With a moist and fluffy crumb and decadent vanilla flavors, you’ll fall head over heels for this Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe. It’s perfect for all kinds of occasions and no one will guess it’s vegan!
You won’t ever have to search for a vegan cake recipe again with my vanilla cake, Vegan Chocolate Cake, and Vegan Yellow Cake recipes in your back pocket.
Introducing the only vegan vanilla cake recipe you’ll ever need!
My Vegan Vanilla Cake is an extraordinary dessert that will ‘wow’ the vanilla lovers in your life. It’s moist and fluffy, has elegant vanilla flavors, and is paired with my Vanilla Vegan Frosting for just the right amount of sweetness.
With over 200 5-star reviews, this recipe is a proven favorite! Here’s what readers are saying:
“Love this cake recipe!! The best I’ve ever had!! The whole family loves it too.” – Melissa
“Absolutely amazing! Impressed all my non-vegan friends!!” – Brittany
“I have tried many cake recipes and this one is the best by far! It was perfect and the whole family loved it. I’m keeping this one. Thank you so much!” – Lauren
My favorite way to serve this moist vegan vanilla cake is with sprinkles on top, but you can use fresh fruit, vegan whipped cream, edible flowers, or any fun decorations you love. Bring it with you to the birthday party, bridal shower, or holiday party, and watch as everyone rushes to get a slice!
Why this is the best vegan vanilla cake
- It’s the type of cake you dream about – This bakery-style vanilla cake has a wonderfully moist and fluffy crumb and an elegant vanilla flavor. The best part is that it’s made without eggs or dairy but you’d never know it!
- Two secret ingredients – Aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) and cake flour are solely responsible for this cake’s delicate, fluffy texture.
- Perfect for any occasion – Decorate the cake with vegan buttercream frosting and sprinkles so it’s ready for birthday parties, baby showers, weddings, holidays, or any special occasion. You will also love my super easy Vegan Funfetti Cake for birthday parties!
How to make vegan vanilla cake
This is simply an overview with photos. For the complete, printable recipe, scroll down to the recipe card.
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease 2 8-inch round cake pans. Place a round of parchment paper on the bottom for easy removal of the cakes later.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-large bowl and set aside.
Make the vegan buttermilk by combining the milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup. Stir a little, then set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the aquafaba and cream of tartar vigorously until foamy, about 2 minutes. You don’t need this in stiff peaks, just get it a bit fluffy and foamy. OR, you can vegan yogurt, which works just as well!
Cream the softened vegan butter, canola oil, and sugar together in a large bowl until creamy. Next, add the aquafaba to the bowl along with the vanilla extract. Beat until well combined.
With your mixer on low speed, alternate between adding portions of the flour mixture and vegan buttermilk to the batter, mixing until just combined after each time.
Do not overmix the batter! The batter should be fairly smooth after everything has been incorporated. A few lumps left behind are okay.
Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
Set the cakes aside to cool while you make the Vegan Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Frosting, Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting or Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Or consider making this incredible Vegan Whipped Cream (that tastes like dairy whipped cream!) and serve with berries.
Frost the vanilla cake when the layers are completely cooled. Add some sprinkles on top for fun, then slice and serve!
Frequently asked questions
Cake flour works the absolute best in this recipe but all purpose flour is fine, too. You can also make homemade cake flour by mixing all purpose flour and cornstarch together. Check out this Cake Flour Substitute Guide from Sally’s Baking Addiction to learn how it’s done.
A quality gluten free flour mix, like Better Batter, will work as a substitute but just know that the cake will have a slightly different texture and it probably won’t be as fluffy and light.
Aquafaba is simply the liquid, or juice, from a can of chickpeas. That’s it!
Like egg whites, it does amazing things when it’s whipped up, such as making vegan-friendly meringues, mousses, whipped cream, brownies, and more. It’s also a rockstar egg replacer in vegan baking, including this recipe. It gives the cake a fluffy and moist texture and a crisp white color (no brown bits from flaxseed eggs!).
To learn more about the magic of aquafaba, check out my guide, Aquafaba 101.
I recently did some testing and discovered that the best substitute for aquafaba in this recipe is vegan yogurt! Use a higher protein/fat version that is unsweetened and unflavored for best results. You can also use 2 flax eggs, possibly JUST Egg or another egg replacer.
Sure. This recipe makes enough cake batter for a 9×13, 10, or 12-inch cake pan or a sheet pan. Remember to add an extra 10 to 15 minutes to the baking time when using a larger pan. Two 9-inch round pans work as well, but the cakes will be thinner.
