Get all our best help for food allergy life in the new Milk Allergy Mom Membership!
Welcome to Milk Allergy Mom! If you’re looking for the best dairy-free and egg-free vanilla cake, you’re in the right place!
I’m an 11-year anaphylaxis food allergy mom, and it’s an honor to share this simple, tasty recipe with so many food allergy families around world, every day.
When my son turned one, having this recipe was a God-send and gave me one less thing to worry about on that special day. Eleven years later, it’s still our go-to recipe every time we need cake.
This is a basic ingredient recipe that is also dairy and egg free! It’s delicious and moist and tastes like “normal” cake. Promise!
It can be made soy-free if you use the right oil and make your own frosting with soy-free butter.
And some are even making it wheat-free with their favorite flours.
Be sure to check out how Delia Creates used our vanilla cake and frosting recipes to make a beautiful rainbow cake!
DAIRY-FREE & EGG-FREE VANILLA CAKE RECIPE
Heat oven to 350.
The recipe is for 12 cupcakes, a 9×9″ cake, or an 8×8″ cake.
Double the ingredients for 24 cupcakes, a double layer round cake, or a 9×13″ cake.
Grease pan(s) with an allergy safe oil if you are making this for someone with food allergies. We use dairy-free butter or coconut oil.
1-3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla {affiliate}
1/3 cup oil
1 cup cold water
Combine ingredients by hand or with a mixer. We use our Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer {affiliate} because it gets all the flour lumps out well. Pour batter into greased pan or muffin cups.
Bake approximately 20-30 minutes in the oven until the cake springs back to the touch or a toothpick comes out clean. Time varies depending on the pan you use.
MY FAVORITE TOOLS FOR CAKES
Here are affiliate links to some of our favorite products, at no extra cost to you. 🙂
My favorite silicone coated, non-stick aluminumized steel pans.
The perfect set of cupcake decorating tips, coupler, and bags.
You may like this cupcake storage and carrier for your next party!
The cute cupcake stand we use.
A handy single cupcake taker
VANILLA FROSTING
1/4 cup dairy-free butter
1/4 cup solid coconut oil or shortening
1-3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
This can be made with soy-free margarine.
Mix butter and coconut oil or shortening with a mixer. Add vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Beat on high speed until icing consistency is reached. If it’s too thick, add dairy-free milk 1/4 tsp. at a time.
This can be a little temperamental depending on the season and room temperatures. If it’s summer, you will do best to use chilled butter and coconut oil. If it’s winter, room temp works and the milk may need added.
Store cupcakes with this homemade frosting in the refrigerator. Coconut oil melts.
Click here for homemade chocolate frosting.
DAIRY-FREE STORE-BOUGHT FROSTING
If you want frosting from a tub, Pillsbury Creamy Supreme has been dairy-free but does contain soy. It comes in flavors of Chocolate Fudge, Classic White, and Cream Cheese. Be sure to check labels because ingredients can change!
What a delicious cake! Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic recipe with us on Allergy-Free Wednesdays!
Can't wait to try? Do you think you could cover w/fondant after icing? Trying to create design for daughter's first birthday!
Hi Deanna,
I have never worked with fondant before. But I think it would be worth a try! The cake turns out mostly like normal cake except it's a little more dense. If you do fondant, let me know how it goes! 🙂 And maybe send a picture. 😉 I would love to see!
Thanks for the recipe, they were a big hit at the birthday party today. I had 12 as directed and I added apple pulp from my juicer to the second pan. Awesome! Since we found out about the milk allergy for my daughter I haven't really tried to bake anything…just been avoiding it but I tried and they tasted great! Thank you.
Virginia, I am so happy they worked for you! 🙂 The vanilla is really growing on me. I usually love chocolate more. The apple sounds delish!!!
Thank you very much for this recipe! My son has recently come up with an egg allergy and was turning one this week- I didn't want him to miss out on cake, but the other recipes I tried were all a bit average. Made this the other night and it was fantastic. We don't have any dairy issues here so we subbed 1/2 cup (125g) butter for the oil and 1 cup of milk for the water, and I replaced the white sugar with brown for extra flavour, and used a honey icing on top. Making the same cake again today with orange rind through it and cream cheese icing on top.
Thank you for this recipe! My family has made the chocolate version of "wacky cake" for years, even without any allergies this has been our 'go-to' birthday cake recipe. My daughter wants a marble cake this year and I have searched for a vanilla version in vain, until now!
Has anyone tried to sub some applesauce for some of the oil?
Thanks,
Ali
can u use almond milk in place of the 1 cup cold water?
Can you use vanilla almond milk in place of the cold water?
