This vegan vanilla cake is moist, delicious, and perfectly sweet! The perfect dessert for all occasions, from holidays to birthdays to any time you're craving something indulgent!
When it comes to desserts, sometimes simple is best. Like good old vanilla cake. You really can't go wrong with it! You can dress it up with frosting, serve it plain with powdered sugar, decorated it with sprinkles, or pair it up with your favorite ice cream.
With all that in mind, I decided it was time to create a simple vegan vanilla cake recipe for this site. That, and I needed something that would work well as a vegan birthday cake (it did!).
This cake turned out fantastic, and it was so simple to make. Delicious, moist, and fluffy! The recipe requires only nine ingredients and one bowl! Definitely hang on to this one for the next occasion when you need a crowd-pleasing vegan dessert!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. We're using plain old all-purpose wheat flour. I can't guarantee results with anything else.
- Granulated sugar. Make sure your sugar is organic in order to keep the recipe vegan.
- Baking powder.
- Baking soda.
- Salt.
- Non-dairy milk. Just about any variety of milk that's unsweetened and unflavored will work. Try almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, or cashew milk.
- Apple cider vinegar. Try one of these substitutes if you don't have this on hand.
- Canola oil. Feel free to substitute your favorite baking oil, such as vegetable oil or melted coconut oil.
- Vanilla extract. I recommend using high quality vanilla extract to give your cake the best flavor. I like Rodelle Gourmet Pure Vanilla Extract. Definitely don't use imitation vanilla.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Start by whisking your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix your liquid ingredients together in a small container or liquid measuring cup: milk, vinegar, oil and vanilla.
Tip: Unless otherwise specified, always start with room temperature ingredients when baking. For this recipe you may need to warm up your non-dairy milk a bit if it's been in the fridge.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat everything together using an electric mixer. A hand mixer or stand mixer can be used here — it's entirely up to you!
Tip: Don't overmix your batter! Doing so can cause your leavening agents (baking soda and powder) to fizz out, and your cake will be overly dense and lacking in texture.
- Divide your cake batter among two oiled and parchment paper-lined cake pans, then bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean.
- Place the cake pans on a cooling rack and let the layers cool completely before filling, frosting, and slicing.
Tip: Be careful when slicing! Vegan cakes, including this one, tend to be more delicate than non-vegan cakes, due to the lack of eggs in the batter.
Leftovers & Storage
Seal your leftover cake up and it will keep for about 3 days at room temperature, about 5 days in the refrigerator, or about 3 months in the freezer.
Variation: Vegan Vanilla Sheet Cake
If you prefer a sheet cake, just oil and line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, and pour all of your batter it. Bake the cake for slightly longer than you'd bake a layer cake — about 25 to 27 minutes!
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven't tried making a gluten-free version, but based on experiences with similar cake recipes I think an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend would work.
I'm sure you can, but you're probably better off just following my recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes.
I recommend using my vegan vanilla buttercream frosting or my vegan chocolate buttercream frosting.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Spice Cake
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Vegan Lemon Bundt Cake
- Vegan Coffee Cake
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cup organic granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Lightly oil and line the bottoms of two 9-inch round baking pans with parchment paper. (See note.)
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- .In a small container or liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk, vinegar, oil, and vanilla.
- Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and beat the ingredients together using an electric mixer at high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Divide the batter evenly among the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake the layers for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean.
- Transfer the layers to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
- Once the layers are cool, remove them from the pans, remove the parchment paper, they layer, fill and frost the cake.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
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Excellent! Moist, rich and so simple. Thank you!
Perfect! Nice and light and very moist without being overly delicate. Thank you!