Wrap the baked and cooled cake layers in plastic wrap, then store them in the fridge for 4 to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I recommend keeping the frosted cake in an airtight container, like a cake carrier, in the fridge or counter (it will get rather dry quickly in the fridge). You can also lightly wrap it with plastic wrap, but it may ruin your designs. At room temperature, it will last about 5 days.
Want more incredible vegan cakes?
I love making vegan cake recipes that taste just as good, if not better than the usual dairy and egg filled versions! Make any of the following recipes and become a vegan cake connoisseur:
And you can find even MORE cakes here! Vegan Cake Recipes. Happy baking!
Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Vegan buttermilk
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Aquafaba (or sub 1/2 cup vegan yogurt)
- 1/2 cup aquafaba
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
The rest
- 1/2 cup vegan butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Frosting and sprinkles
- 1 Recipe Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- vegan friendly sprinkles optional
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F place the rack in the middle of the oven.
- Grease 2 8-inch round cake pans with oil or vegan butter. Place a round of parchment paper on the bottom for easy removal later.
Combine dry ingredients
- In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Prepare vegan buttermilk
- Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup or small bowl. Stir briefly, then set aside to curdle. This is your buttermilk.
Whip the aquafaba (or use yogurt instead)
- In a small bowl, whisk together the aquafaba and cream of tartar vigorously until foamy, about 2 minutes. You don't have to whip it into stiff peaks, just get it a bit fluffy and foamy. Set aside.
Finish the cake batter
- Cream fats and sugars: In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer (or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment), cream together the softened vegan butter, canola oil and sugar until creamy and well combined, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides as needed.
- Add aquafaba and vanilla: Add the aquafaba mixture to the bowl with the creamed butter/oil/sugar, along with the vanilla extract. Mix until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Add flour and buttermilk: Alternate adding the flour mixture and vegan buttermilk in 3 parts, mixing until just combined each time. The batter should be fairly smooth (a few lumps are okay), but do not over mix.
Bake, cool and frost
- 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 comes out mostly clean, with no wet batter. These cakes come out pretty flat, so there is no need to slice off the top like some other recipes.
- 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.
- Frost with my Vegan Buttercream Frosting, Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Frosting or even vegan whipped cream and berries. Add some sprinkles for fun, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cake flour will make the cake much lighter with a fine crumb, but all purpose works fine if you can’t find cake flour. Or make your own cake flour.
- Gluten free? Try substituting a quality gluten free all purpose mix. I like Better Batter brand.
- Soy milk works best because of the protein and fat content, but you can use another milk if needed. Hemp, oat, cashew or almond all work quite well.
- If you can find it, unsweetened high fat or protein yogurt works well in place of the aquafaba.
- For cupcakes, bake for 20-25 minutes until done and fill liners half full.
- For a 9×13 inch cake, bake for 40-50 minutes, until done. Two 9 inch round pans will work, but the cakes will be thinner.
This recipe is SO SO GOOD! It’s better than any non-vegan cake recipe I have ever tried, it’s so soft and moist, not like raw moist but fluffy moist. My non-vegan family members love this cake as much as I do. In fact, it’s so good that I make this cake once a week, and it’s gone in just a couple of days. I’ve tried some of your other recipes, and they are all amazing! Thank you so much for all your recipes, I’m sure it’s a lot of work.
You’re so welcome! It’s my pleasure to create the recipes!
How would I go about converting this recipe to 8″ and 9″ circle pans? how long would I bake for the 9″ and how long for 8″. Thanks!
I’m a little confused by your question, but the recipe is written for baking it in two 8 inch cake pans. 9 inch cake pans work just as well, the cakes will just be slightly less tall. Baking time is the same, 30-35 minutes.
Should the aquafaba be replaced with an equal amount of applesauce? Thanks so much!
Yes, I would do that.
My family and I recently became vegans. So I have been trying my best to make the transition as seamless as possible. While searching for a cake recipe for my daughter’s birthday I came across yours and I am SO glad I did! The cupcakes were perfect! My entire family loved them!! I even had a co-worker, who is not vegan, devour the cupcakes! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!!
You’re so welcome! I’m glad they came out great!
BEST VEGAN WHITE CAKE EVER!!! A friend shared a piece of this cake with me, When I asked for the recipe, she sent me a link to your blog, Funny thing is, I have this recipe bookmarked to make, but never got around to it. It was SO GOOD. I’ve been hesitant (lazy) to make the aquafaba whip, but after tasting this cake, it’s so worth that little extra effort. This cake is the best vegan white cake I’ve ever had, and I bake and eat ALOT of cake! Thank you so much for posting this, and all your other recipes!!
