35+ BEST Vegan Cake Recipes (For All Eaters!!) (2024)

Over 35 amazing vegan cake recipes for all occasions! From birthdays, graduations, weddings, holidays and more, these vegan cakes are secretly eggless, dairy free, and some even gluten free! From classic vegan vanilla cake and vegan chocolate cake to fun cakes like vegan chocolate peanut butter cake and vegan Oreo cake!

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Vegan cakes for all occasions: birthdays, graduations, weddings, holidays, and more!
What is vegan cake made of?
What makes a vegan cake moist?
What vegan frosting should I use for a vegan cake?
Do vegan cakes taste good?
The Best Vegan Cake Recipes:
Perfect Vegan Birthday Cake Recipes:
Special Occasion Cake Ideas:
Vegan Christmas Cakes:
Gluten Free Vegan Cake Recipes:

Vegan cakes for all occasions: birthdays, graduations, weddings, holidays, and more!

Making cakes is one of my absolute favorite things to do. From layer cakes to sheet cakes, and everything in between. Cakes are just the best (and it’s my favorite week on the Great British Bake Off!).

So today we’re talking about thebest vegan cakes. Seriously, these are the absolute best recipes around. And trust me, don’t be intimidated if this is your first time making a cake, vegan or not! Cakes are actually super fun to make, even layer cakes; plus vegan cakes are even easier than regular!

We’ve collected a few of our absolute favorite vegan cake recipes that are on the blog, and guess what?! All of these are dairy free, soy free, easily made refined sugar free, and have options for nut free and gluten free.

These cakes are perfect for birthdays, holidays, graduations, celebrations of any kind, and even a wedding cake (you know I’m using that recipe for my own wedding!). Let’s go over some vegan cake basics, and then we’ll share our faves!

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What is vegan cake made of?

If you’re new to vegan baking then you must know, first and foremost, that vegan cakes are made without dairy, without eggs, and without any animal products whatsoever. This also includes some granulated sugars, asnot all granulated sugars in the U.S. are vegan-friendly(however, Florida Crystals sugar is, which is what I typically use!).

So what are vegan cake recipes made of then? What goes into vegan cake batters that still helps them to rise just like their more conventional counterparts?

A typical vegan cake batter consists of:

Flour (could be all purpose flour or gluten-free flour)
Sugar (again, make sure that it is vegan)
Dairy free vegan butter or oil (such as coconut oil, or a neutral cooking oil)
Applesauce or flax eggs (sometimes pumpkin puree, aquafaba, etc., depending on the type of cake!)
Dairy free milk (this could be soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, etc.!)
Apple cider vinegar (this sounds strange, but it’s to help make a dairy free “buttermilk” that will also help our vegan cakes to rise!)
Flavor enhancers (think vanilla extract, cocoa powder, peanut butter, cookie butter, lemon, blueberry, etc!)
Leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda!)

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The best part about vegan cakes? Everyone can eat them, especially if they are gluten free vegan cakes.Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, or a regular eater, these vegan cake recipes taste just like the classics (or better!) so that everyone will enjoy!

What makes a vegan cake moist?

I honestly feel like vegan cakes are much easier to keep moist than regular cakes- maybe I’m biased, but applesauce and vegan butter do such a wonderful job! It might sound peculiar to use applesauce (or any fruit) in a cake recipe, but trust me: applesauce, you will not taste! This essentially replaces eggs/egg yolks from a traditional cake recipe.

Vegan butter is the second ingredient, but of course, any fat will help keep a cake moist. For our vegan chocolate cake, though it’s oil free, we’re using a decent amount of both applesauce and dairy free yogurt to replace the butter in the batter.

What vegan frosting should I use for a vegan cake?

We just love making eggless and dairy free cakes around here, so of course, we have a ton of dairy free vegan frosting recommendations as well.

Our classicvegan vanilla buttercreamandvegan chocolate buttercreamare a great first start. They’re super easy to make for beginning cake bakers and taste absolutely amazing.

If you’re looking for something a bit more fun, we have a delicious dairy free cream cheese frosting that’s paired with our banana cake below, and a wonderful vegan Swiss meringue frosting that we use for our vegan Chiffon cake. And for people that want to go the extra mile, we also give a recipe for a vegan white chocolate buttercream that’s just absolutely heavenly- used on our vegan ginger cake!

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For those who want something super super easy- like store bought frosting- there are wonderful brands that offer completely vegan and dairy free frosting.Simple Millsis our favorite for vanilla and chocolate canned frostings.

