This vegan strawberry vegan cake is deliciously sweet, moist, and dripping with a vegan strawberry frosting. It's easy to make for birthdays and celebrations!
This fuss-free vegan strawberry cake is perfect for birthdays, celebrations, or when you just want something a little sweet. It uses traditional cake ingredients with a few easy swaps to make it dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan.
Aside from my go-to vegan olive oil cake, this strawberry cake is probably my favorite cake recipe. It's just hard to beat tender olive-oiled-based strawberry cake topped with strawberry frosting, right?
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Recipe features
- Dietary-features: vegan, vegetarian and nut-free/soy-free optional (just choose a nut/soy-free non-dairy milk)
- Texture and flavor: The cake crumb is soft, moist and tender from olive oil and flax eggs. This cake has strawberry flavor in every single bite thanks to pureed strawberries, which also turns the cake a lovely subtle pink shade without the need for food coloring!
- Versatile: This strawberry cake can be made into a layer cake, sheet cake, or cupcakes.
- Double the strawberry flavor: Made with a dairy-free, smooth and spreadable strawberry frosting.
Ingredients
Like many of my popular vegan baking recipes (I'm thinking vegan gingerbread loaf and vegan zucchini bread) this recipe uses mostly traditional ingredients. This isn't a healthy vegan cake, just a strawberry cake made without eggs and dairy.
- Fresh strawberries are pureed and used in the cake and frosting. See below for tips on using frozen strawberries.
- Flax eggs are used in place of eggs. The ground flax seeds combine with water to add moisture and act as a binding agent. You can also use chia seeds but the chia seeds will affect how the cake looks.
- Non-dairy milk: I usually go for soy milk but you can also use almond milk, oat milk or coconut milk beverage (not canned coconut milk). Choose an unsweetened, unflavored milk.
- Canola oil or olive oil is used as the fat in this cake recipe. This yields a dense and ultra-moist cake.
- Vegan butter is used for the strawberry buttercream-style frosting. I love Miyoko's or Country Crock vegan butter, but Earth Balance sticks are also a good option.
Step-by step-instructions
1. Make the strawberry puree. About 3 cups of sliced strawberries will yield 1 and ½ cups of strawberry puree. Process the sliced strawberries in a blender or food processor until completely pureed.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients. We'll use all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, and organic white sugar.
3. Mix in the wet ingredients. Using a stand or hand mixer, slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Beat this mixture until a uniform cake batter forms.
4. Divide the cake batter between two lightly oiled 9" cake rounds.
5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 F. The strawberry cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.
Recipe FAQ
Fresh or frozen strawberries will work in this cake. If using frozen strawberries, first thaw them to room temperature in the fridge or in the microwave. This will ensure that the cold strawberries don't affect the baking time.
Yes! Two round 9" inch cake pans make about 24 cupcakes. Fill each tin about ⅘ full with batter. Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yes! Two 9 inch cake rounds of cake batter should fill one 9x13 inch sheet cake. You may need to adjust the bake time by a few minutes. Check the center of the cake for doneness before removing it from the oven to cool.
You can try using a 1:1 substitution of all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for white wheat flour, but do note that I have not tested this method.
Storage and freezing
- Refrigerating: For best quality, keep strawberry cake refrigerated in a closed container for up to 5 days. Because this is a very moist cake, it won't dry out too much in the fridge as long as it's well-covered.
- Storing at room temp: You can also cover the cake and store it at room temp for 1-2 days.
- Freezing: This cake freezes well. Place slices of cake or the entire strawberry cake in an airtight container (either the whole cake or sliced) and freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the fridge or heat up individual slices in the microwave until thawed.
Looking for more vegan desserts?
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The Best Vegan Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
For the Strawberry Cake
- 16 ounces strawberries see note #1
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup organic white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup canola oil olive oil also works
- ½ cup non-dairy milk such as soy, oat, or almond milk
- 2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 9 tablespoons (½ cup + 1 tablespoon) water
For the Strawberry Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter room temperature
- 3-4 tablespoons strawberry puree from ½ cup sliced strawberries
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Vegan Strawberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease two 9" cake pans with cooking spray.
- Slice away the strawberry stem and slice each strawberry in half. Add to a food processor with a standard blade attachment and process until pureed. This should yield 1 ¾ cups strawberry puree. Reserve ¼ cup for the strawberry frosting.
