Make Ahead

Vegan Vanilla Cake

by:
August  7, 2015
4
4 Ratings
  • Makes 2, 8" cake layers
Author Notes

A base recipe for a moist vegan cake. Its delicious in its simplicity and even if you're not vegan, worth an experiment. Its also a blank canvas that can be easily adapted to suit ones tastes. I substitute a ¼ of the flour for cocoa if I'm looking for a chocolate cake, I add chai spices, substitute coconut milk/extract for a tropical spin, add zests, fruit purees, swap brown sugar for the white, use agave instead of honey, etc. Its wonderfully versatile. —PieceOfLayerCake

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or coconut milk, or soy milk, or...you get the picture)
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cups neutral flavored oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two, 8" cake pans and line with parchment paper.
  2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk, vinegar, oil, honey and vanilla until well mixed. While whisking (either by hand or in a mixer), pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients ⅓ at a time, ensuring that there are no lumps. Whisk only until the batter just comes together.
  3. Distribute the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently poked. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Top with your favorite "butter"cream, a light glaze, or just grab chunks and stuff them in your mouth behind the refrigerator door. Kept airtight, the cake will keep well at room temperature for 3 - 4 days, or wrapped, it will keep frozen for up to 2 months.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • PieceOfLayerCake
    PieceOfLayerCake
  • renataperata
    renataperata
  • Julianafh
    Julianafh
  • Jannifer
    Jannifer

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4 Reviews

renataperata
renataperata April 5, 2020
hi - i recently made this cake, but the texture turned out like bread pudding, very sticky. any ideas where i might have gone wrong?
 
Julianafh
Julianafh April 7, 2017
FYI Honey isn't vegan. This isn't a vegan cake.
 
PieceOfLayerCake
PieceOfLayerCake November 25, 2018
Included in the intro is a solution for that if you forgo honey. Read everything before commenting.
 
Jannifer
Jannifer August 21, 2022
I agree with Julianafh. This is not a vegan cake if the recipe calls for honey. Even though you list agave syrup as a substitute the original recipe shouldn't be described as vegan. It's misleading.