The Best Vegan Strawberry Cake

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 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.

I've never been a huge fan of cake (gasp!), but I do adore strawberry cake and this is actually my favorite cake recipe. It's just hard to beat tender olive-oiled-based strawberry cake topped with strawberry frosting, right?

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 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

How to make the cake

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.

How to make the frosting

The vegan strawberry frosting is made by mixing together room temperature vegan butter with powdered sugar, pureed strawberries, and almond extract. This frosting is a cross between thinner icing and buttercream frosting.

Start by mixing together the room temperature vegan butter and powdered sugar with a hand or stand mixer. Add the strawberry puree just one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting reaches a smooth and spreadable consistency.

Tips for the best cake

Making a vegan strawberry cake from scratch is actually pretty easy, but I do want to share a few tips to make sure that you have the best outcome every time that you bake this recipe.

• Always spoon and level flour into a measuring cup for the most accurate measurements. To do 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.
• Don't add all of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients at once. Instead, slowly mix in the wet ingredients, about ⅓ of the mixture at a time. This will make sure that the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the cake batter.
• Always preheat the oven and bake the cake on the middle oven rack. I recommend using an over thermometer to confirm the oven temp.
• Don't frost the cake until it is completely room temperature. Frosting a warm cake causes the frosting to liquify and run off the cake.

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.

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4.91 from 10 votes

The Best Vegan Strawberry Cake

This vegan cake is dense, moist, and full of fresh strawberry flavor. Spreadable vegan frosting is made from vegan butter and pureed strawberries.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Servings: 16 slices

Author: Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Nutrition

Calories: 347kcalCarbohydrates: 56gProtein: 3gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 299mgPotassium: 88mgFiber: 2gSugar: 36gVitamin A: 96IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 22mgIron: 1mg