How to make the best easy vegan cake from scratch, with absolutely NO eggs, no milk, and no butter!
This is my go-to vegan vanilla cake recipe.
It’s a perfect choice for holidays, birthday parties, or any occasion at all.
Just one taste of the ultra soft and fluffy homemade cake, and you will never go back to boxed cake mix ever again.
The recipe can hold its own against any classic nonvegan vanilla cake, because it’s made with only traditional ingredients – no chia or flax eggs, no tofu, no beans or chickpeas, and no fancy expensive flours.
Also try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Not only is it easy to make a cake without any eggs or milk, vegan birthday cake can taste so light, fluffy, and delicious that you might even find yourself choosing this vegan recipe as your new go-to cake recipe…
Even if you’re not a vegan!
Vegan Cake Recipes
You can also add 1/2 cup of sprinkles to the basic cake recipe below for a kid friendly rainbow vegan funfetti cake.
Or stir 1 tsp of coconut extract and a handful of shredded coconut into the batter, then frost with coconut icing for a vegan coconut cake.
How to make vegan cake
Start by gathering all of the ingredients.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease two 8-inch pans or one 9×13 pan, then set the pans aside while you make the batter.
Combine the nondairy milk, vinegar, oil, and pure vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl, and let this sit for at least ten minutes.
Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a new bowl. (For a one bowl cake, you can add the dry ingredients to the first bowl if you prefer. Just be sure to do this after letting the liquid mixture sit.)
Pour dry into wet, and stir just until evenly mixed. Overmixing cakes can activate the gluten too much and thus result in tough or chewy baked goods.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan or pans, and bake on the oven’s center rack for 30 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
You may also like this Vegan Pizza – just 4 ingredients
Eggless Cake
Even if you’re not a vegan, knowing how to make a cake without eggs is a good idea for so many reasons:
- If you need to make dessert but don’t have any eggs on hand.
- When you’re baking for a friend or family member with an egg allergy or someone who’s watching their cholesterol.
- For those times when you want to bake a cake and eat spoonfuls of the cake batter as you work.
After all, who doesn’t love cake batter?!
Frosting Ideas
There are so many ways you can frost a vegan white cake, including Healthy Chocolate Frosting, raspberry jam, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, or chocolate ganache.
Or top it with fresh fruit and Coconut Whipped Cream.
Surprisingly, many store-bought icings are accidentally vegan, including some flavors from both Duncan Hines and Pillsbury.
To make an easy homemade vegan cream cheese frosting, simply whip together 8 oz store-bought or homemade Vegan Cream Cheese with 4 oz vegan butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
For the cake in the photos, I used my Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Above, watch the vegan layer cake recipe video
The recipe was adapted from these Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes.
Vegan Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1 1/2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 cups white, spelt, or oat flour (for low carb, make this Keto Cake)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
Instructions
- The recipe makes two 8-inch cakes, or one 9×13 sheet cake, or three 6-inch cakes. To make the vegan cake, start by preheating the oven to 350 F. Whisk liquid ingredients in a large bowl. Let sit at least 10 minutes, then add remaining ingredients to form a batter. Smooth into greased baking pans. Bake 30 minutes, or until cake is risen and cooked through. (If you are a visual learner, feel free to watch the recipe video above.) View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Vegan Recipes
Im making this for the first time, following all the instructions to a T, however, there isn’t enough batter for a 9×13 pan (even measured since my pan is metric!) unless it requires doubling the recipe. I’m slightly confused as it barely covered the bottom of the pan and I doubt it rises that substancially (??) Where did I go wrong? I transferred it to a smaller sheet pan before placing in the oven and hoping it will still work for my daughter’s bday! It’s in the oven now. Curious to hear your input.
Hi, that is so strange and we aren’t sure what might be happening, because most 9×13 vanilla cakes will call for 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour. It *does* rise a little, so perhaps there isn’t actually anything wrong at all? What do you mean by your pan being metric? We are in the US, so maybe we are talking about different measurements from what you have? Hoping it turns out well in any case!
I’m not in the US currently (used to be) so I converted 9 inches to cm and the same for 13 to make sure I “matched” the pan size. With 9×13 it was such a thin layer that it didn’t seem like it would be a cake vs a cracker which seemed strange. Even with the smaller pan I moved the batter to, it’s less than a whole fingernail’s height 🤔
Wish I could send a picture because the recipe did seem so simple! I took it out after 20 min to not burn it. I’m wondering if I should double the recipe next time?!? I’m using US measuring cups and spoons. So so strange! Ugh.
Thanks for your quick response.
Hi, no problem, and we want the recipes to work for everyone, especially since it’s a birthday. We’ve ever converted a pan before. Did you use 33 x 23 cm? Feel free to email me chocolatecoveredmedia at gmail if you want to send a picture and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this over there!
The Recipe for Vegan Cake is very wonderful!
I used a canned coconut cream for the milk and this came out awesome!! My friend has an egg allergy and she was so excited to have cake on her bday!! I’d like to try a chocolate one next!! Thank you for posting, I will definitely make this again!!
Thank you so much for trying it 🙂
not to be rude, but how can this be vegan if it has milk in it. i am trying to lose weight and think about going vegan, but this isn’t vegan.
You can use coconut milk, Hemp Milk. There are other options.
My family absolutely LOVED this recipe! They ask for it daily. Thank you so much for creating it and posting it for all of us to enjoy.
Can I use a sugar substitute.
Where are the cute sprinkles from?
Best recipe eggless and gluten free I have found just wondering what would help to make it taste more vanilla? Not very sweet would using brown sugar help and adding more vanilla
Hi Katie,
I used lemon juice instead of vineager, 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup instead of sugar, a 9X9 in pan and baked for 35 minutes and it turned out beautiful. It smells lovely and I can’t wait to taste it. 😊
Did you increase the flour since you used maple syrup instead of sugar?
Hi, I would like to make the cake with oat flour. How much should I use? Thank you