Ever since I published my favorite fluffy Vanilla Cake Recipe, I’ve gotten lots of questions about how to make it eggless or full-on vegan. The truth is, I’d been wanting to make a vegan vanilla cake for years, but everything I read about vegan baking scared me into thinking it was going to be a huge mountain of recipe testing I was going to have to climb (spoiler alert: it was). Still, I kept it on my list, mainly because I wanted an option to offer those asking for the vegan version of my vanilla cake recipe. But it wasn’t until I had my son and had to cut out dairy shortly after that it moved from the bottom of the list to the top. I rolled up my sleeves, put on my apron, and began my absolute OBSESSION with creating the perfect, fluffy, easy, flavorful, can’t-even-tell-it’s-vegan cake recipe. I can say with assurance after what seems like a hundred recipe tests that this is the one.
During my recipe testing, I tried a few different vegan vanilla cake recipes to see what the methods, ingredients, and results were like. The problem that I kept running into was that they were so easy to overmix, resulting in a dense cake, plus they just didn’t have that perfect vanilla flavor and bakery-style fluffiness I was after. After weeks of testing and many failures, I decided to simply swap out the dairy in my Vanilla Cake Recipe with vegan ingredients – Earth Balance sticks for the butter, aquafaba for the eggs, and soy milk for the whole milk. I did have to tweak the leavening agents a bit, but once I got those figured out I just about squealed with delight when these layers came out of the oven!
This Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe is exactly what I was after: extra soft and fluffy, perfectly moist, beautiful vanilla flavor, and just a delight to eat for vegans and non-vegans alike. It tastes like something you’d find at your favorite bakery, yet it’s so simple to whip up and pair with your favorite frosting (it’s paired with my Vegan Vanilla Buttercream here). I enlisted some of my vegan friends and their kiddos to taste test and they all agreed that this cake is an absolute hit, which makes me all the more excited to share it with you.
What is Aquafaba?
I had never heard of aquafaba before I started on this vegan cake recipe journey, so I wanted to take the time to explain what it is and why it’s used in this recipe. Basically, aquafaba (which is Italian for “bean juice”) is the juice from a can of chickpeas that acts as an egg replacer in vegan recipes.
Once whisked until foamy, the aquafaba acts as whole eggs in this cake recipe to bind the other ingredients together and create a little volume as well. And trust me, you cannot taste it at all. Quite miraculous if you ask me!
Details on Decorating
I decorated this cake using my Vegan Vanilla Buttercream recipe, which is super easy to add color to. I added a little AmeriColor Sky Blue to create a buttercream ombrè before decorating the sides with Fancy Sprinkles in the Roller Disco mix (also vegan!) and piped some swirls on the top with Wilton Tip 4B.
If you want to grow in your cake decorating skills, I recommend checking out my Cake Basics series! It’s an ever-growing collection of blog posts and YouTube videos that show you the basics of decorating, like how to frost a smooth buttercream cake, and how to decorate with sprinkles. However you decide to decorate and whatever flavors you decide to pair it with, this Vegan Vanilla Cake is sure to impress. Enjoy!
Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Vanilla Cake
- 1 1/4 Cups (300ml) unsweetened soy milk, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- 2 3/4 Cups (290g) cake flour, sifted before measuring* DIY recipe in notes
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) aquafaba** see notes
- 1 Cup (227g) vegan butter, room temperature I use Earth Balance sticks
- 1 3/4 Cups (355g) white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
Frosting
- 2 batches vegan vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
- Stir together the white vinegar and soy milk and set aside. Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Make the Aquafaba: Pour the juice from a can of chickpeas into a medium sized bowl (either discard the actual chickpeas or store them to use in another recipe). Whisk the juice vigorously for one minute, after which it will look foamy. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the vegan butter with the white granulated sugar for two minutes on medium-high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once in between. Measure out 1/2 Cup of the aquafaba (you can discard the rest) and add it along with the vanilla extract. Mix on medium for one minute. The mixture may look curdled at this point, but don't worry – it will all come together in the next step!
- With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then add the soy milk mixture in a steady stream and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few more stirs to combine (without over-mixing). A few lumps are ok. The batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (no more than 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 30-35 minutes. They're done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they're entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.
Notes
Did you make this cake? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love seeing what you create!
Hello! Do you use salted Earth Balance butter or unsalted? All I can find is salted so I just want to be sure this is okay. Thanks!
I use these vegan buttery sticks which I think are salted: https://www.earthbalancenatural.com/baking-sticks/vegan-buttery-sticks
Hi Whitney,
I am wanting to make a birthday cake for my daughter’s 6th birthday party, but she is having 20 something kids and their parents, so my question is how big does the cake need to be? Would 2 x 8 inch suffice? I am planning to order some cupcakes on the side too, in case my cake making skills fail hehe, but just wanting an estimate of how much I should make of the birthday cake as I don’t want anyone missing out. Thank you!
Hi Sascha! 2 8-inch layers will serve about 20 people, so if you have cupcakes also it should be enough! Here’s a guide I wrote on how many servings each cake size makes: https://sugarandsparrow.com/cake-serving-guide/
Hi Whitney, I have been asked to make a vegan spice cake with vegan vanilla buttercream. Your buttercream recipe looks easy enough. Do you think just adding spices per a standard spice cake recipe to this vanilla cake recipe would work without any additional adjustments? Thanks in advance!
