Vegan Vanilla Cake

For my 1 year blogiversary, I’m celebrating with this vegan vanilla cake with sweet strawberry preserves. 

But why a vanilla cake on a special day like this? Vanilla cakes are so vanilla right? With so many different types of cakes, ranging from red velvet to chocolate to matcha, vanilla cakes are sometimes overshadowed. But, sometimes, it’s nice to bring back the classic as simplicity and tradition never fails to impress. And that’s exactly the motto for this blog. Simple. Traditional. Never fails. 

For the past year, I’ve transformed a number of traditionally loved desserts and Korean foods into delicious plant-based dishes in hopes of introducing this new way of eating to many people. I’m so thankful for the mass amount of support from, not only friends and family, but from new friends and readers I have met through this blog. I seriously can’t wait to see how my blog will evolve for the next year to come but as always, I will keep it traditional while using simple, readily available ingredients.And I want to clarify that traditionally and simple is not boring.

Have you noticed Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would always challenge the last remaining bakers to bake the classic British vanilla cake – Victoria sponge cake? Sometimes the simple, classic dishes are harder to make as the standards and expectations are higher.

Vanilla cake also makes for the perfect base for all different types of frosting, like chocolate or raspberry. I personally love my vanilla cashew “buttercream” frosting. It’s creamy and rich without the unnecessary calories from full fat coconut milk or vegan butter. But don’t worry as the taste and texture is not compromised!

Taking a bit of inspiration from the classic British Victoria sponge cake, I added a big scoop of strawberry preserves for extra sweetness and moistness. It really adds more body to the cake and I recommend it!

Or try my vegan, oil-free chocolate cake with sweet potato chocolate buttercream frosting!

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quick notes

• By adding an acid, like apple cider vinegar, to soy milk, the mixture will begin to curdle and thicken like buttermilk. If avoiding soy, other dairy-free milks will work but soy milk will yield the best results due to it’s high protein content.
• Apple cider vinegar is also used for it’s leavening properties as the reaction between the vinegar and baking soda produces carbon dioxide to give the batter a fluffy lift.
• Before assembling your cake, make sure your cake has been sitting in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and your frosting is room temperature.

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VEGAN VANILLA CAKE

serves three 5’’ springform cake pan

Wet Ingredients

• ⅔ cup soy milk or non dairy milk
• ¾ tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup (70g) neutral tasting oil (i used grapeseed oil) 
• 3 tbsp (51g) apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

Greasing cake pans: Grease a cake pan generously with oil or vegan butter, making sure to coat all the corners. Next step is to flour the pans, which adds an extra layer of protection to ensure your cake won’t stick. With one spoonful of flour, liberally sprinkle onto the well greased cake pan. Gently, shake the cake pan back and forth, hitting the sides and bottom, so the flour will evenly stick to the pan. Once the pan is evenly coated with flour, gently turn the pan upside down and pat the bottom of the pan to discard any excess flour. Grab a piece of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan. Then liberally coat the parchment paper with oil or vegan butter again. Repeat with other cake pans and set aside.

Combine soy milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla and set aside for 2-3 minutes. Mix in oil and apple sauce and set aside.

Dry Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup (225g) all purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup (105g) coconut sugar

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add in coconut sugar and mix.

Create a well in the middle of your dry ingredient. Pour in wet ingredients and gently fold. Evenly divide mixture into the three pans and bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Transfer the cake onto a cooling rack. Once the layers have cooled, pop them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours.

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

• link here
• Strawberry preserves

Assemble the cake: Level the layers by slicing the dome part to create three flat and even layers.

On a cake rotating stand or cutting board, smear a small spoonful of frosting in the middle before placing the first layer. This ensures the layers will not slide while decorating. Tuck a few overlapping pieces of parchment paper underneath the first layer to prevent frosting from getting on the cake stand or cutting board. Using a spatula, spread a generous and even amount of frosting.

Next, scoop a generous amount of strawberry preserves to the middle of the layer and spread it just until it’s ½ inch from the edge. You don’t want to spread the strawberry preserves out to the edge because once the second layer is stacked on, the strawberry preserves will spill over on the side.

Stack the second layer topside down and gently press. The strawberry preserves should now have reached the edge of the cake. Repeat spreading a generous amount of frosting and strawberry preserves.

Stack the third layer topside down and gently press down. Spread a generous amount of frosting on top of the cake and smooth it out. Scoop frosting where the layers meet and continue to smooth the sides of the cake with a bench scraper. Repeat this step until desired look is achieved. Remove the overlapping pieces of parchment paper.

Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours before cutting into it. Garnish with more strawberries and berries.

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p.s. If you like this recipe, click the icons below to share and leave a comment below! Make sure to tag me @girlmeetsradish & #girlmeetsradish so I can see what you are making!