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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Will this work the same in a silicone cake mold? Would I bake it at the same temperature?
It’ll work similarly but not exactly the same. Try baking at the same temperature but it’ll take a few extra minutes to bake!
Hi. Can I bake this in a Bundt pan? If so, what temperature and for how long? Thanks!
Hi Erin, I haven’t tested this in a bundt pan so I can’t say for sure. It will make the cake denser as you’re baking it in one big lot, rather than two. However, if you try it I’d bake it for around 50-60 minutes at the same temperature. Hope that helps!
Could I use caster sugar or is granulated best?
Hi Katie, caster sugar would be great in this cake!
Can’t wait to make this for our daughter’s first birthday! What size pans did you use and round or square? Thanks!!
(Haven’t made it yet so not sure I can update the Star reviews later once I’ve made it!)
Hi Sarah! I used 8-inch round cake pans – you can find step-by-step pictures in the post and recipe details in the gray recipe card. Enjoy!
hil, thanks for the recipe! if i want to make half of this recipe and put it in a smaller tin, how long should i bake it for?
Hi Keiyshya, it will depend on how small your pan and whether you want to bake the cake in one or two pans. If you want to bake the cake in one pan, bake for an extra 5-10 mins, but if you want to bake it in 2 seperate pans, bake it for around 5 less minutes. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the recipes. My toddlers asked for a pink birthday cake and I’m excited to try this!
They haven’t had refined sugar yet and I was wondering if I can use coconut sugar or date sugar or even white raisins instead?
Thank you for sharing this!
Hi Gabi! Coconut sugar and date sugar will work with slightly different results. Both sugars have more moisture than regular sugar so they’ll make the cake a bit denser. And as they’re darker in color, they’ll also make the cake a darker pink/brown color. White raisins won’t work without lots of changes to the recipe unfortunately. I hope that helps!
Am I reading the recipe correctly that there’s 1 tablespoon of baking powder? I just made it for the second time, I remember loving it the first time around. When I made it today— it felt wrong putting in a whole tablespoon. Now the cake tastes off, I’m wondering if I made a mistake?
Yes it’s 1 tablespoon of baking powder, which is equivalent to 3 teaspoons of baking powder. It might feel a lot but it has the same potency of around 3/4 tsp of baking soda. The quantities in this recipe have never changed so if you can taste it, it’s likely that the dry ingredients weren’t mixed well enough.
Hello! I absolutely love this recipe. I see that there were some modifications to the recipe. I apologize if I overlooked them above. May you please share what they were? Thank you!
Hi Alicia! Aw, I’m so glad that you’ve enjoyed this cake in the past :). I actually haven’t made any changes to the ingredients, quantities and method in the recipe. I’ve just added more info about using beetroot powder to the post/recipe card, and fixed some grammatical issues. I hope that helps!
can chickpea flour be used?
I don’t think it will work, but you can try to bake a small batch of the cake replacing half the flour with chickpea flour to see if the cake works.
I can”t find the frosting recipe or this cake
In the gray recipe box, underneath the ‘To decorate (or as desired…), there are two links to frostings, including my ‘vegan strawberry frosting’ and ‘vegan cream cheese frosting’. Click on either.
Or go to ‘Decoration tips’ in the blog post, and the frosting options are in the first 2 lines.
I’m trying to venture more into plant based baking and this cake was a massive hit! I’m wanting to remake it for my daughter’s first birthday as she is strawberry obsessed! Could this recipe work in 3 x 6 inch pans, to make it taller, and if so, what baking adjustments would be required please? Thanks so much!
Hi Rachel, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this cake! This recipe would work well in 3 x 6 inch pans. All the quantities will stay the same, but I’d bake the cakes for around 30-40 minutes (the thicker layers take a little longer to bake). I hope you enjoy celebrating your daughter’s special birthday!
Thank you so much for your reply!
This is a lovely cake. I made it for my daughter’s birthday and it was delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Hope, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this cake, and I’m honored that it was part of your daughter’s birthday! Thanks so much for your feedback :).
Hi! I’m super excited to try out this cake. Do you have to use beetroot powder or any coloring?
Hi Alissa! No, you don’t need to use beetroot powder or any coloring at all. The cake will be a pale pink color, without anything else. Hope that helps!
I have made this cake twice now. It is so good! Even my picky omnivore mother loved it!
Hi Andrea, aw that’s great to hear and especially about your mother!! Thanks so much for your review 🙂
Very delicious light and fluffy vegan cake ever!! Loved every bite of it! It literally melts in your mouth that is how moist it turned out. Very easy and simple recipe to follow! Will most definitely be making this cake again
Hi Alena, I’m so happy that you loved the texture of this cake and found the recipe approachable!! Thanks so much for your kind feedback 🙂
Have made this cake many times now and it’s one of our go-tos! I was wondering if you’ve ever tried using frozen blueberries in place of frozen strawberries, to make a blueberry cake?
And if I wanted no added sugar, just sweetness from the berries, or reduced sugar to 3/4 or 1/2 cup, how would you recommend altering the other ingredients? Thanks!
Hi Dakota, I’m glad that this recipe is a keeper for you! I haven’t tested this recipe with blueberries, but I think it would work similarly. With reducing or removing the sugar, it’s a little more tricky as sugar doesn’t only make the cake sweet, but adds moisture and helps it rise a little more. It would also make the baking powder taste more noticeable. Would you be able to try a granulated sugar replacer? Alternatively, you could reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup and just add an extra dash of milk to make up for the reduced moisture. I hope that helps!
Es delicioso, con un gran sabor a fresa pero Anthea, no sé que hago mal, hice la receta 8 veces en un fin de semana (me obsesioné, lo admito), usé en algunas fresas frescas, en otras congeladas, en alguna remolacha, en otra colorante rosa, en el último ningún colorante y de todos modos sale negro el pan.
Incluso en una usé jugo de limón, en otra el vinagre de manzana, en otra vinagre blanco, se me acabaron las ideas. Usé diferentes marcas de fresas por si en una de esas, ese era el problema.
Sin embargo, el pan vegano de fresas y gluten free sale de un rosa magnífico.
Mucho agradeceré tus recomendaciones o consejos.
Saludos desde México.
Mony.
BEST STRAWBERRY CAKE EVER
i’m so glad i found this recipe!! i was looking for a good easy strawberry cake recipe with healthier ingredients to make last minute and this one took the cake (literally!) i made it into cupcakes and used avocado oil and milk kefir and it’s INCREDIBLE. best part is it comes together in under 10 mins and no beating required!
Hi Marisa, aw what a compliment!! I’m so glad that you found this cake easy to make and that it worked with the ingredients you had :). Thanks so much for your lovely review! I appreciate it a lot!