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    Recipes » Recipes » Baking & Desserts

    Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake

    Last updated - July 14, 2021; Published - March 20, 2018 By Rhian Williams 161 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    A sliced pink strawberry sponge cake with pink strawberry frosting on a green cake stand against a dark brown background

    This Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake is fresh and fruity, full of strawberry flavour and naturally coloured! It's perfect for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, baby showers and bridal showers, and everything in between!

    A gluten-free vegan strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting

    I thought it was time for a Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake - and unlike this Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake, I wanted to make a proper Strawberry Cake. Think moist, fluffy, strawberry-infused sponge slathered in lashings of creamy, strawberry-infused frosting.

    How do you make naturally coloured and naturally flavoured Strawberry Cake?


    How can you bake a cake with a strong strawberry flavour without using an artificial flavouring or strawberry jam?

    I decided to blend up fresh strawberries to create a gorgeous strawberry purée - it's fresh, packed full of natural strawberry flavour, and has the most incredible colour!

    To create a pretty pink colour without food colouring, I used beetroot powder.

    You can buy beetroot powder in local health stores, as well as online.

    If you can't get hold of it, it's not a problem if you leave it out - you'll just end up with a slightly differently coloured cake, but the taste will be the same and still delicious!

    How to make the cake

    Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.

    • Use a food processor, or blender or hand-held stick blender to whizz the strawberries until completely smooth.
    Red strawberry purée
    • Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
    Raw pink gluten-free vegan strawberry cake batter in a bowl
    • Transfer into two 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tins.

    Tip: Line the tins with greased baking paper to make the sponges easier to remove afterwards.

    • Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

    Tip: Transfer onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely before applying the frosting.

    Two round pink gluten-free vegan strawberry cake sponges on a wire rack

    How to make the strawberry frosting

    Another important component of this Strawberry Cake is the frosting - it's thick, rich and creamy, and packed full of strawberry flavour. I did think adding fresh strawberry purée to the frosting would create too much excess liquid, so I decided to use strawberry jam.

    Tip: To make this refined sugar free, use a refined sugar free strawberry jam such as this one.

    • Mix the coconut cream with strawberry jam and use an electric whisk to whip until fluffy.
    Pink vegan strawberry frosting
    • Apply the frosting to the cake using a palette knife for frosting.
    A pink gluten-free vegan strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting with a slice cut

    How to decorate

    • Fresh berries: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc.
    • Freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries.
    • Fresh mint.

    How long does this keep for?

    This Strawberry Cake tastes best eaten on the day it's made, but it keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

    Substitutions you can make

    • You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
    • You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
    • You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
    • You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
    • For a refined sugar free version, use a refined sugar free strawberry jam.
    • For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds.
    • You can use plain flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
    • You can replace the strawberries with blueberries, peaches or mango.
    • You can use fresh or frozen strawberries - just make sure to defrost frozen ones and get rid of any excess water.
    A slice of pink gluten-free vegan strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting

    More gluten-free vegan cake recipes

    • Tropical Carrot Cake
    • Chocolate Truffle Cake
    • Tropical Carrot Cake
    • Lemon Blueberry Cake
    • Cherry Bakewell Cake
    • Chocolate Cake
    • Black Forest Cake
    • Red Velvet Cake
    • Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
    • Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
    • Lemon Pound Cake

    If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

    A sliced pink strawberry sponge layer cake with pink strawberry frosting

    Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake

    This Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake is fresh and fruity, full of strawberry flavour and naturally coloured!
    4.42 from 124 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: gluten-free strawberry cake, gluten-free vegan cake, vegan strawberry cake
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 45 minutes
    Servings: 8
    Calories: 414kcal
    Author: Rhian Williams

    Ingredients

    For the cake:

    • 300 g (10.5 oz) fresh strawberries , hulled
    • 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
    • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
    • 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • Pinch salt
    • 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
    • 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
    • 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
    • ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
    • ½ teaspoon beetroot powder (optional - to add red colour)

    For the frosting:

    • 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk **
    • Pinch beetroot powder (optional - to add red colour)
    • 3 tablespoons strawberry jam (ensure refined sugar free if necessary)

    Instructions

    For the cake:

    • Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
    • Use a food processor, blender or hand-held stick blender to whizz the strawberries until completely smooth - you should end up with around 250ml (1 cup) strawberry purée.
    • Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
    • Once melted, add the strawberry purée to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
    • Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (and beetroot powder if using).
    • Mix well, adding a tiny splash of any plant-based milk if it's looking too dry.
    • Transfer mixture between two small greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins).
    • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
    • Once out the oven, immediately remove cakes from baking tins and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

    For the frosting:

    • You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
    • Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
    • Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl.
    • Add the beetroot powder (if using).
    • Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
    • Add the strawberry jam and carefully mix it in.

    To decorate:

    • Once the sponges have cooled completely, place one sponge on a large plate or cake stand, and cover with half of the frosting.
    • Place other sponge on top and use the remaining frosting to cover the top.
    • Best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.

    Notes

    *You can alternatively use almond flour.
    **You can alternatively use 200g (7oz) coconut yogurt.
    You can replace the strawberries with blueberries, peaches or mango.
    You can use fresh or frozen strawberries - just make sure to defrost frozen ones and get rid of any excess water.
    Nutrition Facts
    Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cake
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 414 Calories from Fat 252
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 28g43%
    Saturated Fat 17g85%
    Sodium 46mg2%
    Potassium 243mg7%
    Carbohydrates 39g13%
    Fiber 5g20%
    Sugar 19g21%
    Protein 7g14%
    Vitamin C 25mg30%
    Calcium 100mg10%
    Iron 3mg17%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
    Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

    Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

    « Gluten-Free Vegan Tiramisu
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    Comments

    1. Pamela

      October 01, 2020 at 7:31 am

      Hello do you know how many cups of cake batter this recipe makes? I'm working on a project and need six cups of batter.

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        October 01, 2020 at 7:14 pm

        I don't know, sorry!

    2. Scott

      October 10, 2020 at 11:32 am

      45 minutes on and it’s still not cooked inside? I think the 15 minute cook time must be a typo 🤷‍♂️ . The coconut milk filling/ icing is far from nice, and not something most would consider as a good alternative to other options.

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        October 10, 2020 at 11:49 am

        What type of gluten-free flour did you use? Did you make any substitutions?

      • Elizabeth J Eckhardt

        January 10, 2021 at 6:33 am

        I used coconut flour. The batter was very crumbly, so i added some soymilk, it still didn't turn into a smooth batter, so i wasn't sure if it was supposed to have that texture, and went ahead and baked it. It remained crumbly after cooking. Can you think of where I could have gone wrong?

      • Rhian Williams

        January 10, 2021 at 3:03 pm

        Ah it'll be because you used coconut flour - you need to use a shop-bought gluten-free flour mix, rather than any flour that happens to be gluten-free. I recommend Dove's Farm gluten-free flour or Bob's Red Mill 1:1. You can also use white rice flour plus 2 tablespoons tapioca flour. Hope that helps!

    3. Jennifer

      February 08, 2021 at 4:50 am

      If you need a gluten-free, dairy-free recipe, but not necessarily vegan, could you add an egg to this recipe? Or even flax seed egg replacement? Would that make the batter too runny?

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        February 08, 2021 at 4:02 pm

        You don't need a flaxseed egg replacement, this recipe holds together very well without eggs or any egg replacements. But I think you can add a normal egg if you wish...though I haven't tested it this way so can't guarantee results. Would love to hear how you get on if you try it!

    4. Tia

      March 17, 2021 at 1:45 am

      Can I substitute white whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose?

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        March 17, 2021 at 3:53 pm

        Yes!

    5. Esther

      March 24, 2021 at 5:24 pm

      Looks like my granddaughter will love this cake for her birthday! Can the frosting be frozen ahead of time, so I can frost when I get to her home? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Rhian Williams

        March 25, 2021 at 12:23 am

        Thank you so much! Yes the frosting should be ok to freeze ahead of time. Would love to hear how you get on!

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    Photo of Rhian Williams from Rhian's Recipes

    Hi, I'm Rhian! I make easy, undetectably vegan + gluten-free recipes, including healthy comfort food and naturally sweetened desserts using plant-based ingredients.

    Learn more.

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