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:Â 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:Â 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:Â 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:Â 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
Mariah says
Hello the cake looks lovely.
But im a vit worried to try it, you mentioned that its quite delicate. Will ig hold up two tires and fondont?
Thanks
Lorerz says
Hey, I know that this is an old comment. But I made my cake two tires and put fondant on it and it turned out great.
Kate says
Hi there,
This recipe looks fantastic and I would love to try it for my son’s birthday as two of his friends are allergic to eggs. I have a couple of questions:
1. My son wants an ice cream cake… do you think this cake would work ok if it is frozen with a layer of ice cream in the middle.?
2. Do you have any recommendations on adjustments for baking this at high altitude as I live in the mountains.
3. If I wanted this to have a vanilla flavor do you have any recommendations adjusting the recipe to have a slight vanilla flavor?
Tim Setchfield-Smith says
After trying to find “cake flour” here in NZ. I have found bleached flour is banned here due to the process of bleaching creates Alloxan. Alloxan causes diabetes.
Is there any other option, for people outside the USA?
kate says
remove 2 tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Amy Rogers says
I just made this using oat milk, since that’s what I had on hand. I have a home-based baking business and am decidedly not vegan, but I have several customers needing vegan treats. Bottom line is that this cake is insanely delicious, and made every member of the family(all non-vegans) very happy. It is moist and light, and not pasty the way the America’s Test Kitchen vegan yellow cake was(my previous standard). My one caveat is that it is incredibly fragile, and turning it upside down to cool made it crack, because of the slight dome on top. The layers that I cooled right-side-up did very well. I will try again with soy milk to see if it has a bit more structure.
Lauren says
For those who don’t have a scale and bake with the U.S. cups, here is my conversion. I have been converting recipes for years and they are always accurate IF ingredients are measured with the fluff-scoop-level method. Use this at your own risk. Happy baking!
Aquafaba mixture
6 tbsp aquafaba
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Wet ingredients
2 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp imitation butter flavoring
Dry ingredients
3.25 cups cake flour
1.5 cups + 1 tbsp white sugar
3 tbsp + 2 tsp potato starch
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
Fats
0.5 cup vegetable oil
0.23 cup shortening (just a bit less than .25 cup)
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thanks for sharing your conversions Lauren. I highly, highly recommend that people use a scale to make this cake if at all possible.
Nike says
Hi!
I’m very interested in trying this recipe.
Are you supposed to not really whip the aquafaba at all? In the video I saw it was hand-whisked and no peaks at all- also I saw you mentioned to only use the foamy part to not get wet streaks in the cake, could you explain this entire aquafaba part again to me 🙂
Also I wonder if this is similar to a genoise cake?
Many vegan sponge cake recipes I see use a big amount of flour and baking powder, vinegar, etc. to rise and are often just normal cake instead of a sponge with tiny pores. I am looking for a very light cake :/
Rita says
This is by far the best vegan white cake I’ve ever made. I’ve gotten so many compliments on it when making it for birthdays. I would like to make a tiered cake with it. Does it freeze well? Would it have enough structure for a 3-tiered cake?
Rox says
I actually baked this cake a year ago for friend who is vegan and she CRIED because it was so good! She is a very experienced vegan cook and baker herself, and she said your recipe was better than the Erin Makenna cake she had ordered the previous year!! Needless to say I am making this cake again for her birthday this weekend.
Mary says
I like everything about making this cake except having the gram conversions
Do you have those that are grams converted to cups and tablespoons?
Thank you
morgan says
When I made this cake I guess I didn’t notice the note about not being able to use regular flour instead of cake flour so of course I just used all purpose and I had no issues with the cake? Also, in regards to some of the other comments, I doubled this recipe and baked it in a sheet pan, also had no issues there. This cake is absolutely delicious and I received a lot of compliments on it.
Lillie Clark says
My son is allergic to egg. This is the best birthday cake recipe. I followed the recipe very closely…turned out perfect. All the added notes were very helpful! Frosted it with Wilton’s buttercream frosting! Shannon, you are a genius! 🎂
Ernest says
Wow! First time I have ever attempted to make a cake and the end result received rave reviews. I will say that I had to make do with what I had around the house, so I used a bundt pan, which meant a longer cooking time. I also had to wing it on the measurements since I don’t have a scale. Not that either of these are a recommendation because I am sure I just got lucky.
