5 years ago today, I started this blog called It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken with my very first (embarrassingly bad) post Simply the Best Tomato Sauce. (Apparently, I was overconfident from day 1)!
Way back then I had no idea that starting this blog would lead me to a complete career change leaving my job as art director to becoming a self-employed full-time blogger. Winning a competition and getting to film a cooking show with Food Network’s celebrity Chef Michael Smith. Writing my first cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan which now has over 150 5-star reviews on Amazon! And appearing on TV, radio, in magazines, on podcasts, and doing public speaking.
It all happened very slowly and gradually, with a lot of very hard work, but when reflecting on the years, it seems like a whirlwind of delicious vegan recipes, 1 million dishwasher loads, over 15,000 comments, almost 500 recipes (with several thousand failed recipe attempts), and a smile every morning as I open my computer to start the day. So, I'm celebrating today, my blogs birthday with a Vegan Confetti Cake!
Not only is it my blogs birthday but it also happens to be pride month, which makes this rainbow coloured cake even more celebratory! Celebrating the love of everyone.
Now to cake. Vegan Confetti Cake is a vanilla cake filled with sprinkles because... CUTE! When first writing this recipe I tried to use my Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe and just stirred in sprinkles. This didn't work too well. The cake was too fluffy and fell apart, and the sprinkles bled into a mess. So I did a lot of experimenting making this vanilla cake a little more dense (in a good way) to lock in those sprinkles, but still keeping it moist and fluffy by folding aquafaba into the batter.
The vegan confetti cake comes out perfectly sweet, incredibly moist, hard to resist delicious, and the dots of colour throughout the cake are just to die for adorable fun. Vegan confetti cake makes for a great birthday party cake or any celebratory occasion. I chose rainbow sprinkles, but you could alternatively choose all one colour of sprinkle, maybe for a gender reveal cake, or any colour combo you like... galaxy cake? The options and fun are endless!
To make Vegan Confetti Cake: in a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt. Now add the plant-based milk, light oil, and vanilla extract and stir to combine. It will make for a very thick batter, almost like cookie dough.
In another large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand beater to combine the aquafaba and cream of tartar until it forms stiff peaks. This will take about 3 to 6 minutes.
Now fold the aquafaba into the batter. The batter is thick and it will take a bit of time to combine the two, so be patient. When the batter is combined you can lastly add the sprinkles. Depending on the kind of sprinkles you have they may bleed, so working quickly, scatter the sprinkles over the surface of the batter and then quickly give it 2 to 4 stirs to combine. It's ok if the sprinkles aren't mixed in perfectly, they will do their thing in the oven, it's more important that they don't bleed.
A note on sprinkles. Not all sprinkles are vegan. They can sometimes include the ingredients confectioner's glaze or shellac, neither of which are vegan as they both come from insects. I found sprinkles at a bulk food store that were accidentally vegan, but you can also order vegan sprinkles online on Amazon, on Etsy, from Sweetapolita, or from Fancy Sprinkles, to name a few place.
Divide the batter evenly among the two pans. Bake for 35 to 42 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make vegan vanilla frosting: In a large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand beater to mix together the vegan butter, vegetable shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Add 1 - 4 tablespoons of plant-based milk as needed to reach desired frosting consistency.
Decorate cakes as desired. I covered the sides of my cake with sprinkles. I did this by placing the cake on a large baking tray (to catch any loose sprinkles), then grabbing handfuls of sprinkles, I lightly pressed them into the frosting on the sides of the cake working my way around and filling in any gaps until it was all covered.
(click stars to vote)
Vegan Confetti Cake
Servings: 8" layer cake
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Ingredients
Vegan Confetti Cake Bowl 1:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup plant-based milk, (such as soy or almond)
- ⅔ cup light oil, (such as canola or vegetable)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Vegan Confetti Cake Bowl 2:
- ¾ cup aquafaba, (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅓ cup vegan sprinkles, (plus more for decoration)
For the Vegan Vanilla Frosting:
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 - 4 tablespoons plant-based milk, (such as soy or almond)
Instructions
To make the vegan confetti cakes:
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease two 8" baking pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt. Now add the plant-based milk, light oil, and vanilla extract and stir to combine. It will make for a very thick batter, almost like cookie dough.
- In another large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand beater to combine the aquafaba and cream of tartar until it forms stiff peaks. This will take about 3 to 6 minutes.
- Now fold the aquafaba into the batter. The batter is thick and it will take a bit of time to combine the two, so be patient. When the batter is combined you can lastly add the sprinkles. Depending on the kind of sprinkles you have they may bleed, so working quickly, scatter the sprinkles over the surface of the batter and then quickly give it 2 to 4 stirs to combine. It’s ok if the sprinkles aren’t mixed in perfectly, they will do their thing in the oven, it’s more important that they don’t bleed.
- Divide the batter evenly among the two pans. Bake for 35 to 42 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make the vegan vanilla frosting:
- In a large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand beater to mix together the vegan butter, vegetable shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Add 1 - 4 tablespoons of plant-based milk as needed to reach desired frosting consistency.
