Vegan Strawberry Cake
Soft and fluffy vegan strawberry cake packed with 4 cups of fresh strawberries (no extract needed)! This cake is easy to prepare and keeps well for days.
This cake is the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert just like my vegan strawberry cupcakes! It has been adapted from my very tried and tested vegan mango cake.
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Ingredient notes
Strawberries, either fresh or frozen. I’ve tested this recipe with both and they both work wonderfully. I recommend using strawberries that are sweet and vibrant as they are the main flavor of your cake. Strawberry puree acts as a wonderful egg replacer, so we don’t need any special egg replacers in this cake!
Dairy-free milk. This recipe uses less milk than other vegan cakes because we have so much moisture from the strawberry puree. That means we don’t have to fuss around making a strawberry reduction.
Oil keeps the cake soft, moist and fluffy. This is compared to butter which can make a cake feel dry over time.
Baking powder and soda. We’re using double baking agents to counteract the high amount of fruit, which tends to weigh down a cake!
Pink/red food coloring or beetroot powder (optional). Food coloring provides the most consistent and reliable results as the color is more likely to ‘stick’ during baking. Beetroot powder varies a lot, depending on the brand and age. The color of beetroot powder doesn’t always ‘stick’ during baking and your cake will turn orange/brown. Without any added color, the cake is a dull and pale pink.
Making the strawberry puree
If you’re using frozen strawberries, allow them to fully defrost.
Then add all the strawberries to a food processor or blender and blend until it forms a puree and there aren’t any more chunks
Preparing the strawberry cake batter
First, I’d recommend making the cake batter in a large bowl rather than using a stand mixer. This reduces the chance of over-mixing the batter!
In a large mixing bowl, add all your dry ingredients and mix until combined. If you’re using beetroot powder, mix it in as well.
Then add all your wet ingredients (including food coloring, if using) to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Some lumps in the batter are fine, as long as they aren’t lumps of dry flour.
The final mixture should be quite thick. This helps create a fluffier vegan strawberry cake without dense spots! A runnier batter results in a stodgy cake.
Baking the cake
This vegan strawberry cake bakes in around 30 minutes, depending on how hot/cool your oven runs.
The cake layers are ready when you insert a skewer in the middle and it completely comes out clean. The cakes are very moist so we need to make sure they are completely baked through!
If you used beetroot powder, the cakes may darken after baking – this is normal! The surface of the cake is normally darker so don’t stress. The middle of the cake is lighter in color!
Decoration tips
I frosted this vegan strawberry cake with vegan strawberry buttercream, but you can also use:
- Vegan strawberry cream cheese frosting or vanilla cream cheese frosting
- Whipped dairy-free cream only if you’re making one layer of the cake. Whipped cream will not hold between layers of cake.
- Drips of chocolate ganache
And you can top the cake with:
- Fresh or freeze-dried strawberries, or any fruit!
- Strawberry jam
- Chocolate shavings or shards
- Vegan strawberry cookies
You can even make this strawberry cake into a heart-shaped cake!
Customizing the cake recipe
I recommend checking out my vegan gluten-free strawberry cake which uses only 6 ingredients! It’s easy to make and stays moist for days.
I tried baking the below recipe with 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour and a combination of different gluten-free flours. However, I had to completely change the ingredient quantities to make it work. Even still, the gluten-free cake was often too dry or dense or could only be eaten on the day it was baked.
Coconut sugar is darker than granulated sugar so will turn the cake brown! It also has more moisture than regular sugar so I recommend using a scale to weigh the ingredients so your cake doesn’t have too much moisture.
I don’t recommend beetroot juice. The amount of juice/liquid you’ll need to add to color the cake is enough to completely change the cake’s texture (it’ll be dense and might not bake through).
Whilst pink pitaya powder is a lovely color, I haven’t had great success baking with it. For me, the color completely faded and it gave the cake a slightly rancid taste and smell.
More vegan strawberry desserts
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Vegan Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Puree
- ~4 cups (480g) fresh or frozen strawberries, weighed without stems
Dry cake ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, (note 1 for gluten free)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
Wet cake ingredients
- ⅓ cup (85g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon liquid pink food color, or 1-2 tablespoons of beetroot powder (add powder with dry ingredients, note 2)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
To decorate (or as desired, note 2 for suggestions)
- 1 – 1 ½ batches Vegan Strawberry Frosting, OR
- 1 batch Vegan Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (120g) fresh strawberries, or other fresh berries
Instructions
- Note: For the best results, I recommend using grams to measure the ingredients, especially the flour and strawberries. Alternatively, use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. Use a spoon to add flour 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 dense cake.
Prepare the fresh strawberry puree:
- Add the strawberries to a food processor or blender. Blend until there are no more chunks. Set aside.
Make the strawberry cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line 2 x 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry cake ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add the strawberry puree and wet cake ingredients to the bowl and fold until just combined. Be careful to not overmix the batter. Lumps in the cake batter are fine, as long as there aren't pockets of flour.
- Divide and pour the cake batter between your 2 cake pans.
- Bake the cakes for around 25-30 minutes. They're ready when you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for around 10 minutes then remove them to cool on a wire rack.
To assemble the cake:
- When the cakes have completely cooled, slice off the dome of one cake. Place that cake on a serving plate.
- If you chilled your frosting, stir it a few times to make sure it’s smooth and soft. Spread or pipe around 1 cup of frosting on the cake and place the remaining cake on top.
- Spread or pipe the remaining frosting on top. Garnish with fresh strawberries or as desired.
- Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge until serving. Allow the cake to come to room temperature 30 minutes – 1 hour before serving. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer (without fresh strawberries) for 1 month.
Video
Notes
- I haven’t had much success substituting the all-purpose flour with 1:1 gluten free flour blends or a combination of gluten free flours without completely changing the recipe. Instead, I’d recommend my 6 ingredient gluten free strawberry cake which is super easy to make!
- For the most consistent and reliable results, I recommend pink/red food coloring. The color of food dye is more likely to be maintained during baking (it does turn a little darker). Beetroot powder can work but is a little unreliable depending on the age and brand of the powder. Sometimes if you add beetroot powder to a cake batter, the batter will be a lovely pink but the baked cake can be anywhere from pink to orange/brown.
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Hi thank you for this recipe, planning to make next week for my daughter’s birthday. She is allergic to dairy and eggs.
Can I pipe whipped vegan cream (stabilised with agar) between the layers and on top with fresh fruit instead of the strawberry icing? Or is the cake to dense for it to hold.
Thanks in advance
Hi! That sounds like a lovely idea for your daughter’s birthday, we hope she has a wonderful celebration 💛 We’d recommend using the whipped cream only if you are making one layer of the cake as it will not hold between the layers. Hope that helps!
Hi. I love this recipe and have used it twice before. Is it possible to make the cake in advance? If so what’s the best way to store and for how long?
Hi! Thank you so much for your lovely comment, we’re so happy to hear you’ve made the recipe twice already!
Yes, you can definitely make the cake in advance. We recommend preparing the components separately: bake the sponges ahead of time and wrap them well in cling wrap (they’ll keep in the fridge for 1–2 days, or you can freeze them for longer). The frosting can also be frozen. When you’re ready to assemble, defrost everything overnight in the fridge. Let the frosting come to room temperature, then give it a quick whip to bring back the texture in case it has separated. You can then assemble the cake either the night before or on the day of serving.
It might be possible to freeze the whole cake (without the fresh strawberries) and defrost it overnight in the fridge, but can’t say for certain how well it will work (sometimes the shape and texture can change slightly after thawing). For the best results, we definitely recommend storing the components separately and assembling fresh.
Hope that helps! Let us know how you go 😊
Made this for my second baby’s 1st birthday this past weekend! Oh my goodness, soooo good!!! The cake was perfectly moist! I followed your vegan strawberry icing (frosting?) recipe also! I used freeze dried strawberries and the 3 cups of powdered sugar for a thicker icing and it worked way better than using 2 cups. Wish I could post a picture!
Hi Sarah, I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake and am honored that you made it for your baby’s 1st birthday! And yes, you’re right with the frosting – the more sugar it has, the more stable it is. I wish I could see your cake too! Thanks so much for your lovely feedback!
I made this for my sister’s birthday and the whole family loved it! I baked it in a 9×13 pan for 35 minutes and it was exactly right.
Hi Lu! We are so happy to hear that you chose this recipe and your whole family enjoyed the cake! Thank you so much for letting us know about the cake pan modification, I am sure other readers will find this useful!
This recipe is amazingly simple and easy to follow. But my cake turned out extremely soggy. It rose beautifully but when I took it out of the oven it deflated and was hard on the outside and soggy inside. Where did I went wrong? I really want to try this again but I’m not sure what to work on
Hi Emkay, sorry for the late reply! I’m glad you found the recipe easy to follow, but I’m sorry that it turned out soggy! Sometimes this can happen if you accidentally overmix the batter and knock the air out of the raising agents – could you try to mix the dry and wet ingredients seperately then mix them together (this will minimize changes of overmixing)? However, it can also happen if your oven runs a bit hotter/cooler than what it says (most ovens aren’t entirely accurate). Do your other bakes tend to bake quicker/slower than what a recipe says? I hope that helps!
Hi! I love this recipe, I’m hoping to make it to serve in my cafe and wondered if we could have it on display at room temperature and then store in the fridge overnight until the next day? Would this be suitable? Would it last 5 days at that or more likely 3 days?
Best,
Rachael
Hi Rachael, sorry for the late reply! Yes, you can definitely display it at room temperature then store it in the fridge overnight. Since the cake will be in and out of the fridge, I’d say it’ll last closer to 3 days. I hope that helps and that you enjoy the cake!
I want to make this into a tiered birthday cake for a party and need to do a lower 10 inch layer.
Is there any recommendations on measurements of ingredients?
Hi Angela, I would check out a cake pan conversion guide, such as this one by Joy the Baker and scale up the recipe accordingly. If you tap on the number next to ‘Yield’, it’ll scale up all the quantities for you. Hope that helps!