Thanks so much for the wonderful comment!
Hi Nora!
Thank you for the terrific recipe. I plan to bake this today for my friend’s birthday and use your “Best Vegan Chocolate Frosting” recipe to top it off. Question- I don’t have 8 inch cake pans, rather I have three 9 inch cake pans, how could I adjust my recipe?
Hi! You can just use two 9 inch cake pans and follow the recipe as normal.
Do you think I can make this a chocolate cake by adding cocoa?
No, that won’t work. My suggestion would be to make my chocolate cake recipe.
I only have one cake pan – will it work okay if I bake one layer at a time, with the batter resting in between? I used to do this with non-vegan cakes, but this relies a bit more on the leavening agent’s activity than non-vegan cakes do. Thanks!
I think it should be okay, I haven’t tried it though.
Yes thank you!
I must hold my hands up I forgot to combine the buttermilk it end up like a massive scone cake! Then the buttermilk kept a day, I used it to make a banana bread loaf. I’ll get it right this though!
Nora,
I made this cake “easter bunny style” for my grand daughter on Sunday — she is allergic to eggs and dairy, and this was my first attempt at vegan baking from scratch. She was ecstatic and said it was the best cake and frosting she had ever had. I found the batter profoundly satisfying to make — it all mixed up like a traditional cake. Aquafaba — who knew?!!!! Thank you so much for this gorgeous recipe, and I’m going to have fun trying your other ones.
Warm regards,
Julie
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment!
Hi there! Im looking forward to trying out this recipe. I really want to make a matcha tea flavored cake, do you think adding matcha powder to this recipe would alter the texture?
I don’t think it would alter the texture, just the flavor. Hope you enjoy, sounds fun!
Hi Nora
In step 7 is that, add all 4 separate bowls together i.e. Buttermilk, aquafaba, creamed sugar, flour mix? Which is best to add them all to?
Love the website. Thank you very much
Hi Harry! Let me see if I can help. So you will have your vegan buttermilk and your aquafaba in small bowls, ready to go. Then you have one main, big bowl where you make the cake batter. This is where you will cream together the vegan butter, oil and sugar (step 4). Next, you add the aquafaba to the main bowl with the sugar/butter/oil (step 5). Next, in the main bowl, you will alternate adding the dry flour mixture and the vegan buttermilk (step 7). Does that help clarify? Thanks!
Hi Nora,
I’ll be making this cake next week for my daughter’s birthday and the only ingredient I’ve not managed to get at the shops is Plain Flour or All Purpose Flour. My hubby bought Self Raising Flour when he saw it at Tesco, but I’m not sure what adjustments to the recipe will need to be made around that. Can you give me some advice or suggestions on this?
Thank you in advance and I will definitely post a pic of the cake once it’s done.
Kyleigh
You should be able to sub it for all purpose flour in this recipe, I don’t think it should be a problem. Keep everything else the same. I hope it turns out well, thank you!
Hello! thank you for this recipe.
Would I be able to use oat flour by grinding oats instead of all-purpose flour?
🙂
Your welcome! I’m not sure how well oat flour will hold up here, your cake may end up mushy. I’ve never tried it, but it would probably work better if you even did half oat flour and half regular flour. Thanks!
there seems to be a step missing. You have the flour mixture in one bowl. The Cider/milk mixture in another bowl, and the aquafaba and sugar in another. Never do you mention when to add the milk mixture to either the aquafaba mixture or the flour mixture. I took a shot and mixed the two wet bowl mixtures together and then added that to the dry flour mixture. I also substituted sugar with AGAVE, and had to remove some liquid from the recipe to do that. My cakes were very dense and firm. I’m not sure which may have affected the out come more, the way I mixed the bowls or the agave vs cane sugar. I would try again with suggestions?
Hi there! Let me see if I can help. So you have the vegan buttermilk in one bowl (I just use a glass measuring cup for this). In a small bowl, you have the aquafaba which you will whip until foamy. The sugar is not with the aquafaba. Set that aside. In another large bowl or stand mixer, you will cream together the vegan butter, oil and sugar (step 4). Think of this as your main big bowl for mixing the cake batter. THEN you add 1/2 cup of whipped aquafaba to the large bowl with the butter/oil/sugar (step 5). In step 7, I say to alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk/vinegar mixture to the bowl. I will think about how I can make this simpler to follow in the instructions. I’m sure your cakes didn’t come out light and fluffy because of how you mixed the ingredients, as well as subbing agave. That just won’t give you the same results as using granulated sugar. So I would try again following the instructions carefully and not making any substitutions. Hope that helps!