- In a small bowl, make the flax eggs by combining 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 9 tablespoons water (½ cup + 1 tablespoon). Let sit for 5 minutes before using.
- In a large mixing bowl stir together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt. Using a hand mixer or whisk, slowly mix in the flax eggs, strawberry puree, oil, non-dairy milk, and almond extract into the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined.
- Evenly divide cake batter into two well greased 9" cake pans. Bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges are golden and pulling away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes rest in the pans for five minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
Vegan Strawberry Frosting
- Using a hand or stand mixer, mix together room temperature vegan butter and powdered sugar. When the mixture is too thick to mix further, add in strawberry puree one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is spreadable, but not runny. Stir in the almond extract.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting. Enjoy!
Notes
- Strawberries: One pound (16 ounces) of strawberries is enough to make the strawberry puree for the cake and icing. Strawberries: Fresh or frozen strawberries will work in this recipe. If using frozen, first thaw them to room temperature in the fridge or in the microwave.
- Gluten-free: You can try using a 1:1 substitution of all-purpose gluten free flour blend for white wheat flour, but do note that I have not tested this method.
- Sheet cake instructions: Two 9-inch cake rounds of cake batter should fill one 9x13 inch sheet cake. You may need to adjust the bake time by a few minutes. Check the center of the cake for doneness before removing from the oven to cool.
- Cupcake instructions: Two round 9" inch cake pans make about 24 cupcakes. Fill each tin about ⅘ full with batter. Bake cupcakes at 350F for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Storage/freezing: For best quality, keep cake refrigerated in a closed container for up to 5 days. You can also cover and store at room temp for 1-2 days. To freeze, place in an airtight container (either the whole cake or sliced) and freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the fridge or heat up individual slices in the microwave until thawed.
Ali says
Cake is good but the icing! So runny. I added more powdered sugar, still runny. I added more vegan butter, still runny.
Paolo Presta says
Hi There! If I want to use a regular dairy egg instead of the 3 flaxseedegg, would I just use one large egg?
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
Yes, I think using just one egg would work!
Paolo Presta says
This cake is so AMAZING!!!! I made it for my Italian family and they loved it! My mom can't have dairy so this cake was perfect!!! Thank you so sharing this YUMMY and delicious recipe!!! 🙂
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
That’s awesome! Thanks for making it 🙂
Paolo Presta says
Thank you! If I make the cake the night before do I need to refrigerate it or can I leave it out and covered. 🙂
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
Hi Paolo, I usually refrigerate it so it keeps longer but it should be fine to leave it out and covered overnight. Enjoy!
Cindy says
Absolutely delicious! I made this for my daughter’s birthday and will definitely make it again!
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
That’s great to hear, thank you!
Dolores says
Made this cake it was amazing! Thank you! Quick question can I make this as cupcakes?
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
Thank you for the comment! I haven’t tried making it into cupcakes but imagine that it would work. You will need to bake the cupcakes 5-10 minutes less.
Kitty says
This looks delicious! Could i use something other than flax seed as a substitute for the eggs. Unfortunately my son is allergic to eggs and flax seed. Thanks 🙂
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
I think you should be able to replace flaxseed with the same amount chia seeds. I haven’t tested it out myself but chia seeds gel in the same way as flax.
EmilyKim says
This turned out.... AMAZING!! It’s the best cake I’ve ever made - I was worried about the batter consistency especially since I had halved the recipe and I wasn’t so exact, but it cooked perfectly in my oven toaster and came out of the pan easily. The frosting came out nice. When we started cutting through the cake was when I realized how PERFECT it had turned out - soft fluffy flavorful healthy and wholesome! Thank you!!
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD says
So great to hear how it turned out! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Anjali says
Can I make it single layered.
Cassidy says
Yes you can, you will just want to use a 9x12 inch or similarly sized dish. Keep an eye on it as it bakes as it may take more or less time to bake.
Faith Bugay says
Can you sub gluten free flour?
Cassidy says
Hi Faith, I don't have any experience baking with gluten free flour. I'm not sure if it would work with this cake, but let me know if you try!
Karmen Morales says
Can you use frozen strawberries for this?!
Cassidy says
Yes, frozen strawberries will work!