To all of the people out there who have been disappointed with vegan white cake recipes, this cake is for you. It’s light, it’s fluffy, and it’s tender. No bready texture, no brownish color, and ordinary ingredients too. What’s my secret? Two: 1) I tested this 14 times and 2) A new way of thinking about vegan cake, which I’m introducing you to today.
There are a few things about this vegan white cake I will discuss in more depth:
- The mixing method
- The flavor
- The ingredients
- The measuring method
- Variations and troubleshooting
This post is a long one. If you’re not interested in any of that stuff and willing to simply follow my recipe then go ahead and scroll down, or click/tap the “Jump to Recipe” button up at the top above the post. The best vegan vanilla cake around is in your future and you don’t have to read my rambling to get to it!
A new way of mixing vegan cakes: reverse creaming
For many of us, when we learn to make baked goods like cakes, we come to expect a certain sequence of events. Cream together the fats and sugars (and eggs, back in the day), then add the liquid. Mix together the dry ingredients, and then combine the whole thing and bake it.
In my many vegan cake trials I learned that without egg for moisture and tenderness, vegan cakes made the “traditional” way reliably had a dense, bready or gummy texture. In a white cake in particular, there’s no strong flavor like chocolate for a bad texture to hide behind.
I started doing my research and most of the internet told me I was over-mixing, but because of the inferior emulsion formed without butter or eggs, it was difficult to mix any less, otherwise the cake baked unevenly. (See my parade of cake fail Instagram stories for evidence of this).
Finally, I came across something that I’m now surprised isn’t more widespread. It’s called the reverse creaming method (and seems to also be known as the paste method). Known for resulting in uber-tender cakes, this method is favored by many of the would-be scientists doing official baking experiments and sharing their results.
How does this method work? It’s surprisingly simple and easy. You start by sifting together your dry ingredients and sugar. Then, you add your fat directly to the dry ingredients, and mix well. Only at that point do you add any type of liquid. This way, the fat molecules coat the flour and prevent the flour from coming in direct contact with liquid, which in turn, prevents gluten from forming. That pesky gluten is exactly what made your other vegan cakes so dense and bready!
My research didn’t end there. There was very little evidence of reverse creaming being used with predominantly oil-based cakes (of which my vegan white cake is one), and even less of this method being used without a mixer. I actually do own a mixer, but I don’t want to tell you to shell out for a new kitchen appliance to make my cake recipe, so I was pretty determined to make this recipe work with a spatula and a fork.
I had a little bit of trouble with the oil mixing in too quickly/unevenly with my dry ingredients, but as it turns out, cutting the oil with just a little bit of shortening gave me enough fat “real estate” to mix everything perfectly. The shortening also improves the mouthfeel of the baked cake, and makes it easier to slice, so it’s a win-win.
After that step, you can pretty much mix the crap out of your vegan cake batter so the batter will bake up nice and evenly. Batter made with this method will seem to be very liquidy and drippy compared to what you would expect. You’ll be pouring it into your cake pans. That’s the correct consistency, so don’t be alarmed!
The flavor: vegan white cake vs. vegan vanilla cake
I’m a vanilla lover. That’s why I’ve got all kinds of vanilla-forward recipes on the site here like my vanilla almond milk pudding, raspberry vanilla bean vegan scones, and vegan sugar cookies.
Bakery-style cakes have a very particular flavor, though. While this recipe can easily be a vanilla cake with some quick tweaks, as written it’s a vegan white cake and that means the vanilla isn’t too strong. I also wanted to preserve the cake’s color and keep the appearance as snow-white as possible, so instead of vanilla extract I used clear imitation vanilla flavor.
To further round out the flavor and make this lovely vegan cake taste like the dairy-based cakes of childhoods past, I also use imitation butter flavor in the batter. Now, I know at this point some folks may be thinking that this cake doesn’t sound very natural. To those people, I would point out that my goal wasn’t to make a healthy vegan cake, my goal was to make a delicious one that doesn’t taste funny.