Nutrition
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Mandy says
I’m so excited to try this cake! Does it matter if the aquafaba has salt in it?
Jess @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
It should still be ok, but you could also cut the salt down in the recipe somewhat.
Sarah says
I would love to troubleshoot what I did wrong with this recipe. I thought I followed instructions but it came out doughy, gummy, and way too sweet. Would halfing the sugar in both cake and icing effect them negatively? I was expecting a fluffy cake with a nice crumb like the pictures, but this was so gummy. My knife came out crumb free when checking bake time. It was my first time working with aquafaba but had nice stiff peaks. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you, Sarah! There are a few things that might have contributed to the texture. First, be sure to gently fold in the aquafaba to avoid deflating it, as that could make the cake dense. Also, even if your knife came out clean, it’s possible the cake needed a bit more time to bake—try extending the bake time slightly, and check multiple places when testing for doneness. I also recommend using a toothpick instead of a knife for better testing accuracy. Lastly, halving the sugar may affect the texture, as sugar helps with moisture and structure, so reducing it can make the cake more dense or dry. You may reduce it slightly but I wouldn't recommend half. I hope that helps!
Stacey says
I made this for my husband’s birthday and it’s now his favorite cake ever and mine, too! I especially liked how the frosting came out. Also, I didn’t have the chickpea juice so I substituted applesauce and it came out great!
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
So happy you enjoyed it Stacey!
Joyce Ellis says
This recipe makes a super delicious cake! And it's super easy. I have made this for vegans and non vegans and it's loved by all. A real crowd pleaser for sure.
Connie says
I made this cake recently as a splurge, and OMG it was amazing!! I cut the cake into several slices and froze them so that I could enjoy this cake for a while since I live alone. What a treat! Absolutely delicious. I'll be making this again for sure. Thank you!!
Jess @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Good thinking! Thanks for sharing!
Linda Christensen says
I have 2 of your cookbooks. In one, you have a yellow cake mix which is similar to this recipe except that an addition of tumeric to color the cake is added. When I microwaved in the mug, the cake turned red! Just did a bit of research as this is so puzzling. Found out that if tumeric is combined with baking soda, it has a chemical reaction and it turns red. I could not find any other place to comment, so thought that this was the best place. I love your recipes so much, but this perhaps got by you?? I assume it is safe to eat.
Sam Turnbull @ It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken says
Hi Linda,
Thank you for being a fan! This is very weird, I have never had this occur with this recipe before. Maybe it was different brands of ingredients used that increased the PH? Different varieties of plant-based milk for example will have different PH, as well as other ingredients. I hope that helps solve the problem!
Linda Christensen says
I used an organic tumeric root powder by Starwest Botanicals. Item # 209975-51. It does seem intense. I bet that is it. I was going to try to send a photo because it does look so cool and in my opinion, does not affect the taste. Well, can't figure out how to add a photo, but it is very pink red. Thanks for replying.
Victoria Randles says
The taste is really great but the texture is a bit too dense for me.
Cait says
Made for my vegan best friend. Even the non-vegans loved it! Followed the recipe perfectly and it turned out magic!!! I doubled the icing for a thicker coverage.
THANK YOU <3
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Yay! That's wonderful!
Christine says
Curious about what the aquafaba adds - have not added this to any of your other cake recipes before.
This will be perfect for my granddaughter’s amusement park-themed birthday cake!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
The aquafaba is a great vegan replacer for egg whites and it helps provide structure to baked goods. I hope your granddaughter loves it!
Deryn says
I have yet to try one of your recipes that I don't love! I made cupcakes for my friend's birthday party, and I know she is going to be obsessed!
For cupcakes, I adjusted the cook time to be about 20-25 minutes.
Deryn says
Oh, and I got 24 cupcakes from the recipe!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
That's so great!
Yasmin says
I’ve made this cake for every occasion for the past 4 years as my daughter and I are dairy intolerant… I’ve tried to make other vegan cake recipes but this one never fails me. It’s made with simple ingredients and it doesn’t really matter what order you do things in - both these attributes are important to me as desserts are not my forte! No one believes it’s vegan. My MIL has thinks it’s too sweet but I disagree!!! I’ll be making it for her 4th birthday this weekend and realised I haven’t left any feedback yet!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love it! 🙂
Deanna says
A bit too dense for me. It came out more like a bread than a cake. It was pretty though.
TheGreatCatOverlord says
Yum.
Thank you for this recipe.
Jill Nason says
Thank you for this amazing recipe!!! The first successful vegan cake that I have made (although I'm yet to find sprinkles here in Ireland that don't bleed)
I'm wondering though, how could I make it in to a chocolate cake? How much cocoa do you think? And would it need more sugar?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Sara A says
Love the cake! It's a little dense (not your fluffy/airy type of cake), but turned out great. No one could tell it was vegan.