Vegan Vanilla Cake
Butter and egg-laden cakes are no longer guaranteed to please a crowd. This versatile recipe can easily be used to make a delicious dairy-free vanilla, citrus or chocolate cake.
- prepare
- cook
- 12 servings
- Moderate
It's relatively easy to use oil (such as olive or canola) instead of butter in vegan baking. The amount of oil needed will be slightly less than the relative weight of butter (oil is pure fat, whereas butter also contains water), and you'll need to make up the remaining weight with a water-based ingredient (e.g. plant-based milk).
Most plant-based milks work well as a direct replacement for cow's milk. (I prefer soy milk as it's creamier, but you can also use oat, almond or coconut). The fat content varies, though, so you may need to balance this with other ingredients. I usually add a tablespoon of vinegar to the milk to let it curdle slightly, which gives a similar flavour to buttermilk.
Greek-style coconut yoghurt is a good substitute for cakes that call for yoghurt or sour cream. Coconut cream subs in well for cream.
Ingredients
- 250ml non-dairy milk (soy, oat or almond)
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 200g caster sugar
- 100ml canola oil
- 2 tsp real vanilla extract or paste
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 100g aquafaba (drained from 1-2 cans of chickpeas, I use Pam's chickpeas as they have a more viscous aquafaba)
- 150g caster sugar
- 225g vegan spread (e.g Oliviani)
- 2 tsp vanilla paste
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (or 180°C conventional). Grease with oil and line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
- Whisk together the milk and vinegar in a large bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the milk to curdle a little.
- Add the sugar, oil and vanilla to the milk and whisk to combine.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the wet ingredients. Fold together until smooth and no specks of flour remain.
- Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and smooth the top.Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack, and leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen, then remove from the tin onto a rack to cool completely.
- For the buttercream, place the aquafaba and sugar in a clean stand mixer bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan one-third full with simmering water, ensuring the water is not touching the base of the bowl. Gently heat the aquafaba and sugar, whisking with a wire whisk occasionally, until the aquafaba is very warm and the sugar has dissolved (test this by dipping your thumb and forefinger into the aquafaba and rubbing them together - you shouldn't feel any grains of sugar).
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for about 10 minutes, until the meringue is relatively stiff (it won't be as stiff as normal egg-based meringue) and the mixing bowl has cooled to room temperature.
- While continuing to mix on high, gradually add the vegan spread, one tablespoon at a time, mixing to combine after each addition. The mixture will collapse then curdle part way through the mixing process - just keep adding the vegan spread and it will become smooth.
- To decorate, spread or pipe the buttercream over the cooled cake. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
- To make Vegan Citrus Cake: Reduce non-dairy milk to 200ml and substitute apple cider vinegar with 75ml citrus juice (e.g. lemon, lime or orange). Stir through the finely grated zest of either two lemons, two limes or one orange into the cake batter at the end, before pouring into the tin. Beat 1-2 Tbsp citrus juice into the buttercream at the end before icing the cake.
- To make Vegan Chocolate Cake: Substitute 50g flour with 50g cocoa powder. Dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee granules in 1 Tbsp boiling water. Stir the coffee into the cake batter at the end. Beat 50g melted vegan dark chocolate into the buttercream at the end before icing the cake.The flavour combinations are endless - e.g. try adding 1 Tbsp matcha powder, or 1 Tbsp rose water, or 2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (e.g. thyme, basil) in the cake batter to any of these combinations.