Victoria Nagy says
Really good recipe! The cake turned out soft, fluffy and delicious. Me and my boyfriend are not vegan, we just try to encorporate more plant-based food in our diet. We loved this cake! Thank you for sharing!
Reema Nayak says
Hi, planning to make the cake soon but problem is cake flour is not available in Uk, please guide how to make cake flour at home or can I replace any other flour?
morgan says
I made this with all purpose flour and it worked out just fine!
Ashley says
Hi do you think this recipe could be used for cupcakes?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I’m afraid it’s a bit too delicate for cupcakes and doesn’t dome well.
Thursday says
Hello! I’m excited to try this recipe, but I would like to know if you think it would be okay with some six inch cake pans instead of the nine inch ones? The recipe and process seem very specific and I don’t want to mess it up.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I think you would want to use less of the batter if you’re going to use smaller cake pans. I’m still not sure how it would turn out but I definitely wouldn’t put the full amount of batter in because I think it would brown on the outside before cooking through.
Ariel L says
Most white sugars aren’t vegan. Bone char is used in the production process.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Thanks Ariel I tend to trust that my readers can make their own informed decision about this.
Marcelle Warner says
In Australia bone char is not used to make sugar 🙂
Kenafly says
Hi. I made this cake yesterday in the UK. It turned out perfect! Thanks for the recipe.
Sadly, cake flour is not easy to find here so I made my own following an online recipe I got. I didn’t add the butter flavouring either. The aquafaba I used was whipped to stiff peaks and I used a standard mixer instead a fork to stir and mix the dough thorough out the whole process. I baked the cake at 180 ° C, fan-operated oven for 30 minutes. I had to round up many of the measurements as my scales is not digital and it was hard to measure the exact amounts.
Thank you so much, your recipe was a perfect present for my vegan household!
Cookin' in Seattle says
Hi, I absolutely LOVE this cake recipe which is hands down the best vegan cake recipe I’ve ever tried (and I’ve tried a numerous ones online). I wanted to add OREO bits in the batter for use in an OREO cake, but wondering if that might affect how it bakes (seeing as how precisely this recipe was developed). I was planning to use fairly small (but not dust) OREO bits to keep a bit of crunchiness. Anyway, I’ll give it a try regardless and report back with the results!
Cookin' in Seattle says
So I tried this exactly as written (including this time, with the imitation vanilla and fake butter extract, and using refined/pressed/organic canola oil, spectrum vegetable shortening, earth balance soy vegan butter, and Silk unsweetened and no vanilla soy milk) and adding a bunch of OREO bits and it turned out great. Same great texture and flavor was good too.
I will say that the OREO bits may have affected the rising of the cake even if not the texture as the two cakes seemed a bit on the short side so I ended up baking another cake and making it a 3-layer, which ended up looking fantastic. The OREO cake was a huge hit, in no small part due to this incredible cake recipe, so thank you again.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Woohoo! Thanks for reporting back! That sounds delicious, I may have to try making one!
Ellie McCoy says
This is the BEST vegan cake recipe I’ve made!!! THANK YOU
Aditi says
From where to buy all these ingredients in India few things we don’t get here so what should be used instead of that.
Filipa says
Hi. Can I replace potato starch with corn start haha?
And I don’t have access to cake flour nor butter flavor extract/drops (which I’m guessing I can most probably omit..?). I read in many comments that people have had successful results with all purpose flour (you can replace 2 TBSP with corn flour to get cake flour..). Also I’m allergic to chickpeas so I’ll try the aquafaba with white bean liquid.. And I don’t have vegan butter so maybe margarine would work..?
Taylor says
Hello,
Could you bake it in a square cake pan?
Thank you very much, the cake looks wonderful ^-^
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
It’s pretty sensitive to changes in the baking method, but let us know if you give that a try!
Taylor says
Ok, thank you very much. I will give it a try.
