Vegan gluten-free strawberry cake using only 6 ingredients. This flourless cake is packed with fresh strawberries and comes together in just a food processor or blender.
This easy recipe is based on my popular vegan gluten-free cakes including whole orange cake, whole lemon cake and flourless chocolate cake.
Why you'll love this vegan gluten-free strawberry cake
FLAVOR/TEXTURE: Packed with real strawberry flavor as we're using fresh strawberries rather than strawberry extract or freeze-dried powders. The cake is tender, moist, fluffy and slightly dense. It's texture is similar in texture to a French financier or French almond cake.
WHOLESOME: Free from vegan butter or oil which makes it a healthier alternative.
RELIABLE: Free from store-bought gluten-free flour blends which can be inconsistent.
This strawberry cake is perfect for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and for using up those extra ripe strawberries!
6 ingredients you'll need
Ingredient notes
Almond flour gives the vegan gluten-free strawberry cake moisture and a tender melt-in-your-mouth crumb. Cakes without gluten tend to be dry but the almond flour helps prevent that!
Potato starch is our egg replacer and gluten-free binder. This can also be substituted with corn starch. I've tried other binders like chia/flax seeds and aquafaba but unfortunately, they don't work well.
Sugar. I included enough to make the cake sweet but not overpowering.
Strawberries, either fresh or frozen (and defrosted). I have tested this recipe with both and they work equally well. Just make sure you choose strawberries which are already quite sweet and flavorful as they're the most prominent flavor.
Beetroot powder. Alternatively, you can use red or pink food coloring. Strawberries on their own will make the cake a dull pink color so we need a little extra help to make the cake pretty!
A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Making the cake batter
This vegan gluten-free strawberry cake is EASY to make! You don't even have to separate the dry ingredients from the wet ingredients!
First, add your fresh or defrosted strawberries to a food processor or blender. Blend until the strawberries form a puree. Make sure there are no chunks in the strawberry puree, though seeds are fine.
Next, simply add the rest of your ingredients to your food processor or blender. Blend the cake batter until combined.
Your final cake batter should be very thick and almost like a paste rather than a typical runny cake batter.
For this vegan gluten-free strawberry cake, a thicker batter will lead to a fluffier cake with no dense spots. In contrast, a thinner batter will lead to a denser cake.
If your strawberries were juicer, your cake batter might be a little runnier than we need. In this case, add a little more potato starch and blend the batter again.
Serving the cake
The cake is sweet enough and flavorful by itself. However, to serve the cake, you can also:
Dust the top with powdered sugar just before serving. The cake tends to absorb the sugar after a few hours.
Top the cake with strawberry buttercream frosting or strawberry cream cheese frosting. Or top the cake with a simple lemon sugar icing, such as the one I used in my lemon pistachio cake.
Serve it with vanilla whipped cream, coconut yogurt or ice cream.
Expert tips and substitutions
Almond flour is about 15% fat so can't be substituted 1:1 with all-purpose plain flour. I'd recommend a blend of AP flour and light-tasting vegetable oil such as sunflower.
Alternatively, my regular vegan strawberry cake and vegan strawberry cupcakes use all-purpose plain flour!
I'd only recommend reducing the sugar to 100g. Sugar doesn't only make the cake sweet but lightens the texture of the cake. Reducing the sugar will make the cake denser (and the cake is dense enough).
The recipe should work with coconut sugar. However, I'd recommend adding an extra 7 grams (1 tablespoon) of potato starch as coconut sugar has more moisture than regular sugar. If you make the cake with coconut sugar, it'll be a brown-pink color.
The recipe should work with a granulated sweetener such as stevia or erythritol. However, I haven't tested it myself so I can't vouch for results. This recipe will not work with liquid sweeteners such as maple syrup as it will weigh down the texture.
You will still need a stick blender to puree the strawberries. Add them directly to a large bowl and puree as needed. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.
This cake bakes very well in muffin tins and can be divided into smaller cake tins, of course with different baking times.
However, baking the whole quantity of the cake in a smaller tin (for example a 7 inch/15 cm tin) may cause 'dense spots' throughout the cake.
More vegan strawberry desserts
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Vegan Strawberry Cake (Gluten free + 6 ingredients)
Ingredients
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) strawberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted, stems removed
- 250 g (2 ½ cups) almond flour / blanched almond meal, (note 1)
- 150 g (¾ cup) granulated sugar, (note 2)
- 110 g (¾ cup) potato starch, or corn starch, plus more if needed
- 15 g (3 heaped teaspoons) baking powder
- 12 g (3 teaspoons) beetroot powder, red or pink food coloring (to color, note 3)
Optional add-ins
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Note: For the best results, I recommend using grams for this recipe as it's difficult to accurately measure flour/starch and strawberries using cups. Alternatively, use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. Use a spoon to add the flour/starch to a measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Do not use the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container as too much flour will result in a denser cake.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Grease or line an 8 inch (20 cm) cake pan with parchment paper.
