Classic Vanilla Birthday Cake, Vegan + Gluten-Free
We all know the best thing about birthdays…birthday cake!
My birthday is coming up on Monday so I decided to get a jumpstart on celebrating with a super sweet treat. Today’s Vegan and Gluten-Free Classic Birthday Cake is a throwback to my childhood favorite, vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. It may sound boring but I promise it’s anything but! I added strawberry slices around the base for a little color and drizzled cacao nibs on top for some crunch.
The cake’s secret sugar-replacing ingredient is Madhava’s Organic Better Baking Blend. It acts just like sugar but has extra vanilla and (vegan) butter flavoring that helped the cake taste even more cakey (does that make sense? Trust me, it was yummy.)
Since I’m still having a love affair with my mini springform pans I decided to make a small triple layer cake. At this size the cake baked for 25 minutes. For a larger cake you’ll want to add a few minutes of baking time. I had leftover batter so I also made mini cupcakes which baked for 22 minutes.
Usually I default to my favorite coconut whipped cream for frosting but I decided to go all out with a traditional butter+sugar frosting. It’s super sweet, decadent and creamy- perfect for celebrations!
Here’s my frosting recipe:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
- optional- 1-2 tbs non-dairy milk, added as needed to help blend
For the cupcakes I added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to the frosting to make it chocolatey. Ok enough chatting, let’s get to the recipe!
- 2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup Madhava Better Baking Blend (see link above)
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- frosting (see above)
- Preheat oven to 325°. Grease baking dish(es) or muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and Madhava Better Baking Blend.
- In a small bowl, combine coconut oil, applesauce, milk and vanilla. Add contents of small bowl to large and mix thoroughly.
- Spoon batter into baking dish or muffin tin.
- Bake for 20-27 minutes, depending on baking dish (see above for times).
- Let cool completely. Add frosting and enjoy!
ps- Madhava is running a sweepstakes to win a Blendtec blender plus tons of other goodies! Enter to win here.
pps- Does anyone else have birthday coming up? In the comments leave your favorite kind of birthday cake!
What a GORGEOUS cake!! Looks like I may have an idea of what to make for my birthday in July…mmmm….
I hope you do!!
Wow! I love your blog’s new look! It’s so happy and relaxing. And I love the look of this cake, as well. That frosting looks amazing! Thanks so sharing, and I hope you had a lovely birthday!
Thank you so much, Nichole!!
My mom’s bday is in 3 weeks my sisters and I are planning to give her a surprise party and I’m baking a cake and I will try to make this. Can I try a chocolate frosting instead of Vanilla frosting my mom loves chocolate.
Awesome!! I hope you all enjoy it!! 🙂
This looks great, I’m gonna try this soon! Just to be sure, this recipe is for a 3-layer cake right?
Awesome! I made a 3 layer cake using mini 4″ springform pans with this recipe (plus a few cupcakes with the extra batter). You’ll probably want to double the recipe to make a regular size 3 layer cake! 🙂
I made this cake using just one 8×10 glass pan and the batter would not cook in the center. It might help to include the pans you used in the body of the recipe. I started over and reduced the amount of all the wet ingredients and then used muffins tins instead. That worked.
Bonjour!
This looks wonderful! It’s exactly what I was looking for to help celebrate the birthday of a very, very special friend. Only problem is that I’m in Canada and I cannot seem to find Madhava Better Baking Blend…could you please suggest a substitute?! Thank you so much! 🙂
Yay, I hope your friend love the cake! Coconut sugar or regular sugar is a good substitute and should still make for a great cake!
If I wanted to make a regular sized (8 or 9 inch round) 2-layer cake, would I need to modify the recipe?
Hi Andria,
I used mini 4″ pans so I would double the recipe for a cake that size. Enjoy!! 🙂
I’m from Puerto Rico and I can’t find the Madhava Better Baking Blend anywhere. What could work for this recipe as a substitute for the blend?
Coconut sugar would be a great substitute! 🙂
Your photography is beautiful! What kind of DSLR do you use? I have to try this cake for my next birthday 🙂
Thanks so much! These photos were taken with a Nikon D5000. I hope you love the cake!
This looks amazing! What ingredient causes it to rise? I am looking for a fluffy cake and hoping this fits the bill!
The baking soda and powder fluff it up!
Hii! This looks delish!! I will make this for my son’s first birthday. I wonder can I use honey instead of sugar??? ??
I made this on Friday but made two 10inch cakes by doubling the recipe. I baked it for about 30 minutes but it was a little undercooked, probably could have done with longer but still tasted so good 🙂 Mine had a sort of Apple Pie after taste which was different in a good way
I’m glad it worked out!!
So pretty! What flour blend did you use for this? I have Bob’s Red Mill GF All-Purpose on hand, but have heard mixed reviews on it in cake. My birthday is coming up a week from today, and I’m CRAVING a good vanilla cake with some raspberries and chocolate! I’m also celebrating one year without gluten or eggs!
That’s the kind of flour I used! Happy birthday!!
Great recipe! Looks beautiful. Going to make it soon!
Where did you get the vegan powdered sugar from? I can’t seem to find any not processed with bone char. I’ve been grinding my regular vegan sugar but it always is a bit grainy.
Thanks!,
Michelle
Just made this and it is absolutely delicious!! I didn’t have applesauce so I used canned pumpkin instead and added some pumpkin spice. Thanks for a wonderful easy recipe. Most vegan ones I found called for something unusual like potato starch which I didn’t have or aquafaba which I can’t have so it was great to find an easy one!
That’s great to know that the swap worked!
5 stars for sure!