I am a beginning baker who just found out she is lactose intolerant. Thanks for the recipe, I'll be trying it soon 🙂
I am not sure about almond milk. Let us know if it works!
Do I use plain flour or self rising? I want to make this for my daughter's 1st birthday tomorrow. Thanks so much for this recipe!
hi i am looking to make these cakes as my daughter is having a party and a friend is lactose intolerant i want her to feel the same as the other kids. do i use plain or self raising flour and does it need to be white vinegar. need reply asap thanx
Anonymous, I answered on FB but will here, too. 🙂 Plain flour is fine. We use white vinegar or ACV.
Hi
Can you replace milk with goats milk ?
If someone is allergic to eggs what can you use instead ?
Angelmelisa, no egg or milk in the recipe.
Olive oil is ok right??
Break Me Down, I would use vegetable, canola, or coconut. 🙂
it looks delish
I can't wait to try this for my daughter's 9th birthday party on Jan 23. Is it OK to add blue food coloring to mix? She loves blue. I don't want the coloring to affect the recipe. 🙂
Sure, a food coloring should be fine. Gel may be better than liquid may be safer consistency-wise. Good luck!
Can I replace the 1 cup water with soy milk?
I have not tried the recipe with milk but if you do, let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Pretty good cupcakes, taste a bit like cornbread to me, which I love!
Not sure if my question posted.
If I use rice milk and flour will it be the same measurements?
Is there another process if I make cupcakes vs cake?
Hi Amanda, I have never used a milk alternative in this recipe because it just calls for water. And no, there's no alterations for cupcakes besides using a cupcake tin. I hope that helps! If you are talking about milk in the frosting, sure rice should work.
Has anyone used this recipe with gluten free flour? If so, how did it turn out? My son is gluten, dairy, and egg free.
Nomkita, I have heard of that being done successfully with favorite alternative flours. Maybe check the comments on our chocolate cake. Hope that helps!
In our house it isn't so much milk allergies as lactose intolerance. While sometimes treated, mistakenly, as a milk allergy it is basically that your body doesn't process the natural sugars present in milk.
So with that bit of understanding that it isn't exactly a milk allergy here, the cake is amazing. I combined it with a buttercream frosting recipe I have and altered to make a little more friendly and flavorful as well. I basically grew up in the kitchen so… I do that a lot. My stepson loved it, my better half(who has no such issues himself) loved it.
I plan on using this in a couple weeks when I make my stepsons birthday cake though I may alter it into chocolate… depends on what he wants. I may also just use the variation of the frosting I made to make it chocolate.
I love how you thought to use vinegar and baking powder to help the cake raise. The vinegar replaces the role of the eggs in that. While eggs do hold things together I don't think this cake needs that. The water sticks to the flour. They together combined do that. If anything the oil helps so they don't get too solid. So by these factors you essentially replaces things people have a generally set way of doing.
I must admit… we just ran out of the skim milk I usually use when I cook and I felt like trying something new without coming up with a new recipe myself… and I saw this and tried it. I just didn't feel like taking a cranky kid to the store yesterday when planning to do a fathers day confection and figured it would be nice to try it. Now I think this has already become a household favorite. We added it to the written notebook we keep of recipes that are especially good. If they served this at a five star restaurant I think you could even impress some pretty harsh critics. I think my old professor would have died if he tasted this and realized it violated his precious rules. 'don't wash the mushrooms in water, use the brush' 'oil doesn't help the noodles not stick' he never listened that you had to put in the oil before the noodles, best if before you boil the water, while your heating it up… he didn't want to try it or be shown, he knew everything blah blah blah. At least he wasn't walking food poisoning like my ex husband, who had no business in the kitchen. EVER.
I used olive oil for the oil and balsamic for the vinegar. It came out very well. It was flavorful in that delicate way chefs strive for and are taught to strive for, a wonderful flavor with a wonderful texture and such a versatile recipe… and you would never guess the ingredients by tasting it. I think I would definitely pay to see that reaction if my old professor could taste this.
Anyway, I do tend to go on so I will spare you anymore rambling. Just know, this could make my old professor weep with envy and awe and he would probably think you were full of shit if you told him it didn't have eggs or milk in it.
I made this cake for a wedding…
correction-originally I made this cake for a friends birthday; she's allergic to eggs. I made it an ice cream cake cause she never gets treats made for her because baking without eggs is hard!!
anyway, so another friend (who's wedding was fast approaching), after having tasted the ice cream cake, asked if I'd make her wedding cake. and this was the cake she wanted.
after many practice cakes, I layered chocolate and vanilla in a naked cake variety for her wedding cake. yesterday.
oh man, such a success. and so, so, SO many compliments on the taste of the cake! so many!!
this will forever be my go-to cake. for any occasion.
corrieandkatie,
Thanks so much for sharing that story with us. You made my WEEK! That's so cool. I'm curious what frosting you used! 🙂 Thanks again for being here.
