Fluffy Vegan Vanilla Cake

A fluffy vegan vanilla cake that is soft and delicious, has a strong vanilla flavor, and has a light texture, thanks to apple sauce instead of eggs and oil. Dairy free with a gluten-free option.

There are lots of vegan vanilla cake recipes out there, so why try mine? Because my cake is lighter than the traditional vegan cake which can be a bit heavy, and I try to make the steps simple and easy, and flexible, with substitutions too! It's delicious with my bright white frosting recipe, with a special trick to make it white, or even try it with my fudge frosting, which tastes like cocoa in a frosting.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Versatile. This fluffy vanilla cake recipe can be used for a layered cake, sheet cake, and cupcakes. You can use all purpose flour, gluten-free flour, or even oat flour though that result will be heavier.

A Lighter Crumb. I call this cake fluffy because it is thanks to the simple technique of grinding the sugar first. I don't mean use powdered sugar, I mean grind your cane sugar in a blender or food processor before using in this recipe. The use of lemon juice in milk also creates an acidic environment best for a fluffy texture.

Ingredients

Oat flour or All Purpose flour - both work well but have different measurements. (Oat flour needs 3 cups, while AP flour needs 2 ½ cups). Oat flour is naturally gluten-free; but if your cake needs to be gluten-free be careful to choose a brand that sports a certified GF seal. The cake made with oat flour will have a heavier texture.

Organic Cane Sugar - This recipe tastes sweet so you can consider reducing the sugar by ¼ cup if less sweet is more ideal for you. See steps for instructions about grinding it for a lighter cake texture.

Butter - Use Earth Balance or Miyokos brands, or your favorite vegan butter. Use the stick version, not the whipped that comes in a tub.

Apple Sauce - I use unsweetened. This replaces eggs and oil.

Vanilla - I use a high quality version because the vanilla flavor is important in this vanilla cake.

Leaveners - baking soda, baking powder, and lemon-juice-activated milk.

Steps to Make

Here are the general steps to make this cake. Find the detailed measurements and step by step video in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Preparation

1.Grind your sugar. A key step in this recipe is to grind your cane sugar for 10-15 seconds so in a blender or food processor. This reduces the texture and gives the sugar the ability to melt faster, softening the cake texture. Do not use powdered sugar.

2.Stir lemon juice into your milk and set aside.

3.Melt room-temperature butter in microwave for 10 seconds.

4.Prep your pans. Butter and dust with flour the cake pans. I used 2 (6-inch round pans here) but you can use 7-inch round cake pans, or a  square pan.

Make The Cake

Step 1. Add sugar, the lemon and milk mixture, apple sauce and vanilla to a bowl and mix with a spoon or mixer until the sugar is dissolved. Press your spoon on the edge of the bowl to gauge the crunch.

Step 2. Add the melted butter and mix again.

Step 3. Whisk up the dry ingredients and add them to the wet ingredients. Mix the batter again, just until combined.

Step 4. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake layer pans. Tap the pans to remove air bubbles.

Step 5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tester is clean. Cool, and frost!

Recipe Tips

1. Grind your cane sugar for no more than 15 seconds in your blender or food processor. It will still be granulated; it will not be a powder, just smaller granules. If you choose to not grind your sugar first, then stir your wet ingredients longer to allow the sugar more time to dissolve. Do not use powdered sugar.

2. Test your baking powder and soda to be sure they are active,

3. Add lemon juice to milk at least 5 minutes before mixing. This creates a 'buttermilk' that gives the batter an acidic environment that will lead to a fluffy cake texture. When baking soda encounters an acid it kicks off a chemical reaction that produces a carbon dioxide gas that causes food molecules to expand, creating a light and fluffy texture.

Storage & Make Ahead

Storage. This fresh vegan cake can last 3 days at room temperature in a sealed container whether frosted or not. After that, in a sealed container, the cake will last a week refrigerated. The texture will begin to dry however as the days go on.

Make Ahead. This cake can be baked 2 days ahead of time. Let each layer cool completely and then wrap in cling wrap and store in the refrigerator. Remove after two days, frost and serve.

Substitutions 

Flour. You can use oat flour instead of all purpose, but use more, 3 cups instead of 2 ½ cups.

Lemon juice. You can replace the lemon juice with apple cider vinegar or white vinegar to curdle the milk into a vegan buttermilk.

Apple sauce. Instead of apple sauce, you can use ⅓ cup of aquafaba, the liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas. Whisk the liquid before adding it to the batter as you would the apple sauce.

Variations

Lemon flavor. You can make my lemon cupcakes here, or give this cake a hint of  lemon flavor by adding 3 tablespoons of lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the batter, removing 1 tablespoon of apple sauce.

Chocolate chip cake. Add ½ cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter before pouring batter into the pans. Frost with my vegan buttercream with mini chocolate chips added.

Strawberry shortcake. To turn this cake into a strawberry shortcake, simply wash 3 cups of fresh strawberries, slice them thinly and layer them on the first layer before spreading a white frosting, then add the top cake layer and layer that with a layer of sliced strawberries.

Test Baking Powder And Baking Soda

You should test them both periodically or buy new. It's a smart move because if either the soda or powder is inactive, your recipe will not rise.

To test baking powder, add ¼ teaspoon to a ¼ cup of boiling water and watch for a foamy, fizz reaction. If you get no reaction, your baking powder needs to be replaced.

To test baking soda, add ¼ teaspoon to a ¼ cup of room temperature white vinegar and watch for a foamy, fizz reaction. If you get no reaction, your baking soda needs to be replaced.

FAQS

What Makes Vegan Cakes Fluffy?

To make your vegan cake fluffy, be sure to mix the sugar and wet ingredients thoroughly first to be sure the sugar dissolves. That is one key step to a fluffy vegan cake.

How is Vegan Cake Different from Regular Cake?

A cake is vegan because the ingredients are not from an animal. That means no eggs. I also make  my cakes without oil, using apple sauce or vegetable purees like pumpkin or sweet potato or beets instead. Check out my chocolate fudge cake here for an example of a chocolate vegan cake.

Is There a Vegan Cake Mix?

I think there are a few specialty boxed vegan cake mixes now. Some commercial cake mixes can be made vegan if you don't use eggs as they instruct, and instead use egg substitutes such as apple sauce, flax eggs or aquafaba. You'd have to check the box ingredients however to be sure there are none that are milk-based.

Why are Vegan Cakes so Dense?

Often vegan cakes end up dense because of the lack of eggs. I replace the eggs with milk curdled with lemon juice and with applesauce. Both react with baking soda to provide lift.

Why Does My Vegan Cake Fall Apart?

A vegan cake can fall apart if the moisture balance is off, and that can come from mis-measured flour. You can measure flour accurately with a scale, or by the spoon method. Loosen the flour in the bag with a fork. Then spoon it carefully into a measuring cups, and tap to level.

Other Healthy Cake Recipes

• Chocolate Fudge Cake
• Tuxedo Cake
• Swiss Roll Cake (easy trick)

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📖 Recipe

Fluffy Vanilla Vegan Cake

Created by Dee Dine

A fluffy vegan vanilla cake that is soft and delicious, has a strong vanilla flavor, and has a light texture, thanks to apple sauce instead of eggs and oil. Dairy free with a gluten-free option.

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 401 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Dry Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour* or 3 cups of oat flour
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

• 6 tablespoon unsweetened apple sauce
• ¾ cup butter Earth balance or Miyokos vegan butter in sticks
• 1 cup dairy free milk**
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract***

Frosting

• 2 cups white frosting (I used my healthier fluffy vanilla frosting recipe found here.)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

Prep

• All ingredients need to be a room temperature
• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Add the lemon juice to the milk at least 5 minutes before baking.
  1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 cup dairy free milk**
• Grind your cane sugar in a blender or food processor for about 15 seconds. You will see powder on the sides of the container, the texture will be a smaller grain but still granulated - don't process into a powder. Do not substitute with commercial powdered sugar.
  1 cup organic cane sugar
• If you haven't tested your baking soda and baking powder in a while, do that now. See how in notes.
  1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda
• Line baking containers with parchment and/or grease and flour. I used 2 (6-inch round pans) but you can use 7-inch round cake pans or 1 (8-inch) square pan. Or add to 12 -18 cupcake liners.

Mix Wet Ingredients + Sugar

• Add apple sauce, milk, vanilla and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir with a spoon or mixer for several minutes. This step is key to dissolving the sugar.
  6 tablespoon unsweetened apple sauce, 1 cup dairy free milk**, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 teaspoon vanilla extract***, 1 cup organic cane sugar
• Melt the room temperature butter sticks for 10 seconds in the microwave, and add that the wet ingredients. Use the mixer to combined.
  ¾ cup butter

Add in Dry Ingredients

• Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and use a hand mixer to just combine batter.
  2 ½ cups all purpose flour*, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt

Bake

• Pour the batter into your pans of choice.
• Bake 6-inch or 7-inch layers cakes at 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
• Bake cupcakes at 20 minutes each. This recipe makes 12-18.

Cooling & Storage

• Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a rack. Then frost.
  2 cups white frosting
• Cake can be refrigerated for 48 hours but then freeze after that or else texture will become crumbly.

Video

Notes

1. Grind your cane sugar no more than 15 seconds in your blender or food processor. If you choose to not grind your sugar first, then stir your wet ingredients longer to allow the sugar more time to dissolve. Do not use powdered sugar.

2. Add lemon juice to milk to create an acidic environment that will lead to a fluffy cake texture. When baking soda encounters an acid it kicks off a chemical reaction that produces a carbon dioxide gas that causes food molecules to expand, creating a light and fluffy texture.

To test baking powder, add ¼ teaspoon to a ¼ cup of boiling water and watch for a foamy, fizz reaction. If you get no reaction, your baking powder needs to be replaced.

To test baking soda, add ¼ teaspoon to a ¼ cup of room temperature white vinegar and watch for a foamy, fizz reaction. If you get no reaction, your baking soda needs to be replaced.

*Flour options. Use 2 ½ cups of all purpose or a gluten-free baking flour, or use 3 cups of oat flour.

**Use a high fat milk such as almond or cashew milk, although oat worked for me too.

***Use a quality vanilla, vanilla paste if possible for a strong vanilla flavor in this vanilla cake.

Nutrition

Calories: 401kcalCarbohydrates: 58gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 294mgPotassium: 160mgFiber: 1gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 651IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 75mgIron: 2mg

Keyword dairy free vanilla cake, vanilla vegan cake, vegan vanilla cake

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