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This is the best Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe you’ll try! It’s perfectly moist, made with easy-to-find ingredients, and topped with a flavorful chai spice icing, making this cake a little more exciting than traditional vanilla cake.
Oh my gosh, a vegan vanilla cake just for you! As much as I love my vegan chocolate cake recipe, sometimes I’m craving something a little less rich. I love this cake for so many reasons–the texture, the flavor and the icing to name a few–and it never fails me. I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times, and it’s always turned out perfectly, so I hope you love it as much as I do!
I know vegan baking can sometimes seem overwhelming or scary, but I promise it’s not! Let me walk you through everything you need to know in order to make the perfect vanilla cake.
WHY THIS IS THE BEST VEGAN VANILLA CAKE RECIPE
- It’s made in 6″ cake pans, so it’s a good size cake but nothing too complicated
- The cake is perfectly moist but not too sweet
- The chai spice icing really takes the cake up a notch in terms of flavor and excitement
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN VANILLA CAKE
First, cream the dairy free butter and sugar together. Add milk, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla to that same bowl and stir until everything is combined. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps in the batter–they’ll go away once you add in the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then, mix the wet and dry ingredients together for a few seconds until the batter is smooth.
Line the baking pans with parchment paper (more on that below!), then divide the batter evenly amongst the pans. Bake cakes for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Last, wait 10 minutes then run a knife along the edges and carefully invert the cakes on a cooling rack. Be sure to wait until they’re completely cool before icing them.
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THE CAKE IS DONE?
There are a few ways to tell when a cake is done, but my two favorite ways are:
- When the cake edges have set
- When a toothpick is inserted into the center and comes out clean
HOW DO I PREVENT THE CAKE FROM STICKING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PANS?
You want to line each 6″ baking pan with parchment paper. If you own pre-cut cake parchment, that’s great, but if not, let me walk you through how to do this. Tear a large piece of parchment paper, then place one of the cake pans on top of it. Use a pencil to trace the outside of the pan, then use scissors to cut that circle out, placing it on the bottom of one of the cake pans. Repeat this process for all three pans. It might sound like a lot, but it only takes a couple minutes and is a HUGE help in preventing your cakes from sticking!
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER VEGAN DESSERT RECIPES
Vegan Vanilla Cake with Chai Spice Icing
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups raw cane sugar
- 1/2 cup dairy free butter I use Earth Balance
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the icing:
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup dairy free butter
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of cloves, all spice and cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together; add milk, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla to that bowl and stir to combine.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until everything is mixed together, being careful not to over-stir.
- Grease three 6" cake pans with nonstick spray or coconut oil and then pour batter evenly into pans, banging them on the countertop a few times so the batter evens out.
- Bake cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once cakes are done, leave them in the pans for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them onto a cooling rack. Wait until cakes are completely cook before icing them.
for the icing:
- Cream powdered sugar and butter together; add milk, vanilla and spices to the bowl and mix with an electric mixer until everything is smooth.
to assemble:
- Once the cakes have cooked, remove the "dome" from each cake so that the tops of the cakes are flat. Next, ice the top of one of those cakes using a generous amount of icing and then place a second cake overtop, using the icing as glue to hold them together. Repeat this again for the third and final layer. Last, ice the top and sides of the cake.
- Cut and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
I’m planning on baking this cake for my fiancé on Father’s Day – excited but nervous! Quick question, should the almond milk be sweetened or unsweetened?
Hi! It doesn’t matter, though I’d probably go with unsweetened since the cake is pretty sweet on its own. Let me know how it turns out!
Hello. Wondering how long to make this cake in a rectangular backin pan. This is my go to cake recipie. Its so amazing.
So glad you like the cake! Unfortunately, I’ve never made it in anything other than a round cake pan. I did find this article which might be helpful in determining bake times: https://www.thespruceeats.com/cake-baking-times-per-pan-305281
Would this be good with some cherries in the cake batter and maybe as a fruit filling and garnish? I’d love to hear some feed back!
I think that would be delicious! It’s just a regular vanilla cake, so cherries would add more flavor, and I still think they’d go well with the chai spice icing if you want to keep that.
HOLY GOSH. I feel like I outdid myself with your recipe. Literally heaven in mine and my wife’s mouth. Can’t contain the goodness my tummy is dancing with joy. Best recipe ever. TY TY. Also if anyone is interested I used 1 9” cake pan by 2” deep and it came out awesome!
AMAZING– this is the best comment!! Thank you for your kind words and I’m glad you both liked the cake.
