If you’re planning to do some baking this weekend and are on the lookout for vegan cake recipes, look no further than this egg and dairy-free red velvet cake.

Red velvet cakes are hugely popular desserts eaten in many countries in the world. They are known for their distinctive red color, as well as moist and soft interior. Traditional red velvet cake recipes often use buttermilk and eggs, but it’s more than possible to bake one using only plant-based ingredients.

What is a red velvet cake?

A red velvet cake is a red or crimson colored cake. It contains cocoa powder, but tends to be less chocolatey than traditional chocolate cakes. Many recipes use a cream cheese frosting, and it will sometimes have multiple layers. The term “velvet” refers to the cake’s smooth and soft texture.

How to make a vegan red velvet cake

Baking a dairy and egg-free red velvet cake doesn’t mean sacrificing taste and texture. There are a number of plant-based ingredients that can be used in a variety of vegan baking recipes.

The below recipe, which comes from BOSH!, is republished from the chef duo’s new book MEAT, which features plant-based recipes for traditional animal-heavy dishes. The cake is bright red in appearance, and features layers of cream cheese and a vanilla flavored frosting.

Note: You can make this cake with three tiers for an extra-impressive centrepiece. Simply divide the batter equally between 3 x 20cm cake tins and bake for 30 minutes. When assembling the cake, divide the frosting in thirds between the cake layers. As the cake is so large with three tiers, you can use cake dowels to hold it together.

Here’s how to make it:

If you've followed us for a while you probably know we LOVE cake. In fact, we love cakes so much we started selling them in UK supermarkets! We've done chocolate, lemon, vanilla and carrot, but we haven't done a red velvet, which is why we've given you this scrumptious recipe. This cake is a real showstopper-we first made it three tiers high, with layers of the cream cheese frosting sandwiching it together(and a few toothpicks!).The sponge is soft and bright red in colour with a super creamy vanilla frosting: everyone will love it!

5 from 1 vote

Servings

Ingredients

For the cake

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
450 ml oat milk
150 g plant-based butter (block), plus extra for greasing
400 g golden caster sugar
500 g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cacao powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2-1 tsp plant-based red food coloring

For the cream cheese frosting

100 g plant-based butter
500 g icing sugar
125 g plant-based cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the top

10 g freeze-dried raspberries or a handful of fresh strawberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C
Grease 2 x 20cm cake tins and line the base and sides with baking parchment
Leave the plant-based butter for the frosting out at room temperature

Prepare the ingredients

Mix together the vinegar and oat milk in a small bowl and set aside until needed
Melt the butter in a small saucepan
Once melted, leave to cool before making the cake

Make the cake batter

Spoon the sugar, flour, baking powder, cacao, and salt into a large bowl and mix well until there are no lumps
Pour in the cooled butter and oat milk and mix well until a thick, smooth batter forms

Color the cake batter

Add ½ teaspoon of the red food colouring and mix it through the batter-if the colour is not a really bright and vivid red, add another ½ teaspoon and mix through

Bake the cakes

Divide the batter evenly between 2 lined cake tins and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the cakes are cooked through (a knife inserted into the middle of each cake should come out clean-if not, place back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes)

Make the frosting

Put the room-temperature butter, icing sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla extract in a food processor and blend until smooth

Cool the cakes

Once the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven and leave to sit in the tins for a few minutes, then flip them onto a wire rack and remove the baking parchment
Leave to cool completely until room temperature

Ice the cake

Place one cake half onto a serving plate and top with half of the frosting
Use a spatula to spread the frosting out over the cake evenly
Top with the other cake before adding the rest of the frosting
Use a spatula to spread the frosting out over the cake evenly

For the top

If using freeze-dried raspberries, crush the freeze-dried raspberries and sprinkle around the edges of the top of the cake
If using fresh strawberries, cut the strawberries in half and place the halves around the top of the cake (if using fresh strawberries, serve the cake immediately so they remain in place)

Like this? Check out some more recipes from BOSH! below: