Here’s How You Can Make The Perfect Vegan Birthday Cake

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Everyone deserves a birthday cake. Dietary restrictions shouldn’t stop you from having the cake of your dreams, or any cake for that matter. When your friends or family try and take the easy way out with a fruit platter, give them a friendly reminder that vegan cakes aren’t as complex as they might seem. Here’s how to go about a vegan birthday cake without getting stressed.

Pantry Essentials

Before you start baking anything, make sure you stock up on vegan baking essentials. We’re talking about almond or coconut milk, coconut oil, organic cane sugar or organic coconut sugar, rolled oats, pumpkin puree and maybe your favorite vegan chocolate. All-purpose flour is an approved vegan baking ingredient if you want to make life easier and more affordable for yourself.

The Cake

In the world of health-geared cakes, you’ll want to have coconut flour and brown rice flour on hand. Eggs are the biggest factor to consider when you’re baking a vegan cake. When you need a vegan binder — something to keep your batter together in place of eggs — to give your cake moisture, volume and structure, you can use substitutes like chia seeds, tofu, mashed banana, applesauce or arrowroot powder to give your cake the perfect texture. (Here’s a little vegan cake inspiration that’ll give you no excuses for the next special occasion.)

The Icing

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Never let dairy stop you from making a batch of decadent icing for your cake. A cake isn’t a cake without icing. If you’re stocking up on frosting essentials, it’s always safe to have coconut oil, vegan butter, powdered sugar and non-dairy milk on hand. Here’s a recipe for a vegan buttercream frosting that’s made with dairy-free butter, powdered sugar, vanilla coconut milk and vanilla extract. You can also make a vegan buttercream with coconut oil instead.

If you’re going for something in the red velvet or carrot cake family, try this recipe for vegan cream cheese frosting, which uses a tofu cream cheese and vegan butter. If you’re more of a chocolate fan, this vegan chocolate frosting is rich and creamy enough to stand up to any cake.

The Toppings

The easiest part about baking a vegan cake is choosing the toppings. Go crazy with as much fruit as you want. Sprinkle toasted coconut or vegan chocolate chips. When it comes time to write a message on a birthday cake, the colored frosting you’ll find in the grocery store usually doesn’t contain any dairy. If it does, you can always add melted vegan chocolate into a pastry bag and write your message that way.

Once you have the vegan baking essentials in your pantry, there’s no reason you should be nervous when it comes time to bake a dairy-free cake. Don’t let the vegan in your life settle for a fruit platter!

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