Cake flour is made from a different type of wheat berry than regular all-purpose flour, and this also contributes to the familiar bakery, birthday cake esque flavor. And finally, in keeping with the theme, I frost my cake with some very basic, accidentally-vegan white frosting from the store. I don’t care for homemade icing made from vegan butter, as I find that most vegan butter products have a strong aftertaste that overpowers the cake.
Ingredients needed for vegan white cake
To make this cake you’ll need a little bit of everything. Where relevant, inside the recipe below I have linked to the specific products I used.
- Cake flour: It’s important to use this instead of all-purpose flour for the most tender vegan cake. Cake flour has a protein (gluten) percentage of 7 to 8.5%, and it is bleached. The lower protein content is necessary for a tender cake that isn’t tough. The bleaching helps make your cake whiter. Regular all-purpose flour has a protein content of 10 to 12%. If you use it, your cake will not rise as much, and it will feel greasier and heavier.
- Vegetable oil and vegetable shortening: Lighter colored oils like soybean oil or canola oil will give you the whitest cake, but you could also use avocado or grapeseed oil if desired. Please use shortening, not coconut oil. Coconut oil is not as creamy and will make your cake more greasy and heavy.
- Plain sugar: I endorse the use of regular, plain white sugar. I often bake with “crunchy” organic unbleached cane sugar but not only will it result in a darker color, the granules are larger and they will cause issues with the cake baking up correctly. Many common brands of white sugar are vegan nowadays. It’s a good time to be alive!
- Potato starch: Another weapon in my arsenal for a fluffy cake. Without eggs, the vegan cake doesn’t get quite fluffy enough with flour alone. You can try substituting arrowroot starch or tapioca starch if needed, although potato is best. I don’t recommend cornstarch; it doesn’t have as fluffy of a result.
- Soy milk: Soy milk has the highest protein content and will provide the best moisture and lift to your vegan white cake, so it’s my only tested and recommended milk for this. However, I’m eager to hear your results if you try something else like almond milk, cashew milk or oat milk.
- Aquafaba: To complete the trifecta of fluff-inducing ingredients, a little bit of whipped up aquafaba (the cooking liquid from beans; you can drain it from a can of white beans for the lightest color) is folded into the batter just before baking.
- Flavoring: See above for why I use imitation vanilla and imitation butter. Make sure your imitation butter flavor is vegan. I use Wilton brand, which can be ordered online. We buy it in person at Michaels.
Measure this way for the best vegan cake
Normally, with my baking recipes I include both weight and volumetric measurements. However, with this vegan white cake I have not even included volume measurements at all. It is crucially important to measure the ingredients by weight for a consistent, successful result. I use a basic, cheap baking scale. It has been well worth the $10.
Why is it so important to bake by weight, especially when doing vegan baking? So much of the success of this cake batter comes down to the precise quantities of leavening, flour and starch. Measuring dry ingredients by volume is not exact. The actual amount measured can depend heavily on the amount the flour has settled; the scooping method used; or even the ambient humidity. This vegan white cake is incredibly delicate and will easily be thrown off by a bad flour measurement.
Vegan cake variations and troubleshooting
Want to make this cake lemon flavored? You can do that too, simply swap the imitation butter flavor with lemon extract, and add lemon juice instead of vinegar. This white vegan sponge cake doesn’t convert easily to chocolate, but I’m working on that recipe too so stay tuned.
I’ve been fiddling around with making a gluten-free version of this recipe and I came pretty close by substituting the cake flour with a blend of rice flour and cornstarch. Then, I added sorghum flour to the mix to reduce the “ricey” flavor and it was an utter disaster. So, experimentation is ongoing, but I can tell you that AP gluten-free flour is not a good idea, neither is sorghum.
This recipe makes two 9-inch layers. It is easily halved (I’ve tested and verified this) to make a single layer, so it ought to work well at 1.5x to make a three-layer cake if you’d like.
I haven’t gotten a clue how to make this cake at high altitude. I’m close to sea level here in Baltimore. If anyone modifies the recipe to work at altitude, do let us know in the comments!
Finally, it’s natural to wonder about making cupcakes from this cake recipe. I haven’t tried it, but one of the advantages of this vegan cake is that it rises somewhat flatly, so I suspect it might not result in nicely domed cupcakes, but I’d definitely be interested to hear about it if anyone gives that a try.
