Best Moist Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake Recipe (2024)

This easy vegan vanilla cake recipe creates a perfect buttery cake that’s soft and moist. If you love delicious vanilla flavor, this homemade cake is easy to make — there are only a few steps before it’s in the oven. Add a few sprinkles, and this could be your favorite vegan birthday cake!

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I absolutely love cakes. And this one is no exception! This Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake is a fun twist on my Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe. I decided we needed a vanilla version. Because what’s life without a little vanilla? Of course, that meant topping it with this amazing vegan vanilla frosting. So good!

Looking for more vegan cakes? You’ll love this Vegan Chocolate Cake, Vegan Cake Mix Cake or even this easy Wacky Cake recipe.

Key Ingredients

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:

• Vegan butter — Use Earth Balance, Miyoko’s, or homemade vegan butter for the best buttery flavor and consistency. You can substitute coconut oil.
• Almond flour — I buy this at Costco, but you can also find it at health food stores, online, or it’s super simple to make Homemade Almond Flour.
• Baking soda + baking powder — Make sure yours is fresh by testing a bit of baking soda in vinegar and baking powder in hot water. If it bubbles, your batch is good to go.
• Vinegar — I prefer apple cider vinegar for its mild flavor or substitute white vinegar.
• Flour — Use all-purpose flour for the lightest cakes. To make a gluten-free vegan vanilla cake, substitute high-quality gluten-free baking flour.

How to Make Vegan Vanilla Cake

Forget vegan, this is absolutely the best ever vanilla cake! I always think making a homemade cake is better than a cake mix. Sure, you can find an accidentally-vegan vanilla cake mix much more easily these days, but making it from scratch is always best.

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in the oil, almond flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add vinegar, vanilla, and almond extracts and mix again until smooth and creamy.
4. Add the flour in alternating steps with the water. Then mix an additional 30 seconds, until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.
6. Bake for 30 to 33 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
7. Cool cakes for 10 minutes and then invert them onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Here are more detailed step-by-step instructions:

Step One: Beat Together Butter and Sugar

First, we’ll cream together the butter and the sugar. Sure, the butter adds a bit of a golden hue, but it’s worth it for the added flavor

I use a stand mixer set to medium speed and I take my time with this first step, beating it between 2 to 3 minutes. This article explains why creaming butter and sugar together is important.

Step Two: Add Other Ingredients

Next, you’ll add the oil, almond flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Continue beating another minute, until this mixture is light and fluffy.

This is a vanilla cake with no eggs, so it might be surprising that we’re not adding ground flaxseed. I’m allowing the flour along with the cornstarch to do the work of creating structure in this cake.

You can see that the batter is starting to stick to the beaters now. That’s good. If you’re mixing this a hand mixer, you should experience the same effect.

Then add the vinegar, vanilla extract and almond extract and then beat again to combine.

Step Three: Alternate Adding Flour and Water

Next, you will add both water and flour in alternating steps. Here’s how to do that:

1. Turn the mixer down to low speed.
2. Beginning with the flour, pour about a half cup in, followed by some of the water.
3. Continue this process, finishing with the flour.

Be sure to use a spatula to wipe down the sides of the bowl so you get an even batter.

Once you’ve added the flour, you don’t want to overmix, so just beat the dough for another 15 to 30 seconds to combine.

Step Four: Bake

Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for approximately 35 minutes.

Parchment paper in the bottom of the pan will help the cakes come out of the pans without sticking.

Always let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. In fact, I set a timer when I remove cakes from the oven to help me remember. Then place a plate or wire rack on top of the pan and flip it. The cake should fall out of the pan and onto your plate or wire rack.

How to Tell When a Cake is Done

A vegan vanilla cake is similar to any other cake, it shows signs that it’s done. Here are four cues to let you know the cake is done:

1. Color — The edges of the crust are a golden brown.
2. Texture — When you press gently on the center of the cake, it springs back with a spongey response.
3. Edges — The edges of the cake have slightly pulled away from the pan.
4. Tester — A tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Frequently-Asked Questions

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

You can use this vegan vanilla cake batter to make cupcakes!

1. Add papers to a muffin tin.
2. Pour the vegan vanilla cake batter into each paper about 3/4 of the way full.
3. Bake for about 24 to 26 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes turn slightly golden.
4. Insert a tester to make sure it comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes completely, and then top with your favorite frosting.

Whether cake or cupcakes, I think this recipe would make a perfect vegan birthday cake with sprinkles on top.

Vegan Frosting

What frosting you use matters, but there are a couple of steps you’ll want to take first.

• Let the Cakes Cool Completely — Don’t frost cakes until they’re completely cooled.
• Level the Cakes — if the baked cakes look uneven or puffy in the middle, use a serrated knife and carefully slice off the domed part of the cake. Be sure and save those cake scraps because they’re delicious!
• Frosting Options — You can make a “naked” cake (where there is frosting in between the layers and on the top, but not on the sides). Or you can frost the sides as well.
• Filling Options — you can also think about some different filling options, such as fruit or jam. For this Vegan Coconut Cake, I made a cashew cream filling between the layers and it was delicious!

Here are some great frosting ideas for this vegan vanilla cake:

More Vegan Cakes

If you love this vegan vanilla cake, be sure to try these vegan cakes as well:

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This vegan vanilla cake post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2020.