This Vegan Vanilla Cake is fluffy, moist and super flavourful. The aroma of vanilla fills the house while this delicious cake bakes up with a tender crumb and it's perfectly fluffy inside. It's sure to please even the most discerning vegan food critic!
This was inspired by my highly rated vanilla cake recipe with oil on this site. As a caker and food blogger, I love a good baking challenge. It is so rewarding to develop recipes that anyone can make, enjoy, and share with their loved ones. So, I chose to modify one of my classic recipes to make it vegan friendly. It will feed up to 15 people and doesn't use any funny ingredients!
I'll admit it, vanilla cake was not my favorite thing to bake. I have since changed my mind, and the next logical step was to make a vegan version! I made a few different formulations before I perfected this one, and I'm excited for you to try it! The American Buttercream I used is vegan, also!
Why You'll Love This Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake:
- Made with vegan ingredients, so you can share it with individuals who are vegan and those with dairy and egg allergies.
- E-A-S-Y. This cake is easy to make and comes together in under an hour!
- Cake flour gives it a fluffy and light texture.
- Uses Vanillablossom™ Flavors pure vanilla extract for a rich vanilla flavour.
- Vanilla cake is the perfect base for any flavour additions - such as buttercream, fillings, or sprinkles.
- Simple ingredients you likely already have in your pantry.
Ingredients:
Here are the basic ingredients you'll need. In the recipe card below you'll find the quantities for each.
- Vegan Butter - You can use any you prefer, but I recommend using the plant based butter than has the least amount of salt in it.
- Vegetable Oil
- Granulated Sugar
- Vegan Vanilla Yogurt
- Vanillablossom™ Flavors Pure Vanilla Extract
- Cake Flour, see note for substitution here
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Soy Milk - You can use any vegan milk you like. I have tried this recipe with both soy and oat milk and prefer that soy milk has a more mild taste.
- White Vinegar
Tips for Vegan Cake Baking
- Just like baking with non-vegan ingredients, you want them all to be at room temperature so that they incorporate well.
- Cream your vegan butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This step is essential to creating a light and fluffy cake because it whips air into the batter.
- I cannot stress this enough: use Vanillablossom™ Flavors Pure Vanilla Extract. Vanilla cakes deserve the best vanilla! If you use artificial vanilla extract it just won't have the same vanilla taste.
- Add vinegar to your vegan milk about 10 minutes before you intend to use it. The milk will appear curdled and this is OKAY!
- Don't over mix your cake batter. This will create a super dense cake - yuck.
How to Make A Vegan Vanilla Cake:
For full instructions, please use the recipe card below. There are instructions for both the cake. Print it out for baking day!
Begin by whisking together your cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Make homemade vegan buttermilk and set aside.
Cream together vegan butter and vegetable oil. Adding in sugar and whip until light and fluffy - don't skip this step!
Add in your vegan yogurt and vanilla and mix until combined.
Finish by alternately adding vegan buttermilk and flour mixture.
Pour into two 8'' cake pans and bake for 45 minutes!
FAQ + Other Great and Important Tips
Cake flour produces the lightest and fluffiest cake texture, and perfect crumb consistency.
Don't worry! For each cup of all-purpose (AP) flour, remove two tablespoon and replace with two tablespoon of cornstarch. Whisk together well. This will create a softer flour, more similar to cake flour.
For each cup of buttermilk needed, add one tablespoon of white vinegar (I use this most often) or one tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of vegan milk.
Store this cake at room temperature covered with plastic wrap or in a cake storage container for up to 2 days.
Related Recipes You'll Love:
If you try this recipe, make sure you take a photo and tag BAKED by Blair on social media, and use the #bakedbyblair. I would love to hear how you enjoyed the recipe, so comment below! If you want to pin this recipe and save it for later, go ahead and click the pin button on the photos above and save it to your favourite desserts board on Pinterest! ENJOY!
Vegan Vanilla Cake
Equipment
- Electric Stand Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
- Two 8" Round Cake Pans
Ingredients
Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake
- ½ cup Vegan Butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Vegan Vanilla Yogurt, please see FAQs for alternatives
- 1 tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract, from Vanillablossom™
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 3 cups Cake Flour, sifted, please see FAQs for alternatives
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cup Vegan Buttermilk, at room temperature, see FAQs for preparation
Vegan Buttercream
- ½ cup Vegan Butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup Vegetable Shortening, at room temperature
- 3 ¾ cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 3 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract, from Vanillablossom™
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Spray three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and oil together for 3-4 minutes until they are completely unified.
- Slowly add sugar into the mixture and beat on medium to high speed until light and fluffy (about 1 minutes) Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low speed add vegan yogurt followed by the vanilla. Beat on high until mixture is smooth and light in colour.
- With the mixer on low speed, add one third of the flour mixture into the bowl and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and add one half of the butter milk and again mix until just combined. Repeat this process. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Do not over mix or your cake will become quite dense.
- Distribute cake batter evenly between two 8-inch cake pans. I like to use a kitchen scale to ensure batter is divided equally. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean. Each oven is slightly different, so I suggest setting your timer to 40 minutes and watching carefully from there!
- Cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes before inverting and removing cakes from can pan to cool completely
Vegan Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a medium bowl and an electric hand mixer, beat butter and vegetable shortening on high speed until smooth and light in colour (3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low speed, add powered sugar one cup at a time. Mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Add in salt. Next add in the vanilla. Mix until combined. Scrape down the sides.
- Mix on medium to high for 4-5 more minutes until buttercream is light and fluffy.
Heather says
I loved this recipe. I couldn’t even tell it was vegan! So moist.
Carley says
Turned out so tasty!! So easy, and didn't feel guilty eating the batter 😉