Vegan white cake troubleshooting
Despite my detailed instructions, things can (and will go wrong). Here are a few possible reasons for this particular cake. Some of them would not apply if you are making a cake with traditional (not reverse) creaming, as over-mixing can be an issue in that case.
Why is my vegan cake crumbly? This is likely because it was cold when sliced or because the batter was not mixed fully after adding the liquids.
Why did my cake sink after baking? It’s normal for the cake to sink a little bit, but if it collapses in the middle, possible contributors are a very humid kitchen, under-baking the cake, hot spots or temperature inconsistencies in your oven (check it using a thermometer), or under-mixing the batter.
Why is there a gummy layer at the bottom of my vegan cake? This can be caused by using cold ingredients (instead of room temperature) to mix the cake, under-mixing the batter, the aquafaba being liquidy rather than foamy, or not whisking in the aquafaba fully.
Why does my cake look lopsided? Believe it or not, many people’s ovens are not level and they don’t realize it. If you’re making things like cookies you might not notice the difference, but if you’re making a cake you surely will. We added some screws below one side of our oven to straighten it out. You can test this by filling a measuring beaker with a cup of water, then setting it on your (cold) oven rack and seeing if the water remains level on all sides.
So, there you have it… my vegan cake manifesto. If you give this recipe a try, please do let me know how it goes, either here in the comments, or by tagging me on Instagram (@yupitsvegan). Your feedback and support help me keep this site going!
NEW in March 2019 – I’ve now included a video to show you the mixing method for this vegan cake in even more detail! Check it out below and enjoy.
Bakery-Style Vegan White Cake
Ingredients
Aquafaba mixture:
- 78 grams aquafaba room temperature (6 tbsp) (see note)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Wet ingredients:
- 2 cups plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk room temperature (soy recommended)
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract
- 2 tsp clear imitation butter flavor
Dry ingredients:
- 324 grams cake flour (This can NOT be substituted with regular flour. Seriously, don't waste your time)
- 36 grams potato starch
- 324 grams white sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Fats:
- 138 grams vegetable oil (not coconut oil)
- 48 grams vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Before starting, make sure all of your ingredients for this vegan white cake are at room temperature, otherwise your cake will bake up weird. Warm the soy milk and aquafaba in the microwave for a few seconds if you need to.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (make sure you are not using convection mode, this will cause the cake to bake unevenly). Line two 9-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper on the bottom. Do not flour or grease the pans.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the aquafaba and cream of tartar vigorously until the aquafaba is fluffy and foamy, and set aside. No need to whip it to stiff peaks, just get it foamy.
- In another small bowl, stir together the soy milk, 2 tsp vinegar, vanilla and butter flavors, and set aside. The soy milk will curdle a little bit; this is normal.
- Sift all of the dry ingredients (including the sugar) into a mixing bowl and stir well, sifting a second time if the mixture still appears lumpy. Don't skip this step - sifting is important!
- Add the vegetable oil and shortening into the bowl. Use a strong fork to break up the shortening and then mix everything together well. The mixture will first turn crumbly like a shortbread dough and then as you continue to mix, will start to resemble wet sand (see photos in blog post). This will take some elbow grease. Make sure to scrape around the bottom of your mixing bowl to get any flour pockets hiding out there. Don't continue until the mixture is fully smooth.
- Add 1/3 of the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. Add another 2/3 and repeat. Finally, add the remaining 1/3 and mix until the batter is very smooth and runny, which will take a minute or two (see photos in blog post).
- Give the aquafaba mixture another whisk to get it foamy again, as it may have deflated a bit while you were mixing the rest of the cake. If it's still partially liquidy, take only the foamy part and not the part that is liquid. Then, whisk it into the cake batter until mixed in evenly (if you only fold it in, you might get streaks or a gummy layer - mix well if needed). Divide the cake batter between your two cake pans.
