When the strawberry season is in full swing, who doesn’t want to bake with strawberries? If you’ve made my delicious vegan strawberry cupcakes, you’ll love this cake version. Baking with strawberries, is amazing but it requires adapting recipes as they tend to release water into the dough. I have made a lot of baking recipes with strawberries, like my Vegan Strawberry Pie, Vegan Strawberry Muffins, or Strawberry Baked Oatmeal and I’ve learned precisely how to tune base recipes to include the fruit. This lovely two-layer cake is filled with vegan strawberry buttercream and topped with more fresh strawberries.

Why You’ll Love This Cake

This pink vegan cake recipe is perfect for any birthday or holiday season if you are after a decadent cake loved by everyone. I guarantee that nobody will guess it has no eggs, butter, or dairy. The taste and texture are as good as any classic bakery-style cake, except it’s vegan. Let me show you how you can make a light, fluffy vegan cake with strawberries.

Ingredients and Substitutions

For the strawberry cake batter you will need.

Ripe Strawberries – The vibrant red strawberries are the best because they deliver way more flavors than the fresh and still firm ones. Soy Milk or any dairy-free milk you like, including almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, or coconut milk. I find soy milk a better fit for vegan cakes because it adds a moist texture to the cake crumb. This is because soy milk has more protein and is also creamier than almond milk. Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice. This brings the acidic element needed to make the cake batter rise. Baking Powder and Baking Soda – To make the crumb fluffy. All-Purpose Flour – You can also all-purpose gluten-free flour, but the texture will be a bit more gummy. Sugar or unrefined sugar like cane sugar or coconut sugar. Melted Coconut Oil or melted vegan butter or avocado oil. I recommend using a low-flavor oil with a pale light color, or it will impact the cake flavor and crumb color. For example, coconut oil adds a coconut flavor, except if you use refined coconut oil that has no flavor. This is an excellent choice in terms of color because it’s transparent and won’t interfere with the natural pink color of this cake. However, avocado oil has a light green color and can turn the crumb brownish. It’s a low-saturated fat choice. It’s, therefore, healthier, but watch out! The color won’t be the same. Freeze-Dried Strawberries – For the batter. This gives both color and flavors without adding moisture. Vanilla Extract – for flavor. Strawberry Extract – this is optional. If your strawberries are ripe and flavorsome, the cake will have a natural strawberry flavor.

How To Make Vegan Strawberry Cake

There are many ways to use ripe strawberries in baking. Some recipes call for reduced strawberry puree, which consists of cooking the strawberries in water and sugar. But I like easy vegan recipes, so I will share my easier way of adding strawberry flavor to cakes!

Frosting The Cake

To frost the cake, prepare two batches of my vegan vanilla frosting and add the ingredients below to add the lovely strawberry flavors and color:

Freeze-Dried Strawberry Powder – Place freeze-dried strawberries in a zip-lock bag and crush them into a fine powder. Pink Food Coloring Natural Strawberry Extract

Serving

You can serve this cake immediately after it has been frosted or keep it for a few hours in the fridge for the frosting to set. Serve the cake plain, or with vegan sprinkles, coconut whipped cream, Vegan Whipped Cream, or more fresh strawberries.

Allergy Swaps

Below are some allergy swap ideas if needed.

Gluten-Free – I didn’t try with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend in this recipe, but I suppose it will work pretty well if your blend is a 1:1 blend containing added xanthan gum. However, remember that gluten-free flour makes a cake’s texture denser, packed, or gummy. Nut-Free – Use nut-free, dairy-free milk like hemp, coconut, or oat milk. Coconut-Free – Swap the coconut oil for vegan butter or canola oil. Sugar-Free – Replace the sugar with the same amount of natural sugar-free crystal sweetener like erythritol. In the frosting, use powdered erythritol.

Below are the answers to your most common questions about this vegan pink cake.

More Vegan Cake Recipes

Below are some more vegan cake recipes for you to try:

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