We love birthdays! Celebrate any special occasion with this Vegan Birthday Cake that’s egg-free and covered with a silky vanilla tofu frosting with sprinkles.
Birthday cakes can be stressful! Especially if you’re following a traditional non-vegan recipe that requires technical steps such as whipping egg whites to perfection and gently adding egg yolks to prevent curdling.
You don’t have to worry about any baking skills for this recipe, it’s perfect for beginners and bakes in 25 minutes. The kids will be able to help you with fun steps such as mixing the frosting and decorating the cake. And you’ll end up with a birthday cake that’s stress-free, plant-based, and vegan.
If you’re looking for more vegan recipes for birthdays, you might like our: Vegan Marshmallow Recipe or Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe.
How to make this Vegan Birthday Cake
Here are a few tips that will help you to bake this cake. It’s sure to be a big hit at the next birthday gathering.
Grease and flour the cake tins
Use extra vegan butter to grease the cake tins. Then put a little bit of extra flour into a sieve and sprinkle the flour over the cake tins.
This will prevent the cake from sticking to the tin and will allow it to tip out easily after baking. Remember to let the cake stand for about 10 minutes once it comes out of the oven so that it tips out easily.
Don’t forget the vinegar
Remember science experiments at school involving baking soda and vinegar? Well, that’s the reason why we have a little bit of vinegar in this recipe.
Usually, in non-vegan cakes, the dairy reacts with the baking powder because it’s slightly acidic. This causes air to form in the batter which makes the cake rise. We don’t have dairy in this recipe, so we use vinegar to do the same thing. If you forget to add the vinegar, the cake might not rise as much.
Sift the powdered sugar and add it slowly into the wet ingredients
Powdered sugar is very fine and it can form lumps in the bag. To make sure you don’t have lumps of raw sugar in your frosting, sift it before adding it to the tofu mix. If there are lumps in the sugar, use a spoon to break the lumps and press it through the sieve.
Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and keep the electric beater on low speed. Once all the sugar is added, put the beater on maximum power to create a smooth and homogenous frosting.
Refrigerate the frosting and spread on the cake only once the cake has cooled
It might be tempting to spread the frosting on the cake while it’s still warm. If the cake is warm, there’s the risk that the frosting might melt and drain off the plate. It’s best to allow the cake to cool properly and then go wild and decorate it!
Vegan Birthday Cake
Ingredients
Vegan cake
- 3 cups cake flour, plus extra for cake tins
- 1 T baking powder
- ½ cup vegan butter, plus extra for greasing
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 T pure vanilla extract
- 1 T white vinegar
- 2 cups unsweetened soy milk
Frosting
- 1 cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup light firm silky tofu drained
- 2 T pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
To assemble
- 4 cups frosting, recipe above
- ½ cup mini vegan sprinkles
Instructions
To make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the rack in the center of the oven.
- Coat 2 round 8-inch cake tins with vegan butter. Then lightly sift the extra cake flour over the cake tins to flour them.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder.
- In another bowl, use an electric mixer to whisk the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until creamy. This may take a lot longer if you are whisking by hand.
- Add the vanilla and the vinegar.
- Keep whisking with the electric mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients and the soy milk. Be sure to alternate dry and liquid. Mix until it's smooth.
- Divide the batter between the 2 cake tins and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before tipping it out the cake tin.
To make the frosting
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk the vegan butter, tofu, and vanilla.
- Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time on low speed. Once all the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to maximum and mix until smooth and silky.
- Place the frosting in the refrigerator while the cake is baking and cooling.
To assemble
- Spread the frosting on the first layer and place the second layer on top of it.
- Cover the rest of the cake with the frosting and decorate!