- Bake the vegan white cake layers for approximately 24-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and dry. Be sure not to open the oven until it has been at least 15 minutes (preferably longer), otherwise you will risk your cakes deflating when you open the oven door.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans on top of a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. You can then run a sharp knife around the edges of the pans before very gently inverting the cakes to cool completely. I recommend lightly flouring or spraying your cooling rack before flipping the cakes onto it; they are very moist and have a tendency to stick. After flipping them over, gently peel off the parchment paper.
- These cakes can be layered and frosted once completely cooled (and the layers can be gently evened out if needed, although they tend to bake pretty flat). Take care in handling them; they are rather delicate. Leftover cake can be stored covered in the fridge for a couple of days. If your layer cake is fully frosted it can also be stored covered at room temperature. If stored in the fridge, it's recommended to bring it to room temperature before slicing, to reduce crumbliness.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
NOTES 2/21/2019: So many of you have already made this cake and shared your results with me! So glad everyone is loving it. It seems that differences in aquafaba consistency and some aquafaba not staying foamy is causing wet streaks in some people’s cakes. Please use ONLY the foamy part of the aquafaba and be sure to mix it in thoroughly with your whisk. Secondly, several people have tested out using all-purpose flour instead of cake flour and it does NOT seem to work well.
My sources consulted are too many to name, but particular thanks go out to Isa Chandra’s cupcakes, from which I adapted my initial base ingredient quantities (although the recipe has since changed dramatically, as you can see); and to Sugar Geek Show’s recipe which taught me many helpful things about reverse mixing.
More vegan cakes from the blog:
- Vegan German chocolate cake
- Vegan tres leches cake
- Vegan sweet potato cake
- Vegan flourless chocolate cake
- Vegan carrot cake
THANK YOU to everyone who makes and shares this vegan white cake recipe. A significant amount of time, effort, and money went into this cake’s creation. If you want to post about the recipe on social media or your own site, please link back to me and do not copy/paste the recipe directly. This way, we can both benefit from it. Thank you! -Shannon
Wendy says
Can I use homemade cake flour? Having hard time getting cake flour.
Thanks
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I have not tried this and wouldn’t be sure, but maybe someone else who tried it can chime in.
Cookin' in Seattle says
OMG… this recipe is the real deal! Had to get that out of the way first. I have been looking for over a year for a good vegan cake recipe, especially a vanilla/white cake, because of my dairy allergic kid and this is the only one that I actually like as much as a traditional, non-vegan cake. Not necessarily the taste (which is good) but the elusive texture of a “normal” cake. It is pretty light and fluffy in a way that I never imagined possible. Non-dairy (but with wheat flour) cakes I’ve made and bought (there’s a bunch here in Seattle) from vegan bakeries have always had a bit too dense and moist/oily texture that I never liked. This one actually tastes like what I believe a cake should taste like.
Anyway, I want to thank the author for the great recipe and for all the time and effort that went into developing it. I measured everything precisely and was a bit skeptical when I saw how much oil (in addition to shortening) went into it, but it turned out great the first time. I didn’t get the “wet sand” texture and the batter was much thinner/wetter than I’ve ever baked, so I was surprised when the toothpick came out clean and dry after only 25 minutes in the oven. I loved not oiling and flouring the pans also, always hated that part. I did use cake strips to keep the cakes flatter and the recipe didn’t mention if they were used but again, it only took 25 minutes even with the strips to be fully cooked. In case it helps others, I used Spectrum vegetable shortening, C&H baker’s sugar, Swans Down cake flour, Silk unsweetened (no vanilla flavor variety) soymilk, regular vanilla extract (couldn’t get clear imitation vanilla in time), aquafaba from canned navy beans (not low or no sodium), and skipped the butter extract (couldn’t find in time),
I combined this with the vegan icing from another website and made a fantastic non-dairy (vegan actually) birthday cake for my wife yesterday that the kids and parents all loved, so much gratitude. I’m hoping that you’ll modify the recipe to make it a chocolate cake someday as well!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi, thanks so much for leaving this detailed review! And hello from a former Seattleite. I do not use cake strips – I level the cakes after baking if needed – but good to know they didn’t seem to affect the baking time for you. I’m delighted that you loved the cake!
