This is the best Vegan Strawberry Cake ever! Made with plenty of fresh strawberries, it’s simply bursting with flavor. The pretty pink frosting is to die for!
This wonderful Vegan Strawberry Cake is adapted from my Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe. It’s incredibly moist, fluffy and made with plenty of fresh strawberries! I took a lot of tips from Sally’s Baking Addiction, and used reduced strawberry puree in the cake batter and freeze dried strawberries in the frosting.
If you’d rather use fresh strawberries in the frosting as well, you can easily make the frosting from these Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes instead. You can’t go wrong with either recipe!
Do you love strawberries as much as I do? If you do, make sure to check out my Vegan Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Rolls and Vegan Strawberry Shortcake.
How to make vegan strawberry cake
Find the complete recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
First, prepare the reduced strawberry puree
The first step in making the cake is to prepare your reduced strawberry puree. You will need 1 pound of fresh, ripe red strawberries. Rinse and hull them, then add to a food processor or blender and blend. Transfer the puree to a small pot and simmer for 25-30 minutes. The mixture will thicken and reduce to just over 1/2 cup.
Why not just use strawberry puree that is not reduced? It’s too much liquid, and not enough flavor! By reducing, you get a very concentrated strawberry flavor without adding a ton of liquid to the cake batter. Perfection.
Mix the cake batter and bake
In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer), cream together the vegan butter, oil and sugar. Mix in the vanilla and food coloring, if using. In another medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the vegan buttermilk (this is simply soy milk mixed with apple cider vinegar) until combined each time. Do NOT over mix. Finally, mix in the reduced strawberry puree until just combined.
Pour the cake batter evenly into the greased and parchment lined pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
Make vegan strawberry frosting and frost the cake
Why use freeze dried strawberries instead of fresh in the frosting? Fresh strawberries can cause the frosting to curdle, and freeze dried strawberries add a ton of concentrated flavor. You may also go make the frosting from my cupcakes recipe if desired.
Using a food processor or blender, blend freeze dried strawberries into a powder. Using a mixer, beat the vegan butter until creamy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until it’s all incorporated. Now add in the strawberry powder, then the vanilla and milk as needed.
Once the cakes are completely cooled, frost as desired and decorate with fresh whole strawberries. Enjoy!
Tips for success
- To prepare your pans, please use a small circle of parchment paper and place it in the bottom. Then spray or grease the pans all over, including the sides. Trust me, I’ve had many cakes ruined by not properly preparing my pans!
- Use both the vegan butter AND oil. This makes the cake super moist and fluffy, while giving it the best possible buttery flavor.
- Make sure to cool the cakes COMPLETELY before frosting. If it’s warm at all, you will have a big melty mess on your hands. Trust me, I’ve been there… If I’m in a rush, I’ll put the cakes in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling process.
- Let your reduced strawberry puree cool a bit before adding to the cake batter. I stuck mine in the refrigerator while I prepared the cake batter, and it was just fine.
- Use deep red, sweet and delicious strawberries for the best results! Frozen strawberries will work in a pinch, but fresh seasonal strawberries are best.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I turn this into a sheet cake or bake as cupcakes? Yes, for cupcakes, fill liners halfway full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. For a 9×13 inch cake, bake for 40-45 minutes. Or make it a true sheet cake with an 11×17 inch pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Can I add strawberry extract for more flavor? Sure! It already has a lot of flavor, but you could add 1-2 teaspoons strawberry extract in the batter when you add the vanilla.
- Is the food coloring essential? You don’t have to add any food coloring, but your cake will not be pink. Make sure to look for a vegan friendly pink or red color. Or make your own DIY pink food dye!
- Can I make a gluten free strawberry cake? Try substituting an all purpose gluten free mix for the cake/regular flour. It won’t be quite the same, but it works pretty well.
How to store leftover cake + freezing
Store the cake at room temperature for about 4 days. Make sure to cover the cut parts to prevent the cake from drying out.
You can also keep it in the refrigerator if you prefer, but when served straight from the fridge, it will be a bit crumbly and dry. So try to let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving if possible.
The whole cake or individual slices can be frozen. Or prepare the cakes ahead of time, wrap and freeze, then later make the frosting, frost and serve.
Want more incredible vegan cakes?
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Tres Leches Cake
- Vegan German Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
Vegan Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 1 pound fresh strawberries (1/2 cup reduced, see instructions)
- 1 1/4 cups soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup canola oil or other neutral flavored oil
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pink food coloring optional
- 3 cups cake flour or all purpose flour, but cake flour is best
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Strawberry Frosting
- 1 cup freeze dried strawberries*
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons soy milk, as needed
Instructions
Make the Strawberry Cake
- Prepare the reduced strawberry puree: Rinse and hull the strawberries. Using a food processor or blender, puree them. Pour the puree into a small pot and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reduces to about 1/2 cup. You might have a little more than that; save for topping ice cream or waffles. Allow it to cool for several minutes before adding to cake batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare 2 8-inch round cake pans by lining the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and spraying with oil.
