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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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!