I think I’m losing it…lol. I thought I read a comment that said someone used lemon curd as a filling so I tried it.
I loved it! The tangy curd went really well with the sweet chai icing.
I took it to a party and the partygoers were my guinea pigs – I need to make a vegan cake for my wedding in 5 days so I wanted to make sure it tasted good – vegan cake is often heavy and dense. This cake
got the stamp of approval from all at the party who tried it – none of whom were vegan!! They couldn’t believe it was vegan – it was a big hit – talk of the party! Thanks so much, will be making it on the 27th for my big day.
Um that’s AMAZING!! I hope you have the best wedding and that everyone loves the cake 🙂 Congrats!!
Would this batter fit into 2 8 or 9-inch baking pans?
Yes I think either should be fine!
Awesome I’m going to be making this in January then for my first vegan birthday!
This is without a doubt the best vanilla cake recipe I have ever come across, vegan and non vegan. AMAZING!!!
I made the cake in 2 9″ cake pans, because thats all i have lol and it came out perfect. i had no issues.
I just made your recipe and it was a huge hit! I did have to make one change because my store did not have Earth Balance butter, so I used the new Melt butter. It worked out perfectly! I wrote about it here on my blog:
http://clearwatercottage.blogspot.com/2018/03/vegan-vanilla-cake-with-chai-frosting.html
Yay!! So glad you liked it–thanks for sharing 🙂
So excited to make this as a birthday cake this weekend!
omg this sounds so amazing! I am planning on making this for my daughters 1st bday and I can’t wait! thanks so much for the recipe!
out of curiosity, what edible flower/cake toppings did you add on?
I used regular flowers just for the photographs 😀 I hope your daughter enjoys this cake!
can this cake be made gluten free? if so any suggestions on what to replace it with
Would almond butter maybe
work as a substitute instead of earth balance butter?
I was just wondering if coconut oil can be used in place of vegan butter? Has anyone tried that? Thanks so much!!!
hi! I haven’t tried it in this recipe, but my Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake uses coconut oil in place of butter and it’s pretty similar.. try adding the sugar in with the dry ingredients and then adding 1/4 cup melted coconut oil in with the wet ingredients. Let me know how it turns out!
Soo good. The icing is LIFE. I made this recipe last night. I used a springform pan (didn’t layer). I omitted the cardamom and cloves from the icing ( I didn’t have any lol). I also used a half cup less brown cane sugar. So yummy. I also topped with almond shaves.
This is beautiful!
I was just wondering, can this recipe be used for cupcakes? How many would it yield?
Many thanks 🙂
Great question! I imagine it would work but I haven’t tried it myself… let me know if you do, and I’ll add it to my to do list for after the holidays because I’m curious too.
Hey Erin
Happy New Year!
So I tried this out as cupcakes and it worked a treat!
Managed to get 19 cupcakes out of this recipe and baked them at 350 for 20mins.
Everybody loved them and they were gone in minutes!!
I’m so glad to hear that, Amy–thanks for letting me know. Happy New Year!
So beautiful! In my opinion naked cakes are the prettiest layer cakes 🙂
I agree! Thanks 🙂
Miguel- AND office-approved?! Put that one in the boooooks! I love vanilla and chai flavors. And cake, obvi.
I’m adding it to my resume 😉 Thanks Jess!
This cake is beautiful and the vanilla + chai flavors totally call to me. Looks like I need some little cake pans! I hope you feel better soon, Erin!
Thanks Ellen! Feeling so much better now thankfully.
What a beautiful cake! The chai spice icing is something I simply must try!
Chai spice icing is where it’s at–thanks Annie!
you make the prettiest cakes!!! love chai spiced!
Thanks so much 🙂 That means a lot.
Sending you feel good vibrations and wishes, Erin – being sick around the holidays sooks!
BTW – this cake is gorgeous – loving the naked look!
Thanks so much Shashi! 🙂
NOOOO! The sickness is definitely going around. Hope you feel better!
Also, once again, another beauty! This cake looks amazing. I need to get on the cake train like yesterday
Get on the cake train!! You must.
Hope you feel better! Being sick is the worst. I was sick for well over a month and I’m just now starting to feel like myself again, so I’m crossing my fingers for you.
Chai anything is the BEST. This cake is making me want a chai latte lol.
Sick for a month?! Ahhh that sounds awful. Yes I’m feeling so much better now thankfully!
Aw I hope you feel better Erin!! Thank you for still posting this cake though, you’re the BEST! 😀 I definitely need to buy 6″ cake pans now…smaller cake = justification to eat most of it. 😉
HAHA I like your way of thinking 😉