This moist, vegan vanilla cake is topped with fresh strawberries. Oil-free and only 1 gram of fat per serving.
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Sherry Lucas, the food writer for our local newspaper, who asked if I’d like to be the subject of an article. Though naturally camera-shy (as well as people-shy), I agreed, and when she suggested that I cook a dish using something seasonal, my very first thought was strawberries.
Besides being pretty (I hoped the photographer would be smitten by them and forget to take any photos of me), juicy strawberries from Florida have been available in our grocery stores for the past few weeks, and we’ve been able to get Louisiana strawberries since early February from “The Strawberry Man,” a farmer from my hometown in Louisiana who drives them up every day to sell from the back of his truck.
So I set to work on making the best, low-fat strawberry dessert I could, baking 4 different versions of the same recipe…and gaining 5 pounds in the process! All the experimenting paid off; the final version was light and tender. But after all that cooking, testing, and tasting, the newspaper chose to use the other recipe I made–a quinoa and asparagus dish–in the article.
Never fear–the newspaper’s loss is your gain. I’ve got the recipe, as well as these photos of the cake, right here! Be warned that though fat-free, it’s no health food because of the sugar and white flour. But sometimes during strawberry season, we just have to indulge ourselves a little.
Strawberry Snack Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup soy or other non-dairy yogurt see note
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 pound strawberries stemmed and sliced
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add yogurt, vanilla, water, soymilk, and lemon juice. Mix until just blended–do not overmix. Pour into oiled 8×8-inch pan and bake at 350 F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely.
- Combine the strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until sauce boils and thickens. Spread over top of cake. May be served warm or chilled.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Ready to Pin!
parsnipsandsprockets
August 20, 2009 at 3:26 pmThis is really good! I had to sub a few things because my pantry is lacking at the moment but it turned out delicious anyway! I used wheat and all purp flour instead of cake flour, applesauce for the yogurt, and blueberries instead of the strawberries.
I think I'm going to use your sauce creation over waffles next time I make them. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
evolvingtastes
February 2, 2010 at 8:08 pmHi Susan, thanks for the recipe, and also for the link love on Facebook!
Alison
February 14, 2010 at 5:28 amI cannot wait to try this one out. I applied the same method to blueberry with outstanding results!
Sailaja Damodaran
April 20, 2010 at 11:40 pmIs cake flour known as All purpose flour.Please explain.
Thanks,
SusanV
April 21, 2010 at 7:39 amCake flour has less protein and gluten than all-purpose flour, giving baked goods a lighter texture. In the US, it can be bought in grocery stores–look for boxes rather than bags. If you can’t find cake flour, you can use 3/4 cup of all-purpose mixed with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to substitute for each cup of cake flour.
Christine
May 7, 2010 at 4:40 pmHi Susan! This looks delish! Do you think it would be okay to sub the soy yogurt with something like So Delicious’ coconut milk yogurt? And rice milk (or other) instead of soy milk? I’ve developed soy issues and would still like to make this recipe as soon as strawberries make it up to NJ! 🙂 Thanks for all your fantastic recipes – you deserve the newspaper accolaes!
SusanV
May 7, 2010 at 4:48 pmThanks, Christine! Feel free to use non-soy ingredients for soy. They’ll all work.
Vikki
May 11, 2010 at 6:42 pmThis was very good! I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of the cake flour and I intended to use some stevia in place of the sugar but I forgot to add either. It was still very good!! Will make again and omit the sugar on purpose this time.
Melanie
May 20, 2010 at 12:46 pmWhat could I use instead of soy yogurt? I don’t have any here…
SusanV
May 20, 2010 at 12:57 pmYou can use apple sauce or you can increase the soy milk by 1/4 cup and leave out the soy yogurt.
Kitty
May 22, 2010 at 10:20 amJust wanted to say that this is a wonderful website!
Tammy
June 28, 2010 at 1:54 pmSusan, thanks for this wonderful recipe! I had strawberries to use up quickly but not quite enough so I did 1/2 blueberries and it was a huge hit w/my 7 yo daughter (and with me, too!!). Wonderful website…you are awesome! 🙂
Gwen
July 5, 2010 at 9:48 pmMade this for my dad’s birthday today and it was a big hit! So moist and delicious!
Only thing I did differently was I made it in a 9×9… the baking time was more around the 20-25 minutes area for me.
anu
January 13, 2011 at 6:05 amHi Susan, I think u have a fantastic site, love all your dessert recipes. I would like to know if I can make the Strawberry Snack Cake with frozen strawberries & if so do I have to thaw them (in a microwave?) before making the sauce . Please advise. Thanx & keep up the good work.
SusanV
January 13, 2011 at 7:43 amI would just let them thaw in the fridge overnight before using them. Hope you enjoy!
anon
February 26, 2011 at 1:04 pmSusan you should write a book, it would be great! It would be fantastic to have all your recipes together in hardcopy!
Melomeals: Vegan for $3.33 a Day
March 20, 2011 at 4:29 pmYum! I am sooo looking forward to strawberry season… it’s still pretty chilly up here in NH!
Cindy Hood-Siegal
March 20, 2011 at 9:10 pmThanks for this recipe – it was delicious! My son is on a very restricted diet to try to pin down his allergies, so we subbed GF baking mix for the pastry flour. The cake was dense, but tasty and the sweet/sour strawberry sauce was a good complement. It looked and tasted like cake, which was great! It’s a whole lot more than I can say for some “alternative” recipes I have tried lately.
Cassie
March 21, 2011 at 6:26 pmmmm.. delish! Just made this today – perfect for a lovely spring day!
Get Skinny, Go Vegan.
March 21, 2011 at 9:51 pmBeautiful!!
V Ian
March 24, 2011 at 5:20 amhi Susan I tried it and did not like it at all, the cake was not even similar to a normal one 🙁
Ali
April 5, 2011 at 9:23 amThis was fabulous! I’ve been dabbling a bit with vegan baking and I’ve never made a cake that was edible. This was more than edible and I could have easily eaten the entire cake myself! Everyone loved it.
Christine
May 2, 2011 at 10:57 amI bought a ton of organic strawberries on sale this past Friday and wanted a way to use some of them, so I made this – it’s delightful! Even my husband, who is not big on sweets, liked it. His only complaint was that it tasted a little “healthy” but that was my fault for using 3/4 cup of white whole wheat flour… I just couldn’t stand the thought of all that white flour! 🙂 I think the cake is perfect, though I think next time I will decrease the sugar in the strawberry sauce since it was a tad sweet for me (maybe my strawberries were just that sweet?). I used vanilla almond milk and some homemade vegan yogurt too. