If you're looking for the best vegan birthday cake, I am here for you with so many options! This Vegan Vanilla Cake is made without eggs or milk, and you can bake it in a 6-inch small pan, a 9-inch pan, or double it for larger cakes or a loaf cake. The recipe proportions are endlessly versatile, so be sure to print and save for all your future cake needs!
You will love this Vegan Cake Recipe
After baking cakes and cupcakes for many years, I am finally ready to say it. Vegan baking is a lot easier than traditional baking! I don’t have to wait for butter and eggs to come to room temperature, and most of the recipes come together in just one bowl.
I've always leaned towards cakes and cupcakes made with oil, because oil makes the final cake more moist and fluffy. Some might say that butter might have the best flavor, but as a cake sits, the butter solidifies and the cake texture alters significantly.
So, I personally made the switch to a vegan cake batter, and I have never looked back. The first thing I mastered was a vegan vanilla birthday cake!
The best thing about this cake is that it is so easy to change the size because the recipe proportions are so simple to scale up or down!
The Ingredients
- Flour. We're baking with regular all-purpose flour, not pastry flour or cake flour. We just need ¾ cup for the small 6-inch version of this cake. Fluff it very well in the bag, scoop it way over the top of the measuring cup, and then level it off with a knife.
- Sugar. Seven tablespoons of granulated sugar, slightly less than ½ a cup.
- Baking Soda. Yes, this cake only has baking soda, no baking powder.
- Vegan Milk. Any type of vegan milk works for this cake: soy milk, almond milk, or coconut milk in the box. I don't recommend canned coconut milk because it is very thick and usually not emulsified.
- Vanilla. Two teaspoons of vanilla extract may seem like a lot, but vanilla is the main flavor to this cake. I like a Bourbon-aged vanilla extract; don't use the imitation vanilla.
- Oil. Any type of neutral oil, like canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil or avocado oil works great for this vegan vanilla birthday cake.
- Apple Cider Vinegar. Because vegan cakes lack eggs for lift, we often use a small amount of vinegar to react with the baking soda and create lift. You will not taste the vinegar in this cake at all.
- Vegan Butter. For the vegan vanilla buttercream, use one stick of plant-based butter.
- Powdered Sugar. This is only for the frosting.
- Sprinkles. This is where I say that sprinkles are optional but we both know that they're not. You can stir one tablespoons of sprinkles into the batter and use extra sprinkles on top of the frosting for decorating.
This Vegan Birthday Cake is so simple to make!
- Preheat the oven to 350, and spray one 6" cake pan with 2" sides with cooking spray, and then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, vanilla, oil, and vinegar.
- Slowly pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients while whisking. Try not to over-mix.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake on the center rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting: beat together the softened 'butter' with the powdered sugar, vanilla, pinch of salt and splash of milk. Add extra milk if needed to bring it together.
- Once the cake is cool, slice it in half horizontally. Place the bottom of the cake on a plate, and scoop ⅓ of the frosting on top. Spread the frosting almost to the edges. Place the remaining cake layer on top, and frost with the remaining frosting. If desired, portion some frosting into a bag fitted with an open star tip and decorate the cake with buttercream swirls and sprinkles.
This cake is so quick to make! I had both the large vegan vanilla cake and the small batch version in the oven in just part of an afternoon. The following day, I had both versions frosted and photographed before noon for you.
Vegan Vanilla Cake Decorating Suggestions
I know you’re going to ask, so I’ll mention that YES, you may stir sprinkles into the cake batter here, and make a vegan confetti cake! If you’ve had your eye on my mini funfetti cake, but have always wanted a version without eggs or dairy, today is your lucky day!
I also have a vegan chocolate cake version of this exact recipe that does not contain any vegan milk, but instead relies on coffee!
How to scale down a cake recipe:
Typically, when I scale down a cake recipe to a small 6 inch cake, the recipe divides in half easily. In the case of my vegan chocolate cake, the 6 inch and 9 inch version are the same recipe doubled. However, when it comes to this vegan vanilla cake, everything is doubled when scaling up—except for the vinegar!
For changing the cake size, the same instructions for most of my small cake recipes apply here:
Vegan Birthday Cake Recipe Tips
- The recipe below is for one 6 inch small cake. Slice it in half and fill with buttercream to make it a layer cake as seen in the photos.
- If you double the recipe below, you'll get one 9 inch cake. However, be sure to only use 1 tablespoon of vinegar, not 4 teaspoons, if doubling. If you quadruple the recipe, you'll get two 9 inch layer cakes, just like a normal layer cake. Or, you can double it and bake two 6 inch small cakes for stacking higher.
FAQ:
Most regular non-vegan cake recipes contain a dairy product. Dairy products are acidic, and as such, they react with the leaveners in a recipe (the baking soda and baking powder). But since vegan cakes don't have dairy, we add a very small amount of vinegar to the cake batter to activate the baking soda. This also takes the place of an egg, which causes cakes to rise in the oven.
The best way to store a frosted cake is at room temperature for one day in an air-tight container. Beyond one day, move it to the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to freeze cake, slice it, lay it flat on a small paper plate, double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.
Vegan Vanilla Cake Recipe
Vegan vanilla birthday cake without eggs. Recipe doubles for a single layer 9" cake pan. Or, quadruple the recipe for a 2 layer 9" cake. If doubling the recipe, use just 1 tablespoon of vinegar instead of 4 teaspoons.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 7 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ⅓ cup milk alternative* (soy, almond, or coconut)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
For the vegan vanilla buttercream:
- 1 stick plant-based butter substitute
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
- splash of milk alternative, to bring it together
- decorative sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and place an oven rack in the center position of the oven.
- Spray one 6" cake pan with 2" sides with cooking spray, and then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and spray again.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, vanilla, oil, and vinegar.
- Slowly pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients while whisking. Whisk until the cake batter is mostly lump-free, but try not to mix too much and make a dense cake batter.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake on the center rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting: beat together the softened 'butter' with the powdered sugar, vanilla, pinch of salt and splash of milk. Add extra milk if needed to bring it together.
- Once the cake is cool, slice it in half horizontally. Place the bottom of the cake on a plate, and scoop ⅓ of the frosting on top. Spread the frosting almost to the edges. Place the remaining cake layer on top, and frost with the remaining frosting. If desired, portion some frosting into a bag fitted with an open star tip and decorate the cake with buttercream swirls and sprinkles.
Notes
*I tested this recipe with soy milk, almond milk in the refrigerated carton, and coconut milk in the carton. I do not recommend canned coconut milk because the consistency varies.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 733Total Fat: 38gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 486mgCarbohydrates: 97gFiber: 1gSugar: 77gProtein: 3g
To double this recipe, double it exactly, but instead of 4 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, use just 1 tablespoon.
Deesha says
Might be a silly question but what brand of cooking spray do you use to grease your pans?
Christina Lane says
Not silly :) I use either a coconut oil spray from Trader Joe's or an avocado spray oil from Costco :)
Abby says
I normally try to be pretty healthy and was going through cooking spray so fast so I bought a reusable spray bottle that I fill with avocado oil but the exception is for when I do layer cakes I ALWAYS use the pam baking spray bc that shit works SO well along with a parchment round in the bottom the cake basically removes itself lol. Not my recipe but just thought I’d share in case it helps.
Sabrina says
This was excellent , so perfect thank you for the recipient
Kayla says
Made this for my son’s first birthday since he has dairy and egg allergies. It’s so simple and tastes amazing! Perfect for each of us to have a small slice!
Jacob Thomas says
This was such an easy-to-follow recipe. I made this to use up some frosting I had in the freezer, my girlfriend pretty much ate everything herself in about 20 minutes. I will definitely be using this again.
Abby says
I was surprised I haven’t commented on this already but this is my FAVORITE vanilla cake recipe. It’s so easy and nothing even needs to be brought to room temp. Mine finished at 22 mins on the dot. I made this cake for the third time tonight this time for my sisters birthday and I doubled the recipe. I find that so many vanilla cake recipes have a ton of unnecessary ingredients and always use butter which tbh I’m not a fan of for cakes bc they come out more dry. This recipe tho is fool proof I stg and tastes SO good. I made it a few months back for my auntie who is veg (I’m mostly plant based myself) and ofc she loved it but my moms other friends who are big time meat eaters and think vegan food isn’t as good ate it not knowing it was vegan and were like “omg this is the best vanilla cake I’ve ever had”. Just thought you’d like to know how much me and the people who I’ve made it for LOVE your recipe :) thanks for sharing it with us!
barb says
How can you make this cake for someone who has to eat Gluten free?
Chrissy says
I LOVE this recipe so so so so much! I’ve baked quite a few vegan goods because my boyfriend is vegan. But, this is one of the best vegan things I’ve ever baked for him. I made it for his birthday as well (that’s how much I trust your recipes!). It was perfectly moist, SO fluffy, and so damned fragrant too. For a simple vanilla cake with simple ingredients, it’s a showstopper. My boyfriend said he would pay for this cake, and I believe him! It really was dope!
P.S. I made two tiny modifications.
1. I added a teaspoon of vanilla syrup in the cake batter
2. I skipped the icing, instead I topped the cake batter with a sprinkle of two dessert spoons’ worth of desiccated coconut & light brown sugar each; pre-bake
Karen says
Can this be made with GF flour? I use cup 4 cup for most recipes and it works. I have a 4 year old grandson with many allergies-gluten, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts. Luckily he can have dairy. I am looking for a cake recipe as the gluten free ones I have tried are just terrible. Thanks.
kelley geiger says
Hi. I was wondering if an 8x1 pan would work? My other is 6x1 not 6x2. Thank you.