Laura McGuiness says
What type of shortening have you used? I’ve had bad luck with brands like Spectrum, which I feel change the color.
Nancy says
I am planning to make this cake in a few days for my daughter’s birthday. I know you said you mixed everything by hand, but can you use an electric mixer to mix the batter? If so, is it better to whip the aquafaba into soft peaks?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Nancy, honestly these days I almost always whip the aquafaba to stiff peaks to ensure it comes out perfectly. You can get away with just whisking until foamy, as written, but if you have the luxury of a mixer then you can definitely whip it to peaks. Hope this helps.
Chris says
My son is allergic to eggs so I have been looking at vegan recipes. Would I be OK using butter (instead of shortening/oil)? And normal milk instead of soy?
Thanks
Chris
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
You’d need to make a number of other changes if you wanted to make these substitutions. I have not tried it and am not sure exactly what’s needed. One key difference would be the water content in butter
Jessi says
My 3-year-old daughter requested a white cake for her birthday. I’m vegan and avoid gluten whenever possible. I looked to see if anyone had had success with a gluten-free version of this recipe, but not seeing one, I decided to attempt it anyway.
I haven’t made the original, so I can’t compare it, but I was delighted with the results. I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly, and I made a few mistakes, so I had my doubts, but it turned out to be by far the best gluten-free vegan white cake I’ve made. For those who wish to give it a try, here are my substitutions. I used Dove Farms self-rising flour in place of both the cake flour and the potato starch (as potato starch is the second ingredient in the Dove Farms flour). I didn’t have enough cooking oil or any shortening, so I subbed a partially hydrogenated margarine for the remaining oil and the shortening. I was concerned it would end up too dense, so despite using self-rising flour, I kept the baking soda as in the recipe but reduced the baking powder to 1 tsp.
The cake turned out moist and tender and held up well to frosting (I made 3 layers). Not too crumbly, not dry, gummy, dense, or rubbery. Pretty perfect, and no complaints from the guests (all non-vegan and non-gluten-free).
Thanks for the recipe.
Ang says
Thank you for sharing the gluten free subs! Looking forward to trying it gluten free!
Ang says
How far ahead could this cake be made without frosting it? What is the best way to do store it before frosting? I usually try to make the cake a day or two before and freeze them. How would this hold up after being frozen?
Brenda says
Made the Bakery-style Vegan White Cake April 2 for my granddaughters 1st birthday .
It was a hit! Recipe is definitely a keeper Cake was nice and fluffy , and great flavor. My daughter and granddaughter are new dairy free diet, ever since granddaughters birth. And other individuals normally don’t enjoy Vegan , but this was not the case. And a good Vegan recipe is hard to come by. All of the pointers were helpful. Thank you for the recipe.
Jasmine says
Hello,
I’m planning to bake my boyfriend a cake for his birthday in a few days, and had a question about aquafaba.
The recipe calls for 78 grams of aquafaba, whisked until foamy then added. Only whisking in the foamy portion portion if you are having trouble getting it to fully foam. Do i still add in the the remaining aquafaba although it did not foam? since the recipe does call for 78 grams?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Good question, you should use the whole 78 grams if you can get it all to whip up, but if some of it doesn’t whip then you should only use the portion that does, otherwise it will detract from the cake’s texture.
Emily says
Hi Shannon! Maybe it’s linked here and I’m just not seeing it, but where can I find the recipe you use for the frosting? Excited to try this one!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Emily, I use store-bought frosting for my cakes — I haven’t come up with a homemade one that I love yet.
Anita says
Wanted to let people know I took a box of Betty Crocker Devil’s Food cake mix and used the ratio of it’s contents 432 gm to the 648 gm total of sugar plus cake flour in this recipe to determine the adjustment for the other ingredients, and it turned out well though the cake was a little more delicate than a normal cake made from a box, but it was very good. I assumed the box mix replaced the need for flour sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. I added and sifted the mix with 24 gm potato starch. Creamed in 92 gm vegetable oil, and 32 gm shortening. Next combined 1 1/3 cups soy milk with about 1 1/3 tsp vinegar (left out butter flavoring and vanilla) then slowly added to the rest of the cake ingrdients while mixing. Then used 52 gm aquafaba and a scant 1/4 tsp cream of tarter that I wisked until frothy then added to cake mixture. I baked at 350 abot 28 minutes. I did this basically b/c I have an egg allergy
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thanks for sharing your approach!