In terms of vegan frosting ingredients, you’ll find that every frosting recipe is based with vegan butter and powdered sugar or powdered coconut sugar. We recommendFlora Plant Butterfor our go-to vegan butter. It tastes just like regular butter, making it a great substitute if you’re making these cakes for anyone who isn’t entirely dairy free.

In terms of powdered sugar, this is a bit trickier. Some brands are partially vegan (meaning that part of their inventory is vegan while another part is not), and others are entirely vegan.Domino sugar,for instance, offers powdered sugar that’s vegan-friendly in the Northeast while not in other parts of the United States.

Do vegan cakes taste good?

You might have stumbled onto this post as a first time vegan cake baker (or even a first time cake baker in general!). One thing that I really love about the following recipes is that if you’re accustomed to the taste of more traditional cakes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. After one bite of any of these cakes, you’d never know that they’re vegan, dairy free, and even refined sugar free and gluten free if you’d like that! The only way you’d know is if you’re the one baking the cake 😉

You’ll never miss the lack of eggs and dairy in these vegan cake recipes.

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The Best Vegan Cake Recipes:

The Best Vegan Vanilla Cake

The ultimate vegan vanilla cake that’s incredibly fluffy, moist, and decadently sweet- yet, you’d never know it’s vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and healthier! Just 9 ingredients for the perfect vegan cake for any birthday, graduation, wedding, or holiday!

Best Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe (Gluten Free Option)

Absolutely decadent and irresistibly moist vegan chocolate cake layered with an undetectably vegan chocolate buttercream frosting! This is the best vegan chocolate cake you’ll ever make that everyone will love!

Super Moist Vegan Coconut Cake (Gluten Free Option)

This is truly the best vegan coconut cake I’ve ever had! So moist and fluffy, and full of fresh coconut and vanilla with a dairy free coconut cream cheese frosting that just sets this coconut cake apart from the rest!

Best Ever Vegan Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Thisrich and velvety vegan red velvet cake with dairy free cream cheese frosting is the ultimate vegan cake recipe! The perfect balance of cocoa and sweetness with a slight tang, this red velvet cake will be your favorite, vegan or not! Naturally dairy free and gluten free!

Easy Strawberry Vanilla Chiffon Cake Recipe (Eggless)

This strawberry vanilla chiffon cake is THE chiffon cake to make! The most delicate and moist fluffy eggless sponge cake full of sweet vanilla notes, and layered with an irresistible homemade vegan Swiss meringue buttercream, this chiffon layer cake is perfect for any occasion and all eaters!

Easy Vegan Zebra Cake (Vegan Marble Cake)

You won’t believe this vegan zebra cake is entirely eggless, dairy free and easily made gluten free! With a super rich and moist chocolate cake swirled with tender and fluffy vanilla cake in an easy zebra pattern (tutorial included!), this incredible marbled zebra cake is an absolute showstopper and overall crowd pleaser!

The Best Vegan Banana Cake Ever (Super Moist!)

This is truly the ultimate vegan banana cake recipe that doesn’t even taste vegan nor dairy free! With a super moist and rich fluffy banana cake that’s slightly spiced with cinnamon and a delicious dairy free cream cheese frosting, this will be your favorite vegan cake recipe ever!

Perfect Vegan Birthday Cake Recipes:

Best Vegan Birthday Cake (Vegan Yellow Cake!)

This is the ultimate vegan birthday cake recipe!! Made with a secretly eggless yellow cake and topped with a decadent dairy free chocolate buttercream, this vegan birthday cake tastes just like the classic yellow cake mix! Make it gluten free as needed!

The ULTIMATE Vegan Funfetti Cake

You won’t believe how amazing this vegan funfetti cake is!! Super moist, tender, and “buttery” sweet, full of rainbow sprinkles, and secretly vegan, eggless, and dairy free with a gluten free option! Absolutely no one will know this funfetti cake is vegan!

How to make Harry Potter’s Birthday Cake (Vegan Harry Potter Cake)

Learn step by step how to make the best Harry Potter cake, just like the movie! This unbelievably rich and decanted chocolate cake with caramel sauce (or toffee!) is so easy to make, and is perfect for any Harry Potter fan in your life! Just like Hagrid’s birthday cake to Harry on his 11th birthday, this vegan Harry Potter Birthday cake is simple and easy to make, yet so delicious and loved by all eaters!

Easy Vegan Mini Cakes Recipe (Secretly Vegan & Gluten Free!)

This easy mini cake recipe is so much fun to make! And guess what? Each mini cake has two beautifully baked cake layers and decorated just like a regular cake- only these mini cakes are just 4″ and the perfect tiny treat! With red velvet, pistachio, Funfetti, lemon, or vanilla, these small cakes are the perfect petit treat!

