The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Cakes

This is the one and only ultimate guide you will ever need to bake your vegan cakes! This cake guide covers all the tips and tricks plus a basic yet delicious vegan vanilla cake recipe that is perfect for baking for birthdays, events, Christmas, festive seasons, and more!

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The only vegan cake guide you need to read

Welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Cakes! If you love my other guide: The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Muffins and The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Cookies, I am sure you will find this guide super useful. I have been writing these guides because when I started baking with vegan ingredients, there weren’t many resources and I had no idea where to start, even though I was a seasoned baker at that time using eggs and dairy milk. This cake guide is for you who are new to vegan baking, or even those who are already an avid vegan baker and want to explore the basics of vegan baking.

This guide has everything you need to create soft, fluffy, moist, and indulgent vegan cakes. We’ll dive deep into essential ingredients, tools, techniques, tips, and even debunking a myth around cake tins, to ensure your cakes come out perfect every time. From choosing the right ingredients for your cake, whether it is a light and fluffy cake or soft and moist cake, to mastering different mixing methods, this guide is packed with helpful advice that you can refer back to whenever you want to bake a delicious vegan cake.

Also, stick around until the end of this guide for the simplest and easiest vegan vanilla cake recipe with just 9 ingredients that you can create as the base for endless cake variations! I tested this cake many times, as I wanted it to be the most versatile cake that you can customise and accommodate everyone’s taste buds. My partner isn’t a huge fan of moist cakes, but I love them – so I came up with this simple cake recipe that satisfies both moist cake lovers and fluffy cake enthusiasts alike. I’m sure you will love this recipe too!

Basic ingredients for vegan cakes

The foundation of any great cake starts with choosing the right ingredients. Vegan cakes are no different from traditional cakes that use eggs and dairy milk, and luckily, you don’t need anything fancy to bake something extraordinary yet simple and delicious! All the ingredients listed here are probably already in your kitchen right now. So don’t be overwhelmed, here’s what you’ll need to make a simple vegan cake.

*Use room temperature ingredients unless otherwise instructed in the cake recipe you are using.

Flour

Flour is a universally known ingredient that creates the structural backbone of your cake. It seems like a no-brainer that you need flour to make a cake, and you might think you can just use any flour. However, flour plays a big role, and each type of flour is unique, so I will go through some of the most common types of flour on the market.

Plain flour

Plain flour (All-purpose flour) is the most common and standard choice for many cake recipes, providing the perfect balance of strength and tenderness because of the protein content that is ideal for baking cakes and other things like muffins, cupcakes, scones, etc. This is the flour that I use for most of my recipes because I can adjust other ingredients easily with plain flour such as cornflour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Self-raising flour

And there is a type of flour that you can find often sitting next to plain flour in the supermarket. It’s self-raising flour. So what is the difference? As the name suggests, self-raising flour has raising agents mixed in the flour already so you don’t need to add any other leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda. It makes it a little bit easier to prepare and make baked goods.

Cake flour

Another flour you might often see in cake recipes is cake flour which is mixed with starchy flour like cornflour(corn starch). The reason cornflour is mixed through the flour is to reduce the protein content in the flour. Why? The protein in wheat flour, like plain flour, is called gluten, and if you have tried my recipes before you have probably heard about it quite a lot. When you mix cake batter, gluten is developed in the batter, and when developed too much, your cake can become tough and rubbery, which is not the texture anyone wants. Reducing the protein content in the flour results in a more tender and soft texture.

Gluten-free flour

For those gluten-free vegan folks, you can easily turn any vegan cakes into gluten-free by opting for a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend. These 1:1 gluten-free flour is blended perfectly to replace regular plain flour so it is handy to have a bag in your kitchen. There are other gluten-free flour, One of the most common is rice flour, and I love the texture rice flour gives to baked goods! The only thing you need to have in mind is that gluten-free flour like rice flour, coconut flour, almond flour, etc cannot replace plain flour, because it’s much denser. So if you are replacing plain flour in a recipe, it’s best to use 1:1 gluten-free flour.

