When it comes to vegan cakes, we’ve earned our stripes (and probably a lifetime supply of flour dust on our clothes, err aprons).
Over the years, we’ve baked dozens of flavors and pulled hundreds of perfectly risen cakes out of the oven (AND made plenty of mistakes along the way!)—each one teaching us something new about flavor balance, texture, and the science of plant-based baking.
From rich chocolate layers to bright citrus loaves, fluffy vanilla sponges to indulgent caramel drizzles, we’ve tested and perfected recipes that don’t just “pass” as vegan—they shine as cakes, period.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Oh wow. Moist, rich, spongey heaven. I’m eating this delightful cake creation straight, no icing, it’s that good! I never got to the icing part! My husband likes a scoop of vegan ice cream on top. The search for what chocolate cake used to taste like in my childhood is over, only vegan and even better than I remember.” – Therese on our Vegan Chocolate Cake
This roundup pulls together our very best tried-and-true vegan cake recipes so you can bake with confidence, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned baker looking to impress.
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Best Egg Substitutes for Vegan Cake
One of the biggest things you’ll have to figure out is swapping out chicken eggs for a plant based substitute. Luckily, there are a lot of options. It’s best to follow a recipe already written out for you, but if you have to pick your own, say for a family recipe, you’ll want to pick one of the following:
- flax egg
- chia egg
- applesauce (usually unsweetened)
- non-dairy yogurt
- pumpkin puree
- aquafaba
- other puree (like banana, sweet potato or pear)
- silken tofu
- liquid egg replacement (like Just Egg)
If you’d like to learn more, check out our vegan egg substitutes for baking.
Best Dairy Substitutes for Vegan Cake
When it comes to dairy, butter and milk substitutes for vegan cakes are needed for almost every recipe. More often than not, you will do a 1:1 replacement for both milk and butter in vegan cakes.
It is important to note that not all vegan butters are the same and you’ll want to check out our vegan butter review to pick a vegan butter replacement for cake that will suit you best.
*Note: Oil is typically used versus butter in cakes because of butter solidifying, but every recipe will be different and it’s important to note how they switching or omitting will alter the recipe. Vegan butter is mostly oil so you may still see it called for often.
For milk, you can almost use any type of non-dairy milk. It’s important to note that sweetened versions or flavored versions will affect the taste outcome. Some examples include:
- almond milk
- oat milk
- soy milk
- cashew milk
- hemp milk
- rice milk
- coconut milk (canned coconut milk is thicker and may require adjustments versus carton varieties)
- plant based milk blends
Vegan Sugar Options
Every time we say “vegan sugar” we get asked about 150 times “what do you mean vegan sugar?” “isn’t all sugar vegan?”. The truth is it should be, but it’s not, especially if you live in the United States.
Within the United States, many refined sugars – included white, brown, and powdered sugar are processed with bone char. It’s important if you want a truly vegan cake to look for “bone char free” on the packaging or “organic” sugar options as manufacturers cannot use bone char in organic products.
Learn more about “is sugar vegan“.
Frequently Asked Questions about Vegan Cake
Vegan cake is a cake recipe from scratch made without eggs or dairy or other non-vegan ingredients (like honey or gelatin). Sugar that is bone char free is also important. Vegan substitutes for all of these ingredients are used to replace them to still have moist, decadent crumb layers.
For most options, ¼ cup of vegan egg replacer equals one egg. You will want to limit it to no more than 3 eggs using this method. A liquid vegan egg product (like Just Egg) is 3 tablespoons per egg). Trying to convert cake recipes that use more than three eggs will require more trial and error.
If you’d like to learn more, check out our vegan egg substitutes for baking.
Omitting the oil in the recipe is going to alter the taste and texture of the cake crumb. Oil is needed to add a richness, but also tenderness.
Usually ½ of the oil can be replaced with a fruit puree like applesauce, noting that it will be a more dense cake.
Often times if cake recipes have more than 1 cup of sugar total, you could successfully reduce the sugar by ¼ of a cup without noticing a drastic difference.
