Dairy-Free Birthday Cake Recipe

There are few things that add to the festivity and merriment of a birthday celebration quite like a birthday cake. Blowing out the candles, sharing slices, and enjoying all that sugar is something everyone looks forward to. For those that have to keep a dairy-free diet, this can often be a challenging conundrum, as most birthday cake recipes have dairy. With a little baking substitution, however, a delicious and moist birthday cake can be whipped up in the same amount of time it would take to make any other cake.

Recipe developer Taylor Murray brings us her dairy-free birthday cake, which utilizes coconut cream and applesauce to take the place of butter and milk. "Because there's no butter in the recipe, this cake comes together quickly and doesn't require any creaming in a stand mixer," says Murray. Choose your favorite dairy-free frosting to decorate the cake, and don't forget the sprinkles!

Making a cake without dairy, birthday or otherwise, is not that much different than making one with dairy. The dry ingredients are mostly the same: white cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. There's a hint of vanilla for flavor and a few eggs to give rise and richness. In lieu of milk or butter, we use applesauce and coconut cream to add fat and moisture to the cake. Coconut cream is different than coconut milk and has a higher fat content with less water. The can will specify whether it is coconut cream or coconut milk. Finally, if you want to decorate the cake, you'll need to gather or make some dairy-free frosting.

Heat the oven to 325 F.

Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying them with pan spray and lining them with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla together until fully combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stopping when just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25–30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool before removing the cakes from the pans.

Cut off the domed top of each cake to create a flat surface.

Dollop frosting on top of one flat surface, spreading to ½-inch thickness, adding more frosting as needed.

Flip the remaining cake and place it on top of the frosted cake so that the bottom is now facing up.

Spread the remaining frosting on top, smoothing to the edges.

Decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

If you want to make a dairy-free birthday cake but don't mind a bit of dairy in frosting, it goes without saying that you can use whichever frosting recipe you prefer. This can be a good option for people who are sensitive to the lactose in milk and cream but don't get the same reaction to butter. If you need to avoid all dairy, it might surprise you to know that many kinds of canned store-bought frosting are naturally dairy-free. Check the ingredients at the supermarket to make sure.

While many recipes for buttercream frosting can be adapted for dairy-free use by simply substituting the butter with vegan butter, there are some other clever workarounds out there. The same coconut cream that goes into the cake can be whipped into an airy topping that can be used instead of frosting. Keep in mind that this option won't be as stiff as buttercream frosting and may not work as a filling between layers.

This cake is dairy-free as written, but it does include eggs for those that are simply trying to avoid dairy and not all animal-based products. If you want to make the cake totally vegan, you have a few options for substituting the eggs. First, understand the role of the eggs. The fat in the yolks provides richness, while the protein in the whites adds structure and helps the cake have enough support to rise. With this in mind, you may not be able to arrive at the exact same texture as the original recipe if you start substituting key ingredients like eggs. 

In this recipe, you can use ½ cup more unsweetened applesauce or a combination of 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water per egg. The flaxseed option will change the visual look of the cake, and the applesauce option won't have quite the same rise as the original recipe.