Vegan Strawberry Cake

5 from 1 vote

This vegan strawberry cake is made with two layers of cake and a decadent dairy-free cream cheese frosting. It's moist, tender and bursting with fruity deliciousness!

Prep Time21

Cook Time45

Total Time1 6

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 596kcal

Author: Alissa Saenz

Ingredients

For the Strawberry Cake

1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and cleaned
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups organic granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk, or as needed
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon strawberry extract
2 drops pink or red food coloring, optional, or as needed to reach desired color (Note 1)

For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup freeze-dried strawberries (Note 2)
½ cup vegan butter, at room temperature
8 ounces vegan cream cheese, chilled
3 cups organic powdered sugar, plus up to 1 additional cup, as needed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To Make the Cake

Place the berries into a blender or food processor and blend them to a smooth puree.
Transfer the strawberry puree to a small saucepan and set it over medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a low boil. Lower the heat if needed, so that it's just at a low simmer. Let the mixture simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by about half, about 20 minutes. Let the mixture cool while you begin preparing the other ingredients. (Note 3)
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Oil and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
Transfer the reduced strawberry puree to a liquid measuring cup. You should have about ½ cup. (Note 4)
Add the non-dairy milk to the liquid measuring cup just until you have 1 ¾ cup total liquid volume (made up of the strawberry puree and milk combined).
Stir in the oil, vanilla, strawberry extract, and food coloring, if using.
Add the liquid mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Beat the ingredients together with an electric mixer at high speed just until the batter is smooth, about 1 minute.
Divide the batter among the two baking pans.
Bake the cake layers for 24 to 26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Place the cake pans on cooling racks and allow the layers to cool completely before removing them from the pans.

To Make the Frosting

Place the freeze-dried berries into a food processor or blender and blend them to a powder.
Place the vegan butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy.
Beat in the powdered strawberries.
Begin adding the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, fully beating in each addition before adding more. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting reaches your desired consistency and flavor.

Assemble and Frost the Cake

Once the cake layers have cooled, invert one of the layers onto a plate. Peel off the parchment paper.
Spread a thick layer of frosting over the layer.
Invert the second layer over the first layer, then cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting.
Slice and serve.

Notes

Make sure your food coloring is vegan, if you use it. I used McCormick's red food dye.
One half cup of freeze dried strawberry powder can be substituted if it's available. This will allow you to skip the step of blending the berries to a powder.
You can accelerate the cooling process by placing the saucepan into an ice or cold water bath. Wait a few minutes after taking it off of heat to do this, in order to let the pan begin cooling. Otherwise it could warp.
It's okay if you have slightly more or less than that. The next step will adjust for small variations in volume.

Nutrition