Wholemeal flour

Wholemeal flour is also a common flour that can be used for baking cakes if you love making wholesome baked goods. Wholemeal flour is ground with the bran, so it’s much higher in fibre content, and because of that, it absorbs more moisture compared to plain flour. This is one of the reasons that wholemeal flour is known to rise less in the oven, and like gluten-free flour, you cannot replace plain flour with it. I like using half and half wholemeal flour and plain flour blend, because it retains the nice wholesomeness yet rises nicely in the oven.

Sugar

Cake wouldn’t be cake without sugar, but it actually does more than just sweeten the cake or other baked goods. Sugar ensures optimal sweetness and also contributes to the tender crumb by helping retain moisture in baked goods. Did you know that the major moisturising ingredients often used in skin care products are the simplest form of sugar? Sugar does the same for baked goods just like moisturisers do for our skin, keeping the cakes soft, moist, and nice to the touch!

Caster sugar and granulated sugar

My go-to sugar is caster sugar for my baking recipes. It has a neutral texture and grain size, between icing sugar and granulated sugar which is versatile for pretty much any cake recipe and I find it easy to use for beginners. 

But don’t panic if you only have good old granulated sugar for your tea in your kitchen, you can just substitute and the result is almost the same! Why almost? The main difference between caster sugar and granulated sugar is the size of the grains as I mentioned earlier. Granulated sugar has bigger grains which means it may dissolve less in cake batter compared to caster sugar, depending on what mixing method you use. I will explain later about it.

Because of that, the sugar grains can often be baked in the oven like tiny sugar crystals, and you may find cakes made with granulated sugar a little more crusty and speckly in appearance, in comparison to cakes made with caster sugar which are slightly softer in texture and appearance. Having said that, I have made many cakes with both caster sugar and granulated sugar and I enjoy both textures! In general though, try using the specified sugar in your recipe.

Dark sugar

For a richer flavour and even more moist texture, you can use dark sugar like brown sugar or coconut sugar, if you don’t mind a slightly darker cake colour. We even have sugar called black sugar from Okinawa in Japan, which just tastes like treacle syrup in a solid form. I rarely use this sugar for baking but I am intrigued to use it in my Japanese-inspired recipes more.

Vegan butter

What a wonderful time to be a vegan baker, you can find so many vegan butter from different brands in local supermarkets! Vegan butter adds richness, moisture, and a buttery flavour to your cake. I have used brands like Naturli, Earth Balance, and Violife, and they work beautifully in my baking recipes. 

Neutral oil

A mild-flavoured oil like sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil adds moisture to cakes like vegan butter does without overpowering the overall flavour of the cake. But other oils like avocado, olive, and coconut work just as great in cakes. In most cases, you can substitute oils with the same amount.

You can sub oils and it should work nicely, but there is one oil that is quite unique among the list – it’s coconut oil. Coconut oil actually works a little bit differently from other major oils in baked goods. Coconut oil is a saturated fat. What does that mean? In a simple term, saturated fat is solid at room temperature and in cool places, whereas unsaturated fat, like vegetable oils, is liquid even in the fridge. This difference in structure affects the texture of the cake slightly, so a cake recipe made with coconut oil may not give a great result if you use oils of unsaturated fat. But the impact would be quite minimal.

My advice here again on using oil in cake recipes is to use the specified oil in the recipe you are following whenever you can. When using coconut oil, also ensure that other ingredients are not cold, because if you mix cold soy milk and coconut oil, coconut oil will harden and it will be difficult to properly mix the cake batter.

Cornflour (or cornstarch)

Cornflour is a vegan baker’s secret weapon. Not only does it soften plain flour by reducing gluten content, it also acts as a binding agent! It is a wonderful egg replacer and gives the cake a soft, denser, and delicate texture. 

Other starchy flour can be used in place of cornflour too, such as potato flour, arrowroot flour, and tapioca flour. How they work as a thickening agent is actually slightly different, each flour has optimal temperatures to activate and the consistency can vary especially in cooking recipes. But in baking, there are very minimal to no differences so you can sub with the same amount.