Anita says
Also, the aquafaba was 52 gms and a scant 1/4 tsp of cream of tarter.
Nicolle J says
Will be saving this one for sure, I made it just as you recommended and it came out absolutely perfect! I appreciate all of the details and advise everyone to fully read not only the recipe but the tips and tricks for making it because they are a necessity!
Emily says
I tested this recipe twice, following the instructions exactly as written. I even used an oven thermometer to check the temperature of my oven. Unfortunately, both times the cake came out dense and gummy on the bottom. The first bake I had it in for 28 minutes and it was definitely not cooked through. The second bake I was at almost 38 minutes at 350 and it was cooked through but still very dense. I’m not in a particularly humid climate or at altitude and used Silk Soymilk.
The taste was good, but I wish I knew what I was doing wrong because I did not get a light and fluffy cake!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Emily, I’m sorry to hear that! Sometimes, this recipe is just finicky. Would you mind sharing the brand of cake flour that you used? (I’m trying to figure out if some brands work better than others). Also, can you confirm the ingredients were all at room temperature before starting?
Martha says
This cake is phenomenal. Best white cake ever. A MUST try.
Susanne says
Made this cake for my fiancé’s birthday and it came out great. Light and fluffy and amazing flavor. He immediately told me to save this recipe because it’s one of the best cakes we’ve tried!
josephine thompson says
Haven’t tried your recipe going too soon my question is is the aqua fab what replaces egg if not what is holding the cake together?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi, aquafaba is an egg replacer, but anyway eggs don’t really act as a binder in cake. They are more of a leavener.
RENATA DE CARVALHO says
I did and it was wonderful! In Brazil we have a sweet whose name is “well married” which is very light, fluffy and delicate, with two small cake discs and dulce de leche filling (I make with cashews), which is delicately packed and distributed to the guests. It is perfect!
Beca says
Your homie Beca successfully edited this recipe to make a dope chocolate cake using APF. It came out light, fluffy, chocolatey, and delicious. Peace out.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Glad to hear that! I am sure everyone would love to know what swaps you made to turn this into chocolate!
Corrine says
I’m using electric oven. How long should I bake it? How about pre-heating? Thank you.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Corrine, you would want to pre-heat the oven until it has fully reached the specified baking temperature and then bake for the specified amount of time, using the additional cues in the recipe about doneness to determine if you need to take it out earlier or later. If that doesn’t work let me know and I’ll try to help troubleshoot.
Chris says
Made this for my son’s birthday last week and it turned out perfectly! Thank you for this ingenious recipe! I will try the lemon version next time.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Very glad to hear that!
Gisell says
yes! love this website can someone just give u a prizeeeee!!!
Adrienne says
Hi! I need a dairy free white cake recipe but not egg-free. Wondering if anyone has tried making this with egg instead of the aquafaba?
Samina says
This recipe is fantastic. I’m trying them as cupcakes today, but I have way too much batter. Can I freeze the leftover cupcakes after baking and without frosting?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I’m not sure as I haven’t even tested this as cupcakes at all but I’d love to hear how it goes.
Cynthia says
I’ve tried making this recipe multiple times and the cake looks beautiful in the oven, but sinks as soon as it comes out. I white then aquafaba thoroughly but I feel like every cake I use it in has a dense, almost “gummy” mouthhfeel. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Just venting I guess 😩
Kenani says
I’m wondering what you did for frosting…did I miss that somewhere?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I use store bought white frosting, the cheap shelf stable kind that comes in a tub. Most brands are vegan. I don’t have patience to make my own frosting, it seems 🙂
Ross says
I baked the cake once, and the flavor was wonderful but the cake was very dense and wet. Thinking that I must have done something wrong given the detail of the post and other commenters, I tried making it again but had similar results.