- Make the vegan buttermilk: Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir a little, then set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, cream together the softened butter, oil and sugar until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and pink food coloring, if using.
- In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and vegan buttermilk to the bowl with the butter/oil/sugar mixture, mixing until just combined each time.
- Now add in the reduced strawberry puree with the mixer on low and mix until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Pour the cake batter evenly into the prepared pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are golden brown, the surface looks and feels set and a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean with no wet batter.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then carefully invert them onto a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the Strawberry Frosting
- Using a food processor or blender, blend the freeze dried strawberries into a powder. Set aside.
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened vegan butter until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until all the powdered sugar is mixed in.
- Now add in the strawberry powder and mix in. With the mixer on low speed, add in the vanilla and 2-3 tablespoons of soy milk as needed to thin the frosting to a desirable consistency. If it gets too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more milk until it's just right.
- Once the cakes are completely cooled, frost, decorate with more strawberries and enjoy!
- The cake will keep at room temperature for up to 4 days. Make sure to cover the cut part to keep it from drying out. The whole cake or individual pieces also freeze well.
Video
Notes
- Flour – Cake flour is the best choice for a light and fluffy cake, but all purpose flour works pretty well. For gluten free, try substituting a gluten free all purpose flour.
- Milk – You can substitute any plant based milk for the soy milk.
- Different sized cakes/cupcakes – You can also make this cake as a 9 by 13 inch cake. It will need to bake more like 40-45 minutes though. Or to make cupcakes, fill liners 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Can’t find freeze dried strawberries? Go make the fresh strawberry frosting from my Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes recipe instead.
Nutrition
*This cake was originally published July 2019 and has been updated with new photos. The original version called for half vegetable shortening/half vegan butter in the frosting, but I have since found I like using all vegan butter and no shortening.
Hello! Is it on cup of freeze dried strawberries before blending them or after. I blended first then put a cup in frosting but I think that was too much.
One cup before blending, it probably was a bit much. Hope you still enjoyed it though!
This cake has great strawberry flavor and the icing is delicious but my cake turned out quite dense and a little doughy tasting. I followed the directions to a T except for substituting soy milk for almond milk. I ended up cooking for about 37 minutes and was still pretty raw in the middle. I know I didn’t over mix… the only other thing I can think of why it didn’t turn out as good as anticipated may be due to the brand of vegan butter or flour?
Hi Steph, did you bake it in two 8 or 9 inch cake pans? I’m not quite sure what the issue could be, unless your measurements were off for some reason, or you used something other than all purpose flour? It’s hard to know, but it should not be doughy. Ovens really can vary, so if the cakes just weren’t done, they may have needed to bake a little longer, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Also bake in the center rack of your oven, always, for consistent results.
Hi Nora!
I’m so excited to try this recipe for a friend’s birthday! It looks so good! How would the recipe change if I wanted to make a 3 tiered cake with an extra 8 inch pan?
Hi LaShawn! It’s a little tricky to adjust the cake for 3 8-inch cakes, but I think it could be done. I would 1.5 times the cake (or to make it simpler, you could make a 4 layered cake and just double the recipe!). You can adjust the ingredients by hovering over the serving size. I hope that works! I haven’t tried it myself, but I imagine it will be fine.
I made this cake the first time and it came out amazing! The second time I made it my frosting melted off? Does anyone know why this would happen, I thought I followed the recipe correctly. The only thing different I did, was use strawberry purée, instead of freeze dried strawberries in the frosting for both times I baked the cake. Any tips or suggestions?
The problem is in the strawberry purée instead of dried strawberries, that added extra liquid, making your frosting melty, which is why I recommend the freeze dried ones. 🙂
This was great for my son’s birthday! Thanks so much. I needed a dairy free cake and this was perfect.
Hi Kelly. I’m glad my cake worked well for your son’s birthday! Happy Birthday to him! Thank you!
Hi Nora, If i were to make cupcakes.. how long would they need to sit in the pan after taking out of the oven?
Looking forward to making this!
I’d say about 10 minutes. Hope you enjoy them!
I’m gonna keep my review short because this cake was AMAZING. I’ve made it twice now, both in cupcake form and the second time as actual two layer cake and both times it seems to get tastier. Im literally obsessed and am revisiting the page now to make it again today! This cake is PERFECT if you love strawberry cake and it just so delightful and is sure to be a crowd pleaser! I now come to “Nora Cooks” for most of my recipes! I guess my review wasn’t as short as I thought it’d be, lol
Thanks Nora!!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for your wonderful recipe. Can I replace vegan shortening with butter? What if I don’t have vegan shortening?
Yes, vegan butter is fine to use in place of shortening. Thank you!
I made this cake last night and it turned out so dense! So I figured I overmixed it or didn’t measure the flour correctly, so I remade the batter from scratch again, making sure I measured everything exactly and didn’t over mix the batter. The 2nd attempt was better but still pretty dense…. any suggestions of what I might be doing wrong? Also the only difference is I baked 1 layer at a time (only have 1 tin) and the cake was cooked in about 20mins. The top was brown and toothpick clean. Did I not cook it long enough, or too long?
Hi there! The cakes should bake for 30-35 minutes, so 20 minutes is not long enough. It likely wasn’t cooked, so it sunk and become very dense. Make sure to follow all instructions and ingredients exactly, and bake the cakes in the center of your oven as well. Also, you might want to make sure you don’t have a bad batch of baking powder. Sometimes I get a dud, and in that case the cake won’t get fluffy and light. Hope that helps!
Hi! If I want to use cake flour in this recipe, should I still use 3 cups? I assume that all purpose flour and cake flour are different weights so I’m just wondering if that changes anything?
You can sub cake flour 1:1 with regular flour here, it will work just fine. Hope you enjoy it!
We LOVE this cake! Making it for our 10th wedding anniversary today! I have freeze-dried strawberry powder this time. How much does 1 cup make?
Probably about 1/2 cup of the powder. Enjoy and happy anniversary!
Stupid question, if I’m using the recipe for a sheet cake, is this quantity for one cake or two, or do I need to double the recipe for two?
For a large sheet cake (11 x 17 inches), no need to double it, it should fit. Not a stupid question at all!
Sorry I need to rephrase my question. I want to make 2 8×12 rectangular cakes. Is the above quantity enough for 2 cakes or would I need to double it?
Oh I see! yes, you will need to double it.
I made this for a birthday and everyone loved it! It was richly strawberry and very moist. Such a great cake!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Hello!
I wonder if I can change from canola oil to coconut oil and sugar to raw honey as ingredients??? Let me know please!
Thanks in advance!
I don’t know how that will turn out, sorry! Using a liquid sweetener in place of granulated is tricky, and will likely make the cake too wet and very dense. Coconut oil would probably be okay.
Does the vegan butter need to be unsalted?
No, I have only used salted.
My non vegan friends loved it! My only thing is it did not come out like the picture, as expected. More dense, moist, thin layer cake. Not sure if I did something wrong, everyone loved it either way!
I’m glad your friends loved it, but yes it should not be dense or thin, but quite tall and fluffy. You may have over mixed the batter, or perhaps made a substitution somewhere? Make sure you follow the recipe exactly, as cake recipes can be tricky if you mess with them. Thanks!
This cake is ADDICTIVE. I’ve followed your recipes ever since becoming vegan, and for me desserts were always what I missed the most. I’ve never written a review for any recipe before, but after making this cake, I knew it had to be done. I think this is my most favorite cake I’ve ever tasted, including the cakes I had in my non-vegan days. I’ve always been a schmuck for a strawberry cupcake, but before I tried this recipe, I had never made a strawberry cake. This cake was easy to make and sooooooo delicious. I dropped off a piece to my non-vegan friends, and they sent me a photo of the empty cake plate within 2 minutes of me leaving. They DEVOURED it! They liked it so much, I brought them more the next day 🙂 I will definitely be keeping this recipe handy, definitely my new go to for cake-baking occasions. 10000/10, would recommend.
Wow, thanks so much for the great comment! I’m so glad you love it!
How many cupcakes would this recipe make? Also how much frosting should I make?
I think it would make about 24 cupcakes. I would make the same amount of frosting, unless you want a ton of frosting then you could 1.5 or double it I suppose.
Hi, will unsweetened almond milk work just as well as soy?
Yes, unsweetened almond milk will work!
This is wonderful! My vegan friends want the recipe.
Very interesting recipe, I will cook this cake.
This cake turned out soo good!! While it was very moist, I’m wondering if I could get it even fluffier/lighter by using cake flour? Or is cake flour not strong enough to handle the strawberry reduction? Thanks, Nora!
Sure! Cake flour works well and should make it even lighter and fluffier.
best cake hands down of any regular or vegan recipe! Delicious!
I know everyone LOVES earth balance and thats what you use, but I think it has a strange after taste thats even noticable in recipes. Are there any other brands you would recommend? Thanks!!! Love your recipes and can’t wait to try this.
Sure! There are quite a few these days. I love Miyokos brand, it’s amazing. Melt is another one I use regularly.
Great cake! I’ve made it a few times! Was wondering if you had any advice for the icing…I make it per usual and it’s the perfect consistency but as it sits I’ve noticed that it’s separates…any suggestions??
It sounds like the frosting is getting warm when it sits out, so I would refrigerate it. Also make sure your vegan butter is not too soft or melty when you make it. Hope that helps!
Hi, the metric on the page isn’t working, I’m from the UK, and finding it hard converting the ingredients. I tried to do it but didn’t converters, give you different answers,Thankyou.
Sorry was meant to say different converters, give me different measurements.
Hi there! I use an automatic converter that is a part of my recipe card, where I write up the recipe for the blog. When I click on metric, I see the measurements. That said, I don’t bake or cook using metric, so I’m certainly not an expert in that way. But the metric amounts on the post should work.
Can I use frozen strawberries?
I think that would be fine, yes.