Hi Nora!
Can I use cake flour instead of all purpose? If so, would it be a 1 to 1 replacement or would I need to adjust the measurement?
Yes you can use cake flour, no need to adjust anything. Enjoy!
Hey Nora!
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve been desperately trying every vegan cake recipe on the internet. Couple of questions:
– convection bake or regular bake?
– how frothy does the aquafaba need to be?
– the finished raw batter seems thicker than other batters I’ve tried – is that your experience too?
– is there a difference in terms of effect on cake (other than taste) between vegan butter and vegan margarine?
– any plans for a video?
Thank you!
I hope you love it! I have only made it in a regular oven. The aquafaba should be foamy and light, but doesn’t need to be stiff. The raw batter is a bit on the thick side, make sure you measure your flour correctly and don’t accidentally add too much. No real difference between vegan butter or margarine. I do have plans for more videos and this would be a great one to do! Thank you!
Hi, I tried finding the answer in previous comments but haven’t been able to find it. How would I convert this recipe to 6″ pans? Thank you!
You could make the cake using 3 6inch cake pans and just bake them for less time, maybe 20-25 minutes. To make it in 2 6inch cake pans, bake for longer until done.
Can you use whole wheat flour? That’s all I have
You could if needed, but it will taste like a whole wheat cake (denser, with a different flavor). I know regular flour is a little hard to find right now!
Hello,
Is it possible to make this recipe with gluten free flour?
It works pretty well, but the consistency will be a bit different. I have made it with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Mix with good results.
Hi Nora, are there any other vegan alternatives to aquafaba for this recipe? Would like to make it next week for my daughters 4th Bday. Thanks!
Sure! I’ve made it before just leaving the aquafaba out, and it’s still quite good. You could sub applesauce as well, or just add an additional 1/4 cup of oil.
Thanks a million!
You’re welcome!
Hello Nora, tried the recipe with the applesauce and it was perfect. Baked it all in a Bundt tin and it was perfect. Used your blueberry scone glaze and some sprinkles. Thanks so much !
You’re welcome!
This looks amazing! I plan to make next week but want to add in fresh strawberries. Will I need to make any adjustments to the recipe? Thank you!
I don’t think you need to make adjustments if you simply add fresh strawberries to the middle layer or something and on top, but I’m not sure how it will change it to mix strawberries into the batter. Might make the cake too moist and watery.
I just made this for my daughter’s 2nd birthday last week and I’m telling you, it was a HUGE hit!! Absolutely perfect consistency, although I used cow’s butter bc that’s all I had. I can’t wait to make it again and I’d love to send you a photo so you can see how cute it turned out with the sprinkles! Thank you so much! Now I’m inspired to try more recipes on your site and will make the sweet potato + black bean burgers tomorrow for dinner 😀 Thank you so much!!
You’re so welcome! Glad it was a hit!
I made this today and my family and I loved it but the top was slightly crispy making it a little bit hard to slice and I’d just like the whole thing to be soft. Have you ever had this happen and will cooking it less than the 30 minutes be enough to fix the problem? I used soy milk so maybe a different milk would make a difference? Thank you so much for this delicious cake recipe!
I don’t think a different milk will make a difference here. Perhaps your oven runs a bit hot; you could try baking it for less time, just check with a toothpick in the middle to make sure there is no uncooked batter left. Glad you and your family enjoyed the cake!
I made this cake for my dad’s birthday and it was amazing!! I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a cake this much. Everyone loved it! The flavor is almost like a sugar cookie (aka absolutely delicious) and the texture is perfect. Looking forward to trying some more of these recipes!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this for your dad’s birthday! Thank you for leaving a comment!
I love love love this cake. I love using aquafab. I know you have a chocolate cake recipe but it doesn’t use the aquafab. Can I make this one chocolate? And if so what would I do? Thank you! All of your recipes and fantastic, my family and I love them!
I’m glad you love this cake! Have you tried my vegan chocolate cake as written? It’s pretty amazing! I’m not sure how you would make this one chocolate, it’s not quite that easy unfortunately. I think you’d be better off making the recipe as written. I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes, thank you!
Hi how would I adjust this to make a 9×13” cake? Would love to make it for my sons birthday 🙂
That will work, it will just take a bit longer to bake, more like 45 minutes. I would just check the middle with a toothpick until it comes out clean. Hope your son enjoys!