Vegan Bundt Cake
This easy vegan bundt cake recipe is moist and delicious and bakes up perfectly every time. You can make classic vanilla or chocolate bundt cake or add spices for a flavorful spice cake. Get creative and add chocolate chips, or even sprinkles to the batter for a fun twist.
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One of my favorite ways to flavor the bundt cake is with cinnamon and nutmeg for an eggnog-flavored bundt cake for the holidays which is what is pictured here.
Bundt cakes are easily made beautiful with the swirly decorative bundt pan that you cook them in. Drizzle some vegan icing or chocolate ganache over the top and you’ll have a masterpiece to impress your family and friends. Just don’t tell them how easy it actually was.
If you’re looking for some more impressive vegan cake recipes, check out this vegan apple cake and vegan chocolate water cake.
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Flour – white all-purpose flour works best, but you can also use whole wheat or even any grain-based gluten-free flour.
- Sugar – use a light-colored granulated sugar if making a vanilla bundt cake, but you can use any type of granulated sweetener if you don’t care if the cake has a darker color.
- Baking Soda – to make the cake rise.
- Salt – for flavor.
- Plant-Based Milk – for a moist and rich cake. Almond, cashew, oat, or soy milk will all work well. You can even use water if you don’t have any milk.
- Cooking Oil – for a moist and rich cake. Use a neutral oil like canola or vegetable oil. You can swap out the oil for applesauce if you want an oil-free cake, but it won’t be as rich.
- Vegan Sour Cream – to make the cake moist. Make your own homemade vegan sour cream or use store-bought. You can also swap this out for applesauce, mashed banana, or pumpkin puree.
- White Vinegar – to interact with the baking soda and make the cake rise. You can also use apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor. You can swap this out with an extract to flavor the cake any way you wish.
- Extra Flavorings – like cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, lemon, or chocolate if making other flavored cakes.
🌟 Bundt pans
In order to make a bundt cake, you will need a bundt pan or you may also know them as Gugelhupf pans in Europe. They come in many styles with different beautiful patterns.
I use a Nordic brand bundt pan since it is heavy, well-made, and has a good non-stick finish. A heavy pan will cook your cake more evenly and a non-stick finish will help you get the cake out of the pan with the design intact.
🧈 Greasing your bundt pan
Be sure to read the care instructions that come with your bundt pan. Many pans have a special non-stick coating that can be ruined if you use spray oil or even butter.
I like to use a little melted refined coconut oil and brush the inside of my pan with it. The coconut oil starts to thicken when it hits the cold pan and will stick to the edges better than other oils.
You can also use a shortening like Crisco to coat the edges of the pan – and yes, it’s vegan. It’s important to use something to grease your pan so you can get the cake out smooth
🥄 How to make a vegan bundt cake
Step 1 – Preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C) and grease your bundt pan.
Step 2 – In a large mixing bowl, add 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and stir with a whisk. (If you wish to add chocolate or spices mix in now as well.)
Step 3 – In a separate container, add 2 cups of plant-based milk, 2/3 cup oil, 1/2 cup vegan sour cream, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp vanilla, and stir well.
Step 4 – Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute until a smooth batter is formed.
Baking the cake
Step 5 – Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and bake at 350° F (177° C) for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Step 6 – Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 1 hour.
Step 7 – Use a large serrated bread knife to cut off any cake that has risen above the top of the cake pan. This will ensure that the bottom of the cake is flat before inverting.
Step 8 – Invert the cake onto a cake plate.
Step 9 -Allow it to cool completely and drizzle with vegan icing or chocolate ganache.
⬇️ Getting your cake out of the bundt pan
- Make sure your cake has cooked thoroughly by inserting a toothpick in the center and having it come out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before inverting.
- Use a plastic knife to carefully cut around the sides and loosen up any edges that may be stuck to the pan. Don’t use a metal knife or you could damage your pan.
- Invert the cake and tap lightly on the top until it releases from the pan.
📖 Flavor Variations
- Chocolate– Use the basic vanilla cake recipe, add 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, and increase the sugar to 2 cups. (The cocoa powder is bitter, so you will have to add more sugar to balance it out.)
- Eggnog Spice Cake – Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg to the dry ingredients. You can also add 2 tablespoons of rum to the wet ingredients if you wish. Top the cake with eggnog flavored vegan icing. It also looks pretty with pomegranate sprinkled on top. (This is the cake featured in this post.)
- Pumpkin – add 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to dry ingredients. Swap out the vegan sour cream with pumpkin puree.
- Lemon – use lemon juice instead of vinegar, lemon extract instead of vanilla extract, and add the zest of 1 lemon.
- Funfetti Bundt Cake – stir in 1/3 cup of vegan sprinkles just before pouring into the bundt pan. Don’t over-mix once the sprinkles have been added.
- Carrot – use my vegan carrot cake recipe and bake it in a bundt pan.
🎂 Decorating the cake
One of the best things about a bundt cake is the fact that it’s easy to decorate. Since the cake itself is already in a pretty shape, a little vegan icing, chocolate ganache, vegan sprinkles, powdered sugar, or fruit is all you need to make it beautiful.
You don’t want to use vegan buttercream frosting on your bundt cake, since it’s too thick. You want something that can be drizzled over the top of the cake showing off its beautiful lines.
