This strawberry vegan cake is deliciously sweet, moist, and dripping with a vegan buttercream strawberry frosting. It's easy to make for birthdays and celebrations!
This fuss-free vegan 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 and egg-free.
Recipe features
- Diet-friendly: vegan, vegetarian and nut-free/soy-free optional (just choose a nut/soy-free non-dairy milk)
- Soft, moist and tender texture
- Can be made into a layer cake, sheet cake or cupcakes
- Made with a smooth, spreadable strawberry "buttercream" frosting
What you'll need
Like many of my popular recipes (I'm thinking vegan gingerbread loaf and zucchini bread) this recipe uses mostly traditional ingredients.
- 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.
- 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 are used as the fat in this cake recipe. This yields a dense and ultra-moist end result.
- Vegan butter is used for the buttercream. Room temperature vegan butter gives you creamy, spreadable frosting.
Step by step instructions
1. Make the strawberry puree. About 3 cups of sliced strawberries will yield 1 and ½ cups of strawberry puree. Puree 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. You'll beat this mixture until a uniform cake batter forms.
4. Divide batter between two 9" cake rounds.
5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 F. The cake is ready when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.
6. Make the frosting. The frosting is made by mixing together room temperature vegan butter with powdered sugar, strawberry puree, and almond extract. Add extra strawberry puree or soy milk as needed to thin to spreadable consistency.
Recipe FAQ and expert tips
Flour: Spoon and level flour into a measuring cup for most accurate measuring. To this, spoon flour into the measuring cup until overflowing. Use the back of a knife to wipe off excess flour. Don’t shake or pat flour down.
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. This will ensure that the cold strawberries don't affect the baking time.
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.
Yes! 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.
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 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.
Looking for more vegan desserts?
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The Best Vegan Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Strawberry Cake
- 1 and ½ cups strawberry puree from 3 cups sliced strawberries (see note #1)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup organic white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup canola or olive oil
- ½ cup non-dairy milk such as soy or almond milk
- 2 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 flax eggs 1 egg= 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water
Vegan 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.
- In a small bowl, make your flax eggs by combining 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 9 tablespoons water (½ cup + 1 tablespoon). Let sit for 5 minutes before using.
- Use a food processor or blender to blend 3 and ½ cups sliced strawberries (stems removed) into a liquid. This should yield 1 and ¾ cups strawberry puree. Reserve ¼ cup for the strawberry frosting.
- In a large mixing bowl stir together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, salt.
- Use a handheld or stand mixer to slowly mix in the flax eggs, strawberry puree, oil, non-dairy milk and almond extract into the dry ingredients. Mix until a uniform cake batter forms.
- Evenly divide cake batter into two well greased 9" cake pans. Bake at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let rest in pans for five minutes, then remove from pans and place on 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. Add in the almond extract. Mix until the frosting is spreadable, but not too runny.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
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: 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.
- 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.
Paolo Presta
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
Yes, I think using just one egg would work!
Paolo Presta
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
That’s awesome! Thanks for making it 🙂
Paolo Presta
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
Hi Paolo, I usually refrigerate it so it keeps longer but it should be fine to leave it out and covered overnight. Enjoy!
Cindy
Absolutely delicious! I made this for my daughter’s birthday and will definitely make it again!
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
That’s great to hear, thank you!
Dolores
Made this cake it was amazing! Thank you! Quick question can I make this as cupcakes?
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
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
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
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
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
So great to hear how it turned out! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Anjali
Can I make it single layered.
Cassidy
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
Can you sub gluten free flour?
Cassidy
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
Can you use frozen strawberries for this?!
Cassidy
Yes, frozen strawberries will work!