Plant milk

When it comes to baking, soy milk is my go-to plant-based milk for baking cakes because of its higher protein content, it makes the best vegan buttermilk for baking! Apparently, pea milk is high in protein as well, I never found one in my local supermarket so haven’t tried it yet, but it will be a fun experiment to use it in my cakes! Other plant milk such as almond, oat, rice, or coconut milk will also work in a pinch. 

Vinegar

Ever wondered why some cake recipes call for a bit of vinegar? Vinegar is added to the batter because it reacts with baking soda to create bubbles and helps your cake rise beautifully. Try adding a drop of vinegar to a pinch of baking soda, you’ll see what happens! I add vinegar to almost all of my baking recipes because in vegan baking, we don’t use eggs so adding vinegar really helps raise the cake.

Simple white vinegar will do the trick, and other vinegar like apple cider vinegar also works too. Choose a vinegar that is mild in flavour and avoid vinegar with intense flavour like balsamic vinegar.

Baking powder and baking soda

Classic ingredients for baking cakes. They are the leavening agents responsible for creating a light and fluffy texture. The difference between baking powder and baking soda is that baking powder has some acid ingredients to activate the bicarbonate of soda, whereas baking soda only has bicarbonate of soda. So you can use just baking powder alone in recipes but with baking soda, you need other acid ingredients to help raise cakes.

Baking powder and baking soda can go off, so make sure they’re fresh before using in your recipe. Expired leavening agents will result in dense, rubbery, and flat cakes. To check if they are still good, add a drop of vinegar to a pinch of baking powder or soda. If it bubbles up nicely, they are good to go!

Note: Using substitution in any cake recipe may change the final taste and texture. I recommend following the exact recipe whenever you can.

*I use bone char-free sugars for all of my recipes. I cover the topic in my article Vegan Baking 101. Go to the “Is sugar vegan?” section to learn more!

Basic Tools

Stand mixer or hand mixer

An essential baking tool: mixers! I have both a stand mixer and a hand mixer. These are useful for creaming vegan butter if the recipe calls for a creaming method and also for making buttercream frosting for cakes. I use either a balloon attachment or a paddle attachment, both do a great job of creaming vegan butter. When mixing the cake batter though, I only use the paddle attachment to prevent overmixing. 

Mixing bowls

A  good set of mixing bowls is key for combining cake ingredients with ease! I have different sizes of mixing bowls depending on the amount of ingredients. 

Wooden spoon or silicone spatula

One of the main causes of tough and gummy cake is overmixing and using a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula instead of a whisk would prevent mixing the batter too much and developing gluten. These are ideal for folding in ingredients as well as scraping the sides of the bowl.

Cake tins

Standard cake tin sizes are 6, 7, and 8 inches. I love using ones that you can remove the bottom of the tin for an easy removal of cakes from the tin, it makes my baking life so much easier! You may have heard this myth that the colour of your tin affects the baking time and outcome of the cake. Let’s talk about this in the later section. 

Parchment paper

Line your cake tins with parchment paper to prevent sticking and make cleanup a breeze! I have 3 different parchment papers cut into different shapes. The first one is the standard sheet type. What is good about the sheet parchment paper is that you can cut it into shapes as you like. I use sheet one mainly for baking cookies and also for the bottom of a square cake tin.

The next one is a strip shape. The width of the one I use is about 10cm and it is great for baking a loaf cake and also for covering the side of a round or square cake tin. Mine comes in a roll so I can cut it at the length of whatever the loaf tin or cake tin I am using for the recipe.

The last one is a round shape. This one is pre-cut into a round shape that fits the bottom of a round cake tin. I have one for a 6-inch and 7-inch cake pan precut into a perfect size that fits the bottom.

Cooling rack and Cake stands

One of the must-haves is cooling racks. They allow your cakes to cool evenly without becoming soggy so prepare one that is big enough for your cake size. 