Vegan Jack Skellington Cake

This Jack Skellington cake is entirely VEGAN! Made with vegan modeling chocolate and a fudgy rich vegan chocolate cake, this Halloween cake is super fun to make and the perfect Nightmare Before Christmas cake for your Halloween party!

The Ultimate Disney Frozen Cake

This three-layered amazing Frozen cake is inspired by Disney’s Frozen II, and is sure to bring some magic to any family or birthday celebration with homemade Anna, Elsa, and Olaf cake toppers! Follow the step-by-step instructions to make everything from the cake to the vegan fondant for a magically winter cake!

Vegan Sleeping Beauty Cake

If you’re looking for Disney Princess Cake Ideas, look no further! Inspired by Aurora’s 16th Birthday Cake, this vegan version of a Sleeping Beauty Cake made by Fauna tastes like the best tender and moist vanilla cake you’ve ever had, and is so much fun to make!

Vegan Brownie Cookie Dough Cake

This vegan brownie cookie dough cake is the ultimate indulgence!! It’s a brownie chocolate cake layered with vegan cookie dough frosting, and topped with bite-sized cookie dough bites!

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake | Vegan

This deliciously decadent chocolate chip cookie dough cake is stuffed with real cookie dough and baked into a chocolate chip speckled vanilla cake. With layers of cookie dough frosting and chocolate buttercream, it’s the best damn cake you’ve ever tasted. And guess what? It’s naturally vegan, eggless, and dairy free!

Homemade Vegan Wedding Cake Recipe

The ultimate guide and tutorial to how to bake and decorate your own homemade vegan wedding cake! This DIY wedding cake recipe is a step by step tutorial for how to bake, assemble, and decorate up to a four tier cake for any home baker! I’ve even included the exact recipe I used for making a four tiered vegan gluten free wedding cake!

Best Vegan Black Forest Cake (Black Forest Gateau)

Incredibly moist and richvegan black forest cakefilled with fresh sweet cherries and a delicious dairy free whipped cream, and topped with a vegan ganache! Based on the traditional Black Forest gateau (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte), you won’t believe this black forest cake is vegan!

The Ultimate Vegan White Chocolate Cake

The ultimate vegan white chocolate cake recipe that doesn’t taste vegan! It’s entirely dairy free with a fluffy vegan buttercream and easily decorated to be a fun and festive holiday cake!

Secretly Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (Gluten Free)

Super moist vegan chocolate peanut butter cake made with layers of tender and rich chocolate cake between irresistible peanut butter buttercream frosting and decadent chocolate buttercream frosting. No one will know this cake is vegan nor dairy free!

Easy Chocolate Swiss Roll with Strawberry Buttercream (Vegan + Gluten Free!)

This incredibly easy chocolate Swiss roll cake is the perfect show stopping cake! Super moist and rich chocolate sponge cake filled with a strawberry buttercream frosting, and guess what? This is a secretly gluten free and vegan Swiss roll that absolutely no one will be able to detect!

Easy Vegan Pumpkin Roll Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This incredibly elegant and delicious vegan pumpkin roll cake is as amazing as it is easy! With a super moist and soft pumpkin cake rolled between layers of vegan cream cheese frosting, this pumpkin roll cake only needs 6 ingredients and is naturally eggless, dairy free, oil free, and easily gluten free! The perfect Thanksgiving dessert or holiday cake for your table!

Easy Buttercream Flower Cake (How to make buttercream flowers!)

This elegant yet surprisingly easy buttercream flower cake is perfect for all celebrations ! Use your favorite cake recipe and pipe buttercream roses and more in this easy tutorial with video!

Vegan Christmas Yule Log Cake (Bûche De Noël)

This entirely vegan Christmas Yule log cake tastes just like the classic Bûche De Noël, only entirely dairy free, egg free and gluten free! With an easy vegan chocolate sponge, dairy free chocolate hazelnut buttercream, and vegan chocolate ganache, you won’t believe how simple this Yule log is to put together and how delicious it is to eat!

Styling inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction

Vegan Ginger Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

Deliciously moist and sweet vegan ginger cake topped with a secretly vegan white chocolate buttercream frosting! Turn this tender and moist gingerbread cake into a Christmas snow globe cake for a fun holiday showstopper!

Easy Vegan Eggnog Cake (Gluten Free!)

Deliciously creamy gluten free eggnog cake that’s full of holiday flavor! Naturally vegan and dairy free as well, this eggnog cake is perfect for the holidays!