However, it’s important to note that sugar is just for sweetness, so reducing is more can affect the texture as well.
Sugar crystalizes during the cooking process to add moisture to the cake, so reduces it too much can lead to a more dry and more dense cake.
The short answer is yes. Almost all of recipes have been tested to be gluten free with a 1:1 all purpose flour blend.
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t try to replace with a single gluten free flour like almond flour or coconut flour.
You need a blend that has been designed to cook in baking recipes and usually always includes xanthan gum. Our favorites are Pillsbury or King Arthur 1:1.
Most of the cakes can be made Top 9 Allergen Free. Since they are already free of dairy and eggs, the other concern is soy. Usually soy is in vegan butter or maybe vegan chocolate.
However, there is a lot of vegan chocolate that is already soy free (like Enjoy Life) and as far as the vegan butter, we always recommend using Soy Free Earth Balance, it comes in a red packaging. Sticks are always better than tubs in vegan baking.
The only other exception is a cake like our vegan coconut cake, that obviously has coconut and we wouldn’t recommend changes there.
Every post has instructions to make Top 9 Allergen Free.
Yes! You can always just increase or decrease the amount of batter to make one or the other.
Most of our cake recipes are 3 layers, so you could just do half or a ⅓ of the ingredients to make a smaller amount of cupcakes (or just make them all).
Cupcakes need a reduced amount of time – typically 15-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean.
What are some vegan frosting ideas for these cakes?
One great thing about cakes is that you can mix and match frostings! We absolutely love doing this. Our most popular vegan cake frostings are:
Many of the recipes below also have their own individual frosting combinations.
Leave a comment below and tell us what frosting flavor you want to see next!
Classic Vanilla Vegan Cake Recipes
While there will always be a debate over the best vegan cake flavors, especially vanilla or chocolate, we believe that there’s nothing quite like a slice of classic vegan vanilla cake.
You’ll love these four vanilla based vegan cake recipes!
2. Vegan Vanilla Birthday Cake (Funfetti Cake)
Even More Vegan Cake Recipes!
While the vegan cake recipes below may or may not fit into a category above, we are combining them here to fit in their own categories. We’d still argue they are the best vegan cake recipes around for their specific niche and we know that you’ll love them!
Easy Vegan Mug Cakes!
1
Vegan Vanilla Mug Cake
If you’re looking for a solo treat without the hassle, then this vegan vanilla mug cake is the perfect treat that you need!
2
Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
If you’re looking for a solo treat without the hassle, then this vegan vanilla mug cake is the perfect treat that you need!
Milkshakes with Cake
3
Vegan Strawberry Birthday Cake Milkshake
The absolute best vegan strawberry birthday cake milkshake uses leftover cake to make the most amazing vegan strawberry milkshake ever.
Not technically cake, but cake!
4
Vegan Funnel Cake
You don’t have to wait to the fair or carnival for a delicious vegan funnel cake made in minute in the comfort of your home! Give it a try!
5
Incredible Vegan Cheesecake
This incredible vegan cheesecake is a must try for cheesecake lovers. A perfectly, simple vegan vanilla cheesecake is full of flavor, creamy texture, and a great base for any toppings.
6
Vegan Spoon Bread
This vegan spoon bread, also known as Mexican corn cake, is an amazing side for dinner or even brunch! Super simple to make and a great cornbread alternative.
7
Vegan Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
If you loved those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars, you are going to go ga-ga over these amazing vegan strawberry shortcake cookies! Soft, tons of strawberry flavor bursting through, and a variety of texture will make these your new favorite cookie!
And if you truly did get here looking for pancakes – you can see our dozen vegan pancake recipes too 🙂
For the most update to date cake offerings at Make It Dairy Free, see all our Vegan Cake Options.
What vegan cake flavor to you want to see next?
Vegan Baking Tools
Before we go, if you want to see the best tools that we use for baking, then make sure to check out our must have baking essentials for a vegan kitchen!
This post was originally posted on 2/2020 and updated in 3/2026.