Cake stand for decoration and palette knife: I have 3 cake stands, 2 are pretty ones that I use for presenting my cakes at home and home parties and one is a rotating one that I use to frost and decorate the cake. I recommend you to get a rotating one because it makes decorating much easier. You can also buy palette knives if you don’t have one, there are many shapes of palette knives so choose whichever shape you prefer!

Piping bag with a star tip

I use piping bags for decorating cakes as well as spreading frosting evenly on each layer of cakes. I like to use a big piping bag because it’s a nightmare to have frosting overflowing from the top of the bag when frosting a cake! I have a set of star tips with different shapes, you can buy a set of 12 on Amazon.

Scale Measuring

One of the most critical steps in baking, vegan or otherwise, is measuring your ingredients accurately. While cups are commonly used in the US, they can vary significantly based on how ingredients are packed or scooped. For example, one cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 110g to 140g+ depending on how it’s packed, which can drastically affect the texture and taste of your cake. Sometimes even less than 110g if one cup calls for a scant cup and more than 140g if it’s a heaping cup!

Using a digital or analogue kitchen scale ensures precision and consistency every single time you bake a cake or any other baked goods. A small investment in a good scale can really improve your baking results from “Oh this is good” to “Wow this is professional” Remember, baking is a science, and accuracy is key!

Mixing Techniques

Mixing your ingredients the right way is essential for achieving the best result. There are two common techniques, let’s dive in!

Creaming butter mixing technique

One of the most common techniques is beating vegan butter and sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer with a paddle or balloon attachment until light and fluffy before mixing or adding anything else. If you look at the beaten butter mixture closely, you can see it’s paler in colour and has air pockets in it, which is creating a light and fluffy texture. This technique incorporates air into the batter, giving your cake a soft and fluffy texture. Creaming room-temperature butter is definitely easier, but you can also cube cold butter and beat as well. 

Oil or melted butter mixing technique

This technique is much simpler than the butter creaming technique. You can either simply whisk together all the wet ingredients (oil, melted butter, plant milk, vinegar, etc.) or whisk together the oil or vegan butter and sugar first before folding in the other dry ingredients. This technique is definitely faster and easier for beginners, and it’s also perfect for one-bowl cake recipes!

Why mix sugar and butter/oil first?

If you are wondering why many cake recipes instruct you to mix butter/oil and sugar first, it’s because sugar can have time to dissolve in the butter/oil, which could prevent sugar crystallisation especially if you are using granulated sugar which grain is larger than other types of sugar, as well as evenly distributed flavour and texture in the cake.

I used to find this step a little bit tedious even after I got my first stand mixer, and if you are like me too, I got your back! I have cake recipes that do not require mixing sugar and butter/oil first, those recipes are easy and quick to make!

Mix-Ins

Want to add a little something extra to your vegan vanilla cake? Here are some mix-in ideas!

• Fresh or frozen berries like raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries
• Chocolate chips for a decadent touch
• Diced fruits like apples, pears, or peaches for a fruity twist
• Nuts like almonds, pecans, or walnuts for crunch

How to Prevent Fruits from Sinking

Have you ever added blueberries to your cake and found them all sank to the bottom of the cake? You are not alone my friend! Fruits like blueberries, raspberries, diced apples, etc sink in cakes because of their density and gravity, so sinking is inevitable. But there are some things you can do to prevent it.

Flour coating

First thing is this, before tossing your fruits into the batter, coat your fruits with a light dusting of flour. That’s it! This trick is supposed to reduce the liquid released from the fruits, thus preventing them from sinking to the bottom. Gentle mixing is key here. However, fruits are likely denser than cake batter and you can’t remove gravity from the oven, so some will sink to the bottom but hey, they still taste amazing!

Layering technique

Another thing you can do is add plain cake batter first then spread the batter with fruits on top of the first layer, or pour plain cake batter, sprinkle fruits on top, and then gently push them into the batter with a spoon in a swirling motion. The idea here is to have no fruits at the bottom and only at the top before putting the cake in the oven. It works perfectly and fruits usually don’t sink much to the bottom.