Amazing Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (Ferrero Rocher Cake!)

This is the ultimate vegan chocolate hazelnut cake recipe. It’s made in just one bowl, super easy, and is full of rich, nutty, and buttery sweet notes, like a Ferrero Rocher, layered with a homemade dairy free Nutella buttercream frosting! This is truly the best chocolate hazelnut cake recipe ever!

Unbelievably Vegan S’mores Cake (Gluten Free)

Unbelievably gooey and decadent s’mores cake that you won’t even know if secretly eggless, dairy free, and easily gluten free! Super rich molten chocolate cake with homemade graham cracker filling, decadent chocolate buttercream, and toasted eggless marshmallow fluff! Like having actual s’mores but better!

The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Tree Cake (Video!)

This vegan Christmas cake is the ultimate holiday showstopper. Super fluffy and sweet vegan eggnog cake decorated as with edible gifts underneath an edible Christmas tree! Super fun and festive for the holidays!

Best Ever Vegan Biscoff Cake

This secretly vegan Biscoff cake is the best of both Speculoos cookies and deliciously tender and soft cake. With cookie butter baked throughout the sponge cake layers, crushed Biscoff cookies, and biscoff cookie butter, this cookie butter cake is an absolute showstopper.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cake (Gluten Free)

Super fudgy vegan chocolate peppermint cake with a dairy free vegan vanilla frosting for the easiest holiday cake recipe! Gluten free and dairy free, this fudgy chocolate cake is a hit!

Easy Vanilla Vegan Gluten Free Cake (Oat Flour only!)

The only vanilla vegan gluten free cake recipe you’ll ever need! This super light and tender oat flour cake is full of sweet vanilla and baked to have the perfect crumb texture so that everyone will love this cake, vegan or not!. Topped with a super creamy dairy free buttercream, this vanilla oat flour cake is the perfect treat for all occasions!

Best Ever Vegan Oreo Cake

This vegan Oreo cake is the epitome of decadence: a delicious vegan cake filled with crushed cookies n’ cream, and coated in an easy yet amazing dairy free Oreo buttercream frosting! This will be your favorite Oreo cake, vegan or not!

The Best Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten Free)

This is honestly the best vegan carrot cake I’ve ever had, and it’s a crowd favorite with even non-vegan eaters. Entirely gluten free and topped with a creamy dairy free cream cheese frosting, this easy one bowl carrot cake is soon to be your favorite too!

Easy Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the best vegan lemon cake you’ll ever have! Super tender, moist, easily gluten free, and layered with a dairy free vanilla cream cheese frosting, even non-vegans will love this sweet and moist eggless lemon cake!

Easy Homemade Vegan Strawberry Cake (Gluten Free!)

This easy vegan strawberry cake is PACKED with fresh strawberries and so simple to make (no gelatin and no food dyes!)! Naturally gluten free and dairy free with layers of fresh strawberry buttercream, this will quickly become your favorite vegan cake recipe!

Best Ever Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake (Made with Oat flour!)

This easy vegan gluten free chocolate cake is the ultimate chocolate cake recipe! Super moist, decadent and rich, you won’t believe that this healthier chocolate cake is made from just oat flour, is completely oil free, and naturally eggless, dairy free, and refined sugar free! This chocolate cake recipe is stress-free, minimal ingredients, and downright DELICIOUS!

One Bowl Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake (Gluten Free, Oil Free)

The Best vegan chocolate sheet cake ever! This vegan sheet cake is super rich and decadent yet secretly vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and oil free. Made in just one bowl, you won’t believe how easy and delicious this sheet cake is!

Super Moist Vegan Apple Cake with Cinnamon Caramel Frosting

Super easy vegan apple spice cake topped with a cinnamon buttercream frosting and drizzled in dairy free caramel sauce! This caramel apple cake is full of warming spices for a delicious fall dessert!

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake

Deliciously refreshing and light yet decadent vegan lemon blueberry cake that’s topped with an easy vegan blueberry buttercream frosting! The perfect gluten free vegan cake recipe!

The ULTIMATE Mocha Cake Recipe | Vegan + Gluten Free

If you love coffee and chocolate, then you have to try this deliciously decadent mocha cake! Full of rich cocoa and strong espresso, this mocha cake is super fluffy, tender, downright decadent! And it happens to be naturally vegan, eggless, dairy free, and refined sugar free!

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We hope you just adore these vegan cakes! If you make any of them, be sure toleave a review on the cake’s recipe page, and tag us on social:InstagramandPinterest!