Looking forward to making this for my daughters 1st birthday in a couple days. I have a question about the shortning, what did you use? If it was crisco, is there something else i can use instead?
Hi Lauren, I know a lot of people like the shortening made by Spectrum. Hope that helps!
Hi I just made this Vanilla cake as a tester and I can't believe that it's actually tasty lol. Ty ty so much. My daughter is turning 1 years old and we're having a birthday party on sat. I have a question, if I make this tomorrow which will be Friday what or how should I go about the frosting. Can I make it in advance how long does it stay good for?
Thank you in advance
Lin C,
Ha, ha…I'm so glad you were pleasantly surprised. 🙂 I usually frost the day-of if I can. One day early should be fine. Now I see I'm kind of late answering this so I hope it turned out ok however you did it. Happy Birthday!!!
I work at a daycare and I was wanting to make cupcakes with the kids but one is also allergic to nuts. Is this save for him?
Hi Tina. My son is also allergic to nuts and eats these fine. You just want to make sure you get the right brands of ingredients. I would ask the parent her best brands for flour, sugar, etc. Once you buy them, have her check them to make sure before you start baking. Be sure to grease pans safely, too. Ask the parent for best procedures to ensure no cross contamination. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the recipe. I followed the procedure and the ingredients except that I change the flavor… And also I added 2 tsps. of baking powder so that it will rise. It is an amazing cake, not too sweet amd dun to experiment with flavor. Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback and tip, Karen! 🙂
What kind of oil did you use? I'm thinking of using either canola or coconut oil. When using coconut oil, should it be at room temperature or melted? Thanks so much.
Yes, I use coconut oil. 🙂 I usually melt it. Hope that helps!
I just made this as a test for a birthday cake. I did make a few changes: I added 1/2 tsp baking powder, used cashew milk instead of water, and replaced half of the oil with apple sauce.
It’s really good! It’s dense – almost like a cornbread. The texture isn’t cornbready though – it has regular cake texture. The taste is good and I don’t think anyone would assume this is a substitute for anything else. It’s just dense, nicely flavored cake.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the alterations and feedback! So glad it worked well!
Great cake. I had never baked a cake before this one. My sister gave me a couple of tips and voila – a super delicious, cake for my daughter and I to make for her 5th birthday!! We are so happy to have found a delicious, allergy-free alternative.. Thank you!!
What a great comment, thanks for sharing! Happy birthday, little one!
what gluten free blend could you use for the flour
There are a few suggestions in the comments, Sara. I’ve never done it myself, but I often hear most people’s favorite substitutions work well.
Can I use lime juice instead of vinegar?
The vinegar activates the baking soda. I would test it off to the side to see if lime juice causes the baking soda to bubble. 🙂 If it does, then it should work!
Thanks 🙂
You’re welcome!
Hi! My son turns one in two weeks, very excited to try this cake! He is allergic to dairy, egg, PN/TN.
For the cake, do I need to be careful about reg items like sugar, flour, etc? Also, I’ve never used coconut oil, it comes solid? Would you mind sharing what brand you use? Also, is it just white vinegar?
I am new to all of these substitutes, it feels like a huge foreign food world, so thanks again for being a great resource! -Naomi
Naomi, you can use vegetable oil or whatever you normally use in baking. 🙂 Yes to white vinegar!
thanks!
You’re welcome!
This is my “Mix-in the-Pan” Cake recipe I’ve used for 50 years. In an ungreased 8″ or 9″ round cake pan, stir together the flour, sugar, soda, and salt with a fork. Make three wells, and into each one place either the vinegar, vanilla, and oil. Pour water over all and stir with a fork. Bake in pan.
I make this for my diabetic clients with Swerve Granulated Sugar, and for my other clients who have allergies. You can add cocoa, and pour 1 cup cold coffee over all.
You can also use lemon extract, lemon zest, and yellow food color to make it lemon, etc. Any flavor is possible. Very little clean up.
I made cupcakes with this recipe for my son’s birthday party since one of his friends has a diary intolerance. It was so yummy and easy I’ve made it two more times for my family even though the only allergy in my household is peanut.
I also experimented with making a chocolate version by subbing 1/4 c of cocoa powder for some of the flour. It came out moist and delicious!
Thank you so much for the review, Anna. We are so glad they worked well for you! xoxo