Make the strawberry cake:
- Add the strawberries to a food processor or blender. Blend until it forms a smooth puree and there are no chunks of strawberries.
- Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the food processor. Process until the mixture is combined. The batter should be like a thick paste which holds shape when you scoop it. If your strawberries were extra juicy, your batter may be a little runnier than needed. If so, add 15-30 grams (2-4 tablespoons) more potato starch and blend again.
- Scoop the cake batter into your cake tin. Smooth the top with a spoon or spatula.
Bake the strawberry cake:
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until you can insert a skewer or toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. If the cake is cooking too quickly on the outside and unbaked inside, cover the cake pan with aluminum foil or an oven-safe plate (as long as it doesn't touch the cake).
- Allow the cake to completely cool in the cake tin.
- To serve, dust the cake with powdered sugar (Note 4 for alternatives). The cake is lovely served with whipped cream, dairy-free yogurt or ice cream.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days, in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- For a nut-free cake, substitute the almond flour with 1 cup (125g) all purpose flour and ½ cup (125g) of any light-tasting oil. We have to add oil to compensate for the natural oils normally found in almond flour. Alternatively, check out my regular vegan strawberry cake recipe.
- This amount of sugar creates a mildly sweet cake, depending on the sweetness of your strawberries. The sugar can be reduced to 100g but it makes the cake more dense and the cake may be more sour, depending on your strawberries. I've listed some sugar alternatives in the post above.
- Different brands of beetroot powder vary in color and intensity so you may need more or less than 3 teaspoons to color the cake. If you use pink or red food coloring, start with a just few drops and add more until you reach your desired color. The amount of food coloring will depend on the brand and whether you use a liquid or gel.
- This cake is packed with flavor and sweet enough without any icing or buttercream. However, you can also top the cake with a vegan strawberry frosting, strawberry cream cheese frosting or a simple icing, such as from my pistachio avocado cake. Wait until the cake is completely cool before you frost the cake.
Nutrition
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Beautiful moist cake with a pretty colour 😍 I love the minimal ingredients list and how easy it is to create this type of magic in the kitchen. Thank you Andrea!
looks great! can I replace almond flour by coconut flour?
Hi Bo! Unfortunately, coconut flour won't work as it's too absorbent. However, you're welcome to experiment with quantities and see if it works for you!
Making lunch for 5 girlfriends and one is gluten free. I used cornstarch and a couple of drops of Vanilla. I ground extra strawberries in food processor to pour over slices of cake. Vegan whipped cream to top it off. Enough leftover for the GF gal to take home Everyone just raved about the cake. Thank you Anthea
If making this into cupcakes, how full should I fill the liners and what would the approximate bake time be?
Hi Leigh, I'd fill each liner just over three-quarters full and bake them for around 15-20 minutes. Hope that helps!
This is the first gluten free and vegan cake I've made that didn't end up as a pile of crumbs when cut! Decorated with sliced strawberries and it looked beautiful. It was a little heavy, i subbed cornflour for the potato starch and wonder whether this made a difference. Thank you
Hi Mags, I'm glad that you enjoyed this cake! The cake is meant to be denser than a regular sponge cake, or a regular strawberry cake. Otherwise, I found that that the cake bakes denser if your oven runs a little cool. I hope that helps!
Is there a reason that this recipe uses potato starch instead of regular flour or GF flour?
Hi, I didn't use GF all-purpose flour because they tend to be very inconsistent as brands vary a lot with their ingredients. I also didn't use plain flour because I wanted this to be a gluten-free alternative to my vegan strawberry cake.
Hi!
I just made the cake and even though i added 3 tsp of beetroot powder (purasana brand) it is not as pink as yours.
How can i fix this?
Thank you
Hi Taline! Some brands of beetroot powder just don't 'stick' very well during baking. Sometimes you need to add a lot more! Alternatively, food dyes are more reliable (there are natural food dyes available). Hope that helps.
Hi Anthea! Do you think I could add some fresh cooked beetroot instead of the powder to help the coloring?
Ps: I looo e your blog and IG, so inspiring!
Hi Fio! Ooh, freshly cooked beetroot has a lot more moisture than beetroot powder so it will throw off the proportions. You'd need to add a lot more beetroot to get the right color and by then, you'd be able to taste it. I hope that helps and thanks sooo much for your support xx
Thank you for a delicious recipe. My husband loved this cake as did I. I substituted 3/4 of the sugar for monk fruit sweetener and added just 1/4 cup raw cane sugar. Other than that I followed the recipe to the letter. I added some beet superfood powder and it was red at first but after baking that vanished. May try doubling it next time. Thank you again. Wish I could add a picture.
How much is “1 serve” on the nutrition info?! Thank you.
Hi Cintia! 1 serve is the cake divided into 12 pieces. I hope that helps!
Wonderful recipe. Delicious cake