This light and fluffy vegan birthday cake is fit for any special occasion. It's both egg and dairy free, and uses the all in one method for a fool proof cake every time!
Let's celebrate!
I hear from a lot of people who have just turned vegan that baking cakes is the one thing they are most worried about. We are so used to baking with eggs and butter that its hard to believe you could make cake without them. But, believe it or not, vegan cake is really easy to make!
You don't need any fancy ingredients and there's no apple sauce or banana in my recipe to tainting the flavour. This is just a classic, vanilla celebration cake that can be flavoured or decorated any way you like.
For my first birthday as a vegan, I wanted each layer sandwiched with raspberry jam, smothered in vanilla buttercream, topped with even more ruffles of buttercream, sprinkles, sprinkles and some more sprinkles! Each bite is light, fluffy and sweet; the tart and sticky raspberry jam providing balance. It's a classic combination that will never get old.
Vegan baking
In the last few year I have developed tonnes of vegan cakes, cookies, pastries and other baked goods! I've shared a selection of my favourites at the end of this post. For an in-depth look at vegan baking including the wide range of substitutes you can use to make a recipe egg and dairy free, check out my big vegan baking guide.
For this my classic Vegan Birthday Cake recipe it was important for me to keep things as simple as possible. When making this cake you will be using the same type of ingredients and the same method that you would use if you were making a regular celebration cake.
Instead of regular butter I use Flora Plant B+tter. It's a vegan block butter made from seeds yet somehow, has this amazing rich, buttery flavour. I'm yet to find another dairy free butter substitute which is SO close to the real deal. I recommend using a block butter rather than spreadable but both will work. Just add it to a big mixing bowl along with the rest of the ingredients, beat it well and bake. It's that simple!
You might be wondering what we do abut replacing the eggs? Well for that we get our lift from extra baking powder. The flour already has raising agent in it but the extra baking powder gives it a little boost and creates a really tender crumb.
The recipe
Get your mixing bowls at the ready because we're about to make a quick and easy Vegan Birthday Cake. It's egg and dairy free and uses the "all in one" method. It couldn't be any simpler!
Vegan Birthday Cake
Ingredients
For the sponge cake
- 225 grams dairy free spread e.g. Flora dairy free
- 300 grams caster sugar
- 485 grams self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 450 ml dairy free milk e.g. oat milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla paste
For the decoration
- 6 tablespoon raspberry jam
- 250 grams dairy free spread e.g. Flora dairy free
- 500 grams icing sugar
- 25 ml dairy free milk e.g. oat milk
- 0.5 teaspoon vanilla paste
- sprinkles
- lustre dust
Instructions
To bake the cake
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 350F / gas mark 4
- Line three 6 inch cake tins with grease proof paper and place to one side.
- Add the dairy free spread, caster sugar, flour, baking powder and vanilla paste into a large bowl.
- Beat well using an electric whisk, adding the dairy-free milk slowly.
- As soon as a smooth batter has formed, stop whisking and divide between the three cake tins.
- Place into the centre of your oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the edges of the cakes start coming away from the sides of the tins. (See notes)
- Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before transferring out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
To decorate
- Beat together the dairy free spread and the icing sugar until smooth.
- It needs to be smooth and soft enough to pipe.
- Add a little milk if its not quite soft enough.
- Spread a little buttercream on a cake board or cake plate and place down the first layer of sponge cake.
- Fill an icing bag with a quarter of the icing and carefully pipe a ring of buttercream around the top of the sponge cake layer.
- Fill the middle of the buttercream ring with half of the raspberry jam.
- Place the next sponge layer on top and press down gently.
- Pip another ring of buttercream on top of the second sponge layer and fill with raspberry jam.
- Top with the final layer of sponge cake and press down gently.
- Use any buttercream left in the piping bag to fill any gaps between the layers.
- Using a spatula, start covering the sides of the cake with buttercream trapping in as many crumbs as possible.
- Spoon half of the icing on top of the cake and spread out over the sides of the cake.
- Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining two thirds of buttercream and smooth out carefully.
- Spread sprinkles around the base and top of the cake.
- Place an open star nozzle into a second piping bag and fill with the remaining buttercream.
- Pipe swirls on the top of the cake.
- To finish, spray with gold lustre dust.
Notes
Is my cake cooked?
If you're unsure whether the cakes are cooked, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean and dry then they are done.How long will my cake keep?
This cake is best stored in an air tight container and enjoyed within 3 days of baking.Nutrition
Get the look
I love super long candles. I have them in a range of colours making them perfect for any occasion.
More plant based cakes
The cakes below are just a small selection of the vegan cake recipes on this blog. Why not stick around and have a browse!
The plant based recipe achieves
If you want to see more plant based recipes, check out my vegan recipe archive. For help switching to a plant based diet, check out my Go Vegan! page.
Veena Azmanov says
Love the recipe to this light and fluffy sponge cake. This cake looks delicious and love the option that it is Vegan.
Beth Sachs says
Wow this cake looks amazing. My daughter has just turned vegan so will be bookmarking this for her birthday in April
susan | the wimpy vegetarian says
This stunning cake is ALL about celebration!!! A very happy birthday to you, and congrats on making such a gorgeous, delicious-sounding cake that's VEGAN !!! LOVE!!!
Caroline says
What a pretty looking cake! Handy to have a vegan option too.
Ann says
Ooooh I have some vegans in my life that would love this! I’ve never tried vegan baking but I may just have to give it a shot!
Kavita Favelle says
This looks amazing, and so professionally finished as well. Great to see how easily you can create great vegan versions.
Brooklyn says
Is it possible to make without self raised flour? 🙁
Emma Walton says
Hi Brooklyn
You can make self raising flour from plain flour by adding more baking powder. The only problem is this might be a bit bitter as the cake already has baking powder in it.
Double the baking powder and add some extra vanilla paste - this should hopefully counter any bitter taste. Proceed with caution! It's not something I've personally tried! Let me know how you get on.
Brooklyn says
Ok, thank you ^_^
May I ask which brand of self-raising flour do you use? Maybe I can see if I can purchase it somewhere, so that the cake will turn out as perfectly as yours looks!
Emma Walton says
I use either McDougalls or Homepride enjoy!
Janice says
Awesome job of the cake. You make vegan baking so simple as it should be. Belated Happy Birthday to you too.
Lea says
Hello!! The cake itself is amazing, not feeling vegan at all!!! And I had a question about the vanilla paste in the topping, when should I add it?? Pretty urgent:)) thank you so much!!
Emma says
Oh no Lea I'm so sorry I didn't see this earlier! You can add it when you're beating all the ingredients together. I'll make sure that's clear in the recipe. I hope you enjoyed it.