Classic Vegan Pound Cake Recipe (Gluten Free Friendly!)

Rich, dense, buttery, and perfect in every slice, this classic vegan pound cake recipe is super easy to make and is the perfect ending to any occasion! Add some whipped coconut cream, a drizzle of icing, or serve with fruit for the best slice of vegan pound cake.

Free from: Dairy, Eggs, Nuts, Soy (optional), Gluten Free (optional see notes below)

Pound cake is probably my most favorite cake ever. It at least makes my top 3 favorites. Delicious for breakfast with berries, or after dinner with a cup of coffee, or any time in between, I’m always ready for a slice of this cake.

This vegan pound cake took me lots of experiments to make just like my family’s traditional recipe. But the results were totally worth it.

This vegan pound cake is rich, buttery, has the softest texture, and is so perfectly sweet that no one will believe that this cake is totally dairy free, egg free, nut free, and can even be made gluten free! Yes, really. See my notes below on how to transform this into a vegan and gluten free pound cake that is perfection.

I know you’re gonna love this cake so much!

Ingredients

For the full list of ingredients, complete with recipe amounts, please see the recipe box below!

• All Purpose Flour: Simple all purpose (sometimes called plain flour) is all you need for this recipe! See my notes below on how to transform this for gluten free.
• Cornstarch + Baking Powder: Cornstarch helps to soften the cake and acts as an egg replacer. The baking powder helps the cake to rise in the pan. Make sure your baking powder is fresh for best results.
• Butter: Any plant based butter in a stick form will work for this recipe. Don’t use any butter from a tub as the water to fat ratios are different.
• Plant Yogurt: This is the secret for a good vegan pound cake. This helps the cake to be moist, stay moist, and have that soft and dense crumb. Any kind of plant based yogurt will work (soy, coconut, oat, cashew, almond, etc) but make sure that it is not sweetened and not flavored.
• Plant Milk: I like to use soy milk here but oat milk or coconut milk will also work great.
• Vanilla: There is a hefty amount of vanilla in this recipe because this is a big cake! If you want to reduce the vanilla, no problem, just use another flavor extract in its place. Almond extract, lemon juice, or orange juice are all amazing.
• Sugars: Traditional pound cakes only use granulated sugar. However, when I was testing this recipe I found that the brown sugar not only helps in color development of the cake, but also adds to the depth of flavor. Use both for best results!

How to Make this Cake Gluten Free

First up, yes you can totally make this pound cake gluten free and vegan!

To make the cake gluten free, first use a good quality gluten free flour. I always bake with King Arthur Measure for Measure because it works, is pretty affordable, and available in most stores. Not sponsored but I really like this brand.

Next, gluten free flour soaks up more moisture so to keep this cake moist, add two extra ingredients: A tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of either honey or maple syrup. Both of these will help the batter stay moist.

Finally, gluten free cakes might need a few extra minutes of baking. I like to bake them until a thermometer reads at about 210F in the center of the cake which takes about 1 hour and 7 minutes in my oven but yours may vary. Let it bake undisturbed for an hour and then start checking.

When comparing gluten free vs wheat flour, the only real different is that the gluten free version might not get the same rise as the wheat flour will. But you can see in the image below that the texture is really close!

Variations

There are so many ways to jazz up this cake! Here are a few ideas to get you started.

• Lemon and Blueberry: Replace 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and the zest of one lemon. Add 1 cup of blueberries, fresh or frozen. Bake as directed. Add a few extra minutes to bake time if using frozen blueberries!
• Cherry Pound Cake: This is my family’s favorite! Add a cup of chopped candied cherries or chopped maraschino cherries to the batter and bake as directed. You can also add a cup of chopped walnuts if you can enjoy nuts.
• Chocolate Chip Pound Cake: Add a cup of chocolate chips and a half cup of mini chocolate chips for the perfect ratio of cake to chocolate in every bite!
• Different Toppings: These photos use a simple vanilla glaze on top but you can use things like vegan vanilla buttercream, vegan strawberry buttercream, whipped coconut cream, or a simple dusting of powdered sugar.

Instructions

Prep Step: Prep the Pan

For this recipe you will need a 10-cup bundt pan.

Other pound cake recipes have you making it in a loaf pan. In my family, we always made this cake in a big bundt pan as it usually was made for the holidays. However, there is another reason why I prefer to reach for the bundt pan: It helps the cake bake better.

Use some vegan butter and generously grease the pan and then sprinkle with flour. Set this aside while you make the cake.

Step One: Mix the Wet Ingredients

Into a medium sized bowl, whisk together the plant based milk, plant yogurt, brown and granulated sugar, and vanilla. Set this aside.

Step Two: Reverse Cream the Dry Ingredients

This is the secret to a pound cake! You want to do what is called reverse cream the butter into the dry ingredients.

To start, whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer. Then, add the softened vegan butter in a few tablespoons (I typically cut each stick into 5 pieces).

Start this on low speed with the whisk attachment. Mix until the ingredients start to look like wet sand. You can mix this on a medium speed once you get it going so that you have no large lumps of butter left.

Step Three: Add the Wet Ingredients

Now add the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until it starts to come together.

Then, mix it on a medium-high speed for about 45 seconds to help fluff the batter. It should also slightly change in color.

When finished, the batter will look like fluff and be very thick.

Step Four: Bake

Bake the cake for about an hour and up to an hour and 10 minutes. Don’t bake the cake for over an hour and 15 minutes as the cake will burn and dry out.

You don’t need to place a baking sheet to catch drips as mine has never over flowed, but if you are worried, please do so.

Finally, don’t open the oven door for any reason for the first 45 minutes of baking! This is critical for the rise of the cake.

Step Five: Cool and Frost

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it rest on the countertop for 10 minutes. Then, flip the cake over onto a parchment paper lined wire rack and let cool for about 1 hour. It’s super important to leave the hot pan on top of the cake even when it’s flipped over! This helps with moisture in the cake.

After the cake has cooled, frost and decorate to your liking and enjoy!!

How to Store

Countertop: Store any leftover cake that does not have a buttercream frosting covered on the countertop for up to 2 days.

Fridge: I love love love a cold slice of pound cake so I always store my cake in the fridge. It’s a big cake so keep it on the plate and then add an upside down plastic container on top to keep it fresh for 5 days.

Freezer: Freezing this cake after baking is a great way of keeping extra slices around, especially since this is a big bundt cake! Wrap up slices or the whole cake in a freezer safe container and keep for up to 3 months. Allow it to thaw before serving.

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