If the fruits still sink to the bottom, then the cake batter might be too thin to hold the fruits. Try troubleshooting by ensuring the accurate ingredients measurement and using a digital scale if you used a cup measuring!

Baking Time

Firstly, baking time vastly varies depending on the recipe, so follow the instructions exactly to get the best result. But in the case that you have forgotten or lost the recipe instructions, the rule of thumb for baking vegan cakes is to bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30–35 minutes for a thinner layer cake and 40-50 mins for a thicker single layer cake. A good indicator that your cake is done is when a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean with a moist crumb. But do remember that every oven is different, so keep an eye on your cake as it bakes.

Dark colour vs light colour cake tins

There is this myth that the colour of your tin affects the baking time and outcome of the cake. I am not sure who first stated this theory, but to this day I cannot find scientifically proven evidence of it. I think this came from black absorbing more light and reflecting none, therefore heating up faster, whereas white reflects light therefore it heats up less, which is not quite applicable for oven heat and wavelength.

Does the colour of the cake tin really matter?

When it comes to baking though, the effect of the colour of your tin is almost none to insignificant, whether you use a dark colour cake tin or silver coloured cake tin. I have never had to adjust baking time or oven temperature depending on the colour of the cake tin I use.

What could be causing some cakes to bake faster or slower though, is the material of the tin. aluminium’s heat conductivity is faster than steel, so if you use a cake tin made of aluminium, your cake might bake faster than when using a cake tin made of steel. However, given the thinness of the metals (cake tins are pretty thin), short heating up time (Baking time for most cakes is between 30 mins to 60 mins) and relatively low temperature of the oven (between 160℃ to 200℃), the speed at which those metals heat up to the set temperature in the oven is not greatly relevant when it comes to baking. 

What else could be affecting the cake?

Also, the placement of the cake in the oven can be a factor too. My oven bakes cakes a tiny bit faster at the back than in the front, so when I bake cakes I ensure that they are right in the middle bit of the oven. So it might be a good idea to check if cakes bake faster or slower depending on placement by placing a cake at the back and another in the front, or one on the left and another on the right. This really depends on the kind of oven and the condition of your oven so it greatly varies from oven to oven.

So this is my take, you don’t have to fuss over the type of cake tins. Just use your favourite cake tin and as long as the size is correct I am sure you will bake a great cake!

Q and A

Why did my cake turn out dense and rubbery?

A dense or rubbery cake can happen if the batter is overmixed, too much or too little flour is added, or if your leavening agents are expired. To prevent this from happening, be sure to mix the batter gently with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula in a cutting motion, use a digital scale to accurately measure the ingredients, and use fresh baking powder and soda.

Can I freeze vegan cakes?

Most vegan cakes freeze well! But always check the recipe and see if there is any storage instructions. When you freeze the cake, wrap your cake tightly in cling film and store it in an airtight container for the best result. Most cakes should be okay to freeze for up to 2-3 months.

How can I make my cake more moist?

The below recipe has the texture that are soft, fluffy, and not too moist texture which can accommodate both fluffy cake lovers and moist cake lovers. But if you want to make it a moist cake, try adding extra 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or 1/4 cup of applesauce or vegan yoghurt to the batter. This little addition will make your cake extra soft and moist!

What’s the best way to store vegan cakes?

I like storing the cake on a cake stand with a dome lid to prevent it from drying if consuming within a day. If you are storing for more than a day, keep your cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.

You will LOVE this vegan vanilla cake because it is:

• soft and fluffy
• perfect texture for both moist cake lovers and fluffy cake lovers
• easy to make with only 9 ingredients
• rich vanilla flavour

Want more recipes like this?

Try my other delicious cake and dessert recipes you might enjoy!

• Caramel cake
• Oreo cake
• Brownie cake
• Matcha cake
• Coconut cake
• Peanut butter cake
• Salted caramel chocolate cake

Visit the cakes and cupcakes page and recipe page for more delicious recipes!

Please leave a comment and rate this recipe with 5 stars in the comment section below if you like the recipe! Let me know and tag me @thechestnutbakery on Instagram too. Thank you for making my recipe, friends!