Hi Peggy! I’m sure that would work. I’ve been meaning to experiment with this vegan vanilla cake and make more flavors, so let me know how it goes!
Hi Whitney! My wife and I are celebrating a birthday, but have to make dairy free due to our infant’s dairy allergy. We have everything we need on hand except for the chickpeas/aquafaba and soy milk. We have eggs (no allergy there) and full fat oat milk (Oatly Barista edition). Could we substitute the aquafaba for 3 eggs and an egg white and oat milk? Thanks!
Hi Josiah! I’ve never tried this recipe with eggs as a sub for the aquafaba, so it would be an experiment! The oat milk should be totally fine though. If you’re willing to experiment then give it a go and let me know how it went! Otherwise I recommend finding a dedicated dairy free cake recipe with eggs just to make something that’s been tested before.
Hi,
Could I use regular butter sticks and 2% milk instead of the vegan butter and soy milk? My son is allergic to egg and I would like to make this cake with Aquafaba but regular milk and butter, would I have to alter anything?
Hi Aarifa! I have never tried that before, so it would definitely be an experiment. Let me know if you try it though, now I’m curious!
I am using silk soy milk, no substitutions. I am using dark 6” cheesecake pans actually. I got stainless steel ones to bake it in but everytime I made this recipe in it the outsides cooked too fast and the inside wouldn’t cook at all and was still raw in the middle, so I stick to the cheesecake pans. I have a conventional oven and I’m not high altitude
That’s a puzzler, Elise! Especially since you’ve made it successfully in the past. A crumbly cake that doesn’t spring back and is overly browned on the sides all point to the cake being over-baked. This can happen more easily with dark colored pans since they absorb and distribute heat much easier than a light colored pan. Have you tried aluminum pans? These are the ones I use: https://amzn.to/3ZHYB4I
The last couple times I’ve made this I’ve been having the issue of it being too crumbly, not springing back, and browning too much on the sides. I’ve made this a bunch of time with no issues. What do you think the issue could be? My baking powder is fine, I’m not over creaming my butter and sugar etc.
Hi Elise! That’s so interesting your last couple times have turned out different! What kind of dairy free milk are you using and are you making any substitutes? Are you baking in a dark pan or a light pan? What type of oven do you have (conventional or fan-assisted)? And are you baking at a high altitude? Sorry for all the questions but they will help me try and figure out what’s happening!
This sounds amazing and I’d love to try baking this for my vegan father-in-law. I’m in the United Kingdom and flour is slightly different here. Does American “cake flour” have any rising ingredients pre added to it? Trying to work out if I need to sub it with plain or self raising flour?
Hi Christine! I’m excited for you to try this recipe. American cake flour doesn’t have any rising ingredients added (it’s not the same as self rising). If you have a hard time finding it I have a recipe for homemade cake flour using plain flour here: https://sugarandsparrow.com/homemade-cake-flour-recipe/
Hi Whitney— if I want to make cupcakes with this recipe, how many would it yield?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Arleny! This recipe makes about 30-35 cupcakes but it does bake better as a layer cake than as cupcakes. It works, but the cupcakes bake more flat than domed.
Hi Whitney made this today for a friend who is milk free, I didn’t have any Aquafaba so I did use 2 egg’s plus 2 egg whites as she is fine with egg’s and i followed the rest of the vegan recipe and it turned out perfect my friend says happy day’s and thank you she love’s it x
Yay, Michelle! I’m so happy to hear that this recipe worked with eggs and that it was a hit with your friend!
Whitney! Love your cakes! I am baking my way through your Instagram! For this one I have trouble with it deflating in the center….any tip? I’m nervous about frosting it. It does not seem as sturdy as other egg based cakes I’ve made.
Hi Christina! Vegan baking is a bit trickier since there aren’t any eggs involved. The rise will come from the aquafaba + baking powder. Did you make any substitutions in the recipe? If not, here are some other common reasons why cakes deflate in the middle: https://sugarandsparrow.com/why-cakes-sink/
I made a vegan buttercream frosting to go on the cake. Would it be best to ice the cake the day of event or frost it the night before? If I do it the night before should I keep it at room temperature or in the fridge? And lastly what do I store it in to be most fresh?
Hi Jessica! It’s totally fine to ice the cake the night before. If you do, store it in the refrigerator to keep it the most fresh. Hope that helps!
Is there any video or something like that?
Hi Phyllis! I haven’t gotten around to making a video for this recipe quite yet, but hopefully someday!
should I halve this recipe if I am making this for 2 6 inch cake pans?
Hi there! You’d technically need to make 2/3 of the recipe for two 6 inch pans. If you halve the recipe you’ll have much shorter layers, so I would keep an eye on the baking time and check them sooner than what the recipe states. Hope that helps!
I’ve been looking for a vegan vanilla cake recipe I can try GF. This looks fantastic. I’ll let you know how I get on. Thank you for sharing.
Yay, Ann! Let me know how it goes with gf flour!