowl. Mix the food coloring into the batter until it’s evenly distributed.
- Pour the batters into the cake pans, and place the cake pans into the oven to bake for 35 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, or until the cakes are completely cool. You need them to be entirely cool or else the vegan buttercream will melt when you frost the cakes!
- When ready to frost, prepare the vegan buttercream by beating the vegan butter on high speed for 3 minutes or until it is fluffy.
- Sift in the powdered sugar in increments of 1 cup while continuing to beat the mixture. Beat the vegan buttercream until the powdered sugar is completely incorporated.
- Add in the vanilla extract and beat the vegan buttercream until the vanilla extract is completely incorporated.
- Frost the cake in layers and serve.
- To prepare the cake ahead of time, simply make the cakes the day before and store covered at room temperature. The next day, prepare the buttercream frosting and frost the cakes.
Keywords: pastel layer cake, vegan easter cake, vegan spring cake, vegan easter desserts