My ingredients are fresh, I’m using cake flour, tried whipping the aquafaba to peaks, I’m not at elevation, ingredients are at room temperature, but it still ended up very dense. I would love to figure this out since I enjoy the flavor. Any thoughts?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Ross, I wish I could be in the kitchen and see you make it because I’m not really sure what went wrong. One thing IS for sure, though, this cake is rather finicky, and I’m sorry it is giving you trouble. Is it possible that you live somewhere with a very humid climate? Can you share what brand of soy milk you are using? Anything else you can note about your ingredients and method and I will try my best to hypothesize about the source of the issue.
Scott says
I had a very similar experience! I read the instructions carefully and thought I followed them exactly. I haven’t given up on this recipe as I believe it can work, but I’m not quite sure what to change. Let me know if you come up with any solutions! Thank you!
Margaret Hardy says
I so admired the detail in your recipe, and your warnings, right where they were needed, against possible shortcuts I might have been tempted to make. Also, the fact that you tested it 14 times, so you really knew what you were talking about. This was the best-presented online recipe I’ve ever encountered. My own purpose was to make a cake that would serve clients at our homeless prevention center, some of whom are dairy free, egg free or diabetic. The cake was to stand in for the cheesecake that everyone else got. I used monkfruit instead of sugar (glycemic index of zero), and lemon extract instead of butter flavor (to overcome any possible taste problems with the monkfruit.) I served a single layer, no icing, cut in cheesecake-looking wedges. I offered monkfruit-sweetened blueberry topping with the cake & the cheesecake. My cake was a great success. People with no dietary issues loved it, as well as the folks whose needs it served. And thanks for the reminder about weights, instead of volume; I hope no one else did it wrong based on my comment. I know weighing ingredients is the correct method for baking, but, I didn’t have a scale on the day of baking so will get one for next time. Measuring liquid by weight will be new and interesting. Thanks so much for this recipe. I will be back to your site!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Margaret, I’m thrilled to hear about your positive result! And it’s great to know that the cake was liked when made with monkfruit instead of sugar. Very interesting! Thanks for coming back to detail your experience!
Shyam says
Hi I tried this recipe to the T following everything so correctly still my cake came out gummy and rubbery . What do you think might have happened? I have been looking for a perfect vegan vanilla cake recipe since ages and was so happy to see your recipe . I even watched the video .
Please help and suggest. I really want to try it again . Also is it the Aquafaba that has not been incorporated properly because of which this happened?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi, Shyam, did you use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, and did you make any changes to the mixing method? Without being in the kitchen with you it’s hard for me to say what went wrong. It’s possible the oil wasn’t mixed into the flour for long enough. Aquafaba issues can make it sink and be gummy but wouldn’t usually make it rubbery/chewy so I’m not sure what went wrong there
Margaret Hardy says
Haven’t baked it yet, but I have researched conversion from grams to more familiar measurements:
• 324 grams (approx. 3-1/4 cups)cake flour )
• 36 (scant ¼ cup) grams potato starch
• 324 (approx. 1-3/4 cups) grams sugar substitute
• 138 grams (approx.. 5/8 cup) vegetable oil (not coconut oil)
• 48 grams (4 Tbsp) vegetable shortening
Will comment again once I’ve baked it.
Margaret Hardy says
I’m trying it sugar free, hence the sugar substitute measure; minis monkfruit, one-for-one. Research says sugar is approx 1-2/3 cups..
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Margaret,
Please be advised that I do not recommend using volumetric measurements for this recipe. There are specific reasons that I recommend against this which I discuss in the blog post along with recommending an inexpensive baking scale that can be used. This recipe is incredibly delicate and variations in flour measurement can affect the final outcome. All the same, if you have success baking it by volume I’m sure others would like to hear about it here, but I’m not able to vouch for the results.
Thanks,
Shannon
Divya says
Simple and easy to bake recipe, I tried it last weekend and it was liked by my kids. Keep sharing more recipe.
Natasha says
Hi there, are you the one that rescue dogs?
Kriah says
I am confused about the sifting step since you used a strainer instead of a sifter. If I am using a traditional sifter, do I actively sift into a bowl on a scale, or measure by weight then sift afterwards?
Anita says
Measure then sift.