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.
Hi! I’m allergic to some beans and can’t have chickpeas. What alternative do you recommend instead of aquafaba? Thank you!
You could probably use applesauce instead, or another egg replacer such as Bob’s Red Mill.
Hi. I used this recipe for new year’s day 2020 dessert. It turned out great. My family loved it. Thanks Nora.
I’m so glad it turned out great! Thanks.
I found it very dense and had to scoop it out to put in the pans. Could this be from overmixing?
It could be from overmixing, or simply overmeasuring the dry ingredients. If you use coconut oil that can make the batter thicker as well. Hope it still turned out for you!
I just can’t thank you enough for sharing this recipe! My son is allergic to eggs, and I haven’t had much luck with other egg substitutes. This cake was fluffy, moist, and so delish! Thank you for enabling me to bake a cake for him! We don’t have a vegan bakery locally, so this recipe is a life improver for my son. He loves being able to eat an actual birthday cake, and I LOVE being able to see him enjoy it so much!
That’s so wonderful! Thanks for the great comment!
Dang Nora!!! I made this cake last night along with your vanilla frosting and I am blown away!!! It came out amazing and soooooo yummy!!! I will most definitely be making this again and again!!!
Thank you, I’m so glad to hear that!
I’ve been looking for great vegan cakes recipes, i think i found my go to now !!! I have one question, since there’s no dairy products, can i leave it on a counter for a few days ?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it’s fine to leave at room temperature for a few days. If you don’t think you will eat it all before then, you could stick it in the fridge or even freezer for longer.
Hi! If I’m using a different egg replacer, how many eggs is equivalent to 1/2 cup of aquaphaba? 2 or 3 eggs?
I’m not sure exactly what the equivalent would be, but I think 2 will be enough. It might not be quite as light and fluffy without the aquafaba though. Thanks!
Is there a reason you beat in the aquafaba instead of fold it in? From what I know about meringue it’s supposed to be folded into things so you don’t lose the air you whip into it.
Well, we aren’t making meringue here so the technique is different. But you can fold it in if you want, it’s just not how I have done it.
Do you have any recommendations for making this gluten free? Can I just sub gf flour, or would I have to make other changes as well? Same with your chocolate cake recipe. Thanks, it looks great!
You could simply substitute a gluten free flour mix. Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 works pretty well, as do other brands. I would not make any other changes, same with the chocolate cake. Hope that helps!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I want to use this recipe to make cupcakes for a party this weekend. How many cupcakes does this recipe make? Thanks!
It will make quite a few cupcakes, I think around 24. Enjoy!
Hi! Could I turn this into a Pistachio cake? Would you grind the pistachios and add like pistachio flour or add pistachio bits?
Thanks!
You probably could, but I’ve never tried it! I would probably grind up some pistachios, not use pistachio flour.
Hi. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. I tried your chocolate cake and it was fantastic. With that i did the vanilla frosting.
I am going to try this vanilla cake with your chocolate frosting. Just one quick question. Have you tried layering your cakes like cutting the cake from each pan into half?? I don’t have 3 pans so I was thinking if the cakes have good height why not cut them and layer them.
Answer will be of great help !!
I haven’t tried it, but it would probably work. Make sure to let the cakes cool completely before cutting them. I hope it works, thanks!
Thank you so much again for the response. So I made this recipe in 2 6” pans which were 3” deep. So I just cut one pan and leveled the tops of both. They came out wonderfully. I made your vanilla frosting recipe then just separated some vanilla frosting and added cocoa powder to the rest to make it chocolate frosting. Did Choco-vanilla frosting borders. Such amazing reviews. Everyone said can’t believe it’s vegan ?. Thank you again. Next one is going to be your strawberry one. Wish me luck !!
Sounds great! Hope the strawberry cake is great too!
Hi Nora!
I have made this vanilla cake and the chocolate cake(This is really good!!) posted on your blog. Two of them were both tasty, but I personally prefer the chocolate cake because it is much softer than the vanilla. Would it be vanilla cake if I add vanilla extract to your chocolate recipe instead of cocoa powder? Have you ever tried it before?
Thanks Serena! The chocolate cake is definitely more moist and soft, the vanilla cake has a slightly different texture, though I do find it quite moist and soft. I have actually tried this recently, adapting my chocolate cake to vanilla by replacing the cocoa powder with more flour. It did not work as well, it almost tasted more like a spongecake than a soft, fluffy vanilla cake. You could try it, maybe it’s more what you are looking for. But I prefer the buttery, softness of this version for vanilla. Thanks!