I also like to serve my cake with some berry compote The cake soaks up the berry sauce and it becomes even more moist and flavorful.
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan bundt cake recipe
Vegan Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cup plant-based milk
- 2/3 cup canola oil, or any neutral-flavored cooking oil
- 1/2 cup vegan sour cream
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C) and grease your bundt pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, add 3 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, and stir with a whisk. (If you wish to add chocolate or spices mix in now as well see flavor variation in notes.)
- In a separate container, add 2 cups of plant-based milk, 2/3 cup oil, 1/2 cup vegan sour cream, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp vanilla, and stir well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute until a smooth batter is formed.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and bake at 350° F (177° C) for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 1 hour.
- Use a large serrated bread knife to cut off any cake that has risen above the top of the cake pan. this will ensure that the bottom of the cake is flat before inverting.
- Invert the cake onto a cake pan.
- Allow it to cool completely and drizzle with vegan icing or chocolate ganache.
Notes
Getting your cake out of the bundt pan
- Make sure your cake has cooked thoroughly by inserting a toothpick in the center and having it come out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before inverting.
- Use a plastic knife to carefully cut around the sides and loosen up any edges that may be stuck to the pan. Don’t use a metal knife or you could damage your pan.
- Invert the cake and tap lightly on the top until it releases from the pan.
Flavor Variations
- Chocolate– Use the basic vanilla cake recipe and add 3/4 cup of cocoa powder and increase the sugar to 2 cups. (The cocoa powder is bitter, so you will have to add more sugar to balance it out.)
- Eggnog Spice Cake – Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg to the dry ingredients. You can also add 2 tablespoons of rum to the wet ingredients if you wish. Top the cake with eggnog flavored vegan icing. It also looks pretty with pomegranate sprinkled on top. (This is the cake featured in this post.)
- Pumpkin – add 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to dry ingredients. Swap out the vegan sour cream with pumpkin puree.
- Lemon – use lemon juice instead of vinegar, lemon extract instead of vanilla extract, and add the zest of 1 lemon.
- Funfetti Bundt Cake – stir in 1/3 cup of vegan sprinkles just before pouring into the bundt pan. Don’t over mix once the sprinkles have been added.
- Carrot – use my vegan carrot cake recipe and bake in a bundt pan.
I wanted to ask if I could sub room temp vegan cream cheese for the sour cream to make a classic cream cheese pound cake? Thanks!
I haven’t tested it that way, but I think that it would work just fine. Enjoy!
Made half recipe using 6 cup Bundt pan in Ninja Foodi at slightly lower temp as I don’t have an oven at the moment. Turned out perfect! Lovely and moist. I used 1 mashed banana instead of vegan sour cream as didn’t have any, so essentially it tasted like/was banana cake! Will definitely use the recipe again, trying other variations.
Sounds delicious! So happy that you liked the recipe. 🙂
Love this recipe! Made it for Father’s Day and did amaretto oil with my vanilla paste… it was so good! I’m making it for work tomorrow but with lemon zest and juice. I used applesauce, that’s what I have, and I can’t wait to use vegan sour cream to see the difference. Thank you!
I’m so happy that you liked the recipe! The Amaretto oil and vanilla paste sounds delicious! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe and the possible substitutions! I used it
for an vegan easter lamb. I substituted the vegan sour cream with banana and the vinegar with lenon juice. I seasond it with cinnamon an orange and added poppy seeds. I reduced the amount of sugar due to the sweetness of the bananas. It turned out very good, we enjoyed it with straberry compote.
Happy Easter and best wishes from the Moselle Valley, Germany.
I’m so happy that you liked it! Happy Easter!
This is, without a doubt, one of the best cakes I have ever made or eaten. It was so moist and had excellent flavour. I made the basic vanilla version and am looking forward to trying the other variations. I topped it with the chocolate icing linked in the recipe. The icing was the perfect touch, not too sweet with a good chocolate flavour. Both the cake and the icing were so quick and easy to make and, with the exception of the sour cream, didn’t require any ingredients other than staples I had on hand,
I’m so happy that it worked well for you, Deborah! 🙂
Hi! Does this cake freeze well?
Yes, just wrap it airtight and it will freeze well for up to 3 months.
CANNOT wait to try this. Love that you put out Vegan Bundt Cakes.
Will get back as soon as I make them. Thank you!!!
I hope that you like it, Deb! 🙂
I made this for my girlfriend’s birthday and she loved it. Thanks so much for the recipe 💞
You’re so welcome! I’m happy that she liked the recipe! 🙂
Hello Monica
Can I substitute plain yogurt for sour cream?
Thank you
Hi Annette, I haven’t tested it, but I think that it will work.
The perfect cake. Definitely my new go to.
I’m so happy that you liked the recipe, Amanda! 🙂
I just made this for dinner with my in-laws last week. Everyone loved it and was so impressed! The cake looks so pretty with the icing swirls. I put sprinkles on top to decorate.
I’m so happy that you all liked it, Mallory! 🙂
This recipe calls for “flour”, but doesn’t specify plain or self-rising. It does not call for baking powder, just baking soda. What makes the cake rise?
I use all-purpose white flour not self-rising. The baking soda mixed with the vinegar is what makes the cake rise. Enmjoy! 🙂