I really love vegan baking, and your post was so wonderful in explaining the ingredients and techniques that will make vegan desserts turn out just as good as regular ones. ^-^ I was wondering though, what would happen if I didn’t add the aquafaba? Would the cake still turn out ok? I’m asking because I’ve tried to make it foamy before for a cupcake recipe and unfortunately it didn’t work, so I was basically just adding plain aquafaba to it. Thank you very much if you can help.
Tenna says
I’ve made this twice, and following the directions accurately. I’ll make it again and again because it’s just soooo good and turned out well for both times. It definitely does taste like the cake you’d get from a nice bakery and I’ve missed that taste from before I became vegan. Love how it’s savory and not overly sweet. I had this saved in my recipe book in the kitchen but came back to see if you had a chocolate version yet ðŸ˜
Elisa says
Question. I’m making this tomorrow and wondering about the rationale behind not using grease and flour on the cake pans? I’m using brand new stainless steel pans and super afraid to not grease them. Thank you!
Lauren says
It’s similar to why people don’t grease the pan when they make angel food cake. The cake doesn’t have leavening from eggs or the gluten structure from all purpose flour so it needs to use the friction of the pan to rise properly. It won’t get stuck, don’t worry. Also be sure to cool it upside down, it prevents collapse!
Martha says
I made this cake and this was the BEST cake Vegan or not that I have EVER had
I followed the direction and recommend anyone to try this recipe
Cindy M. Ashline says
Hi, Can you please list ingredients in terms of cups, teaspoons and tablespoons rather than just grams? I don’t have these types of measuring devices. Your vegan cakes sound really good and I would love to make the white cake recipe with the vanilla frosting.
Thank you so much.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Cindy, I’m so sorry, but volumetric measurements just don’t work well for this cake, they’re not precise enough. There is a link to a super cheap ($10) baking scale above the recipe if you’re interested in measuring in grams! It’s also flat and takes up no space at all in a kitchen drawer!
Andrea E says
I am a super experienced baker and this is hands down the worst cake I’ve ever made. I followed all the tips and instructions to a T. What doesn’t make sense is the claim that if you mix the fats with the dry ingredients, that prevents gluten from forming. If that is so, why do you need low-gluten flour? Plus, gluten is already there, it’s the mixing that creates gluten bonds, which are absolutely necessary for rising and structure. The cake didn’t really rise and the texture is gross. (and my baking powder is very fresh, everything was room temp, etc.) Luckily I have time to make a different cake before the party it’s for. Just want to mention I’m 15 years vegan, so I know vegan cakes can turn out great.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
The different protein and starch content of cake flour affect the texture, not only the gluten specifically. I’m sorry that something went wrong for you. Without being there in the kitchen or having more info, I can’t say what the issue might have been, but it’s not normal for this recipe to have the cake fail to rise, and that almost certainly cause the textural issue you’re describing. Happy baking next time!
Sonya says
Wow…how is it that All the other bakers are having excellent results and you are not?! Seems there is a baker error happening instead of a recipe error…just saying…I will be baking this cake tomorrow. I am a pretty experienced baker as well. If there is a problem, I am assuming that it will be because of me.
NotYrAvgCupcake says
You being a vegan for 15 years …. meaning, you’ve been mostly EATING vegan cakes for 15 years … hardly makes you a vegan BAKING EXPERT. If you were, you’d research reverse creaming method and understand it, instead of coming onto this page and assuming it makes no sense because you don’t agree with it. Perhaps you should read the pages and pages of reviews of this cake……that might be the only way you’ll realize that the cake coming out incorrectly is quite obviously YOUR error.
Kara Lu says
I made this cake for my vegan roommate’s birthday and she LOVED it! She said it reminded her of cakes she used to have as a kid before she went vegan. I’ve made it a couple of times but my scale is not too accurate and the texture comes out a bit different every time- is it possible to maybe provide a recipe with the volume measurements equivalents instead of in grams?
Liz says
Looking forward to making this for my sweet boy’s first birthday (we’re avoiding/limiting dairy for him)! Going to try using almond extract in place of the butter flavor! Thanks in advance for all of your diligent work perfecting this recipe – I’ll be sure to report back!
Anastasia says
Thank you for all the comments! Now I feel like I can master the cake baking lol.