Made cupcakes with this recipe. Tops cracked, hid it with the icing. Delicious!
This is a keeper recipe!
I’m so glad!
I’m sorry, but I don’t seem to understand what to do with the mixture that was done on line 5.
No where does it point out where if it needs to be added to the flour/buttercream mix.
Is it frosting? Because it looks like it.
Or Do I add it to the final mix?
Please let me know, thank you
In step 5 you are simply adding 1/2 cup of whipped aquafaba and vanilla extract to the bowl with the vegan butter, canola oil and sugar and beating with the mixer (step 4). It is not frosting. So first you beat the vegan butter, oil and sugar. Then add aquafaba and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients (step 6). Then you alternate adding the flour and vegan buttermilk to the main bowl with the butter, sugar, etc (step 7). I hope that helps clarify, sorry for the confusion!
I very rarely bake things, but my daughter wanted a vanilla cake for her birthday. We are all vegan, so I went looking for a vegan recipe. I am SO thankful to have found this recipe! It was so easy, and it was delicious. Everyone at the party loved it. Thank you SO much for this recipe! I’m trying your lemon cake recipe next! ❤
I’m so glad you liked it, and I hope you love the lemon cake!
Hi, A friend who is an amazing baker made this cake and it was so delicious I asked her for the recipe. I am NOT an amazing baker, but it worked perfectly. Thank you so much. Do you think it would work to substitute some of the flour for cocoa powder and make it a chocolate cake?
I’m so happy you liked it! I would not recommend that but you need to go make my Vegan Chocolate Cake, it’s the most popular recipe on my site and everyone loves it. 🙂
I have made this cake and it is so good. However, the liquid from one can of chic peas (once you beat it) is way more than 1/2 cup of whipped acquafaba. So, not sure I’m making this correctly or not. Can you confirm once whipped, how much to add? or is it all of it from 1/2 cup of liquid acquafaba? By the way, your recipes are my family favourites! Everything I make is awesome and converting an entire family of 5 to plant based eating has been a breeze. Thank you.
You are correct, depending on your aquafaba, you may have much more than 1/2 cup whipped. Which is why I say to measure 1/2 cup of the whipped aquafaba and add that to the mixture, not all of it. So 1/2 cup of whipped aquafaba. This is the only way I know to make sure it is accurate, as different chickpea liquids can make different amounts when whipped. Hope that helps! I’m so happy you have been enjoying the recipes, thank you so much!
What is the measurements for a three tier cake?
I’m not sure, it would depend on how large your pans are. You could 1.5 times the recipe to get 3 layers if you are using 8 inch pans.
Hi
I make your chocolate cake all time and get rave reviews, thank you! I wanted to make your white cake for my sons 1st birthday, but I think I may have over mixed the Aquafaba? is this possible. When I went to “pour” the cake out, I really had to scoop it out.
Thanks!
Yes, it should pour a little easier than that, but hopefully it still turned out okay! I’ve noticed when I use coconut oil, that often happens but then it works out. I guess it’s possible if the aquafaba was really thick, your cake batter would be as well, I’m not totally sure.
wonderful cake, this is a awesome recipe thank you so much!
You’re so welcome!
Oh my heck. This cake was mind-blowing. It tastes like amazing white cake meets sugar cookie because the edges of the cake get caramelized and chewy. I added poppyseeds to the batter, filled with homemade cherry filling, and used your vanilla frosting recipe tinted with cherry juice.
Sounds delicious!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe, thank you for posting. I just wanted to make a mention about the oil. I have heard canola oil is not good. I substitute light olive oil in my cakes and it has worked great so far.
What would you say is the egg (#) equivalent of 1/2 cup of aquafaba foam? If I wanted to make a different cake which calls for eggs, please?
Well, 3 tablespoons of whipped aquafaba is about the same as 1 egg, so that might be an easier reference than 1/2 cup. Hope that helps!
I don’t like using vegan butter can I replace with oil or another alternative, like fruit?
I’ve never tried this cake oil free, often people will substitute applesauce so you could try that, but the cake will taste much different. Coconut oil or more canola oil should work quite well. For the frosting you really need vegan butter though.
Would I replace the vegan butter 1:1 with oil?
Yes, that’s right.
Thank you, your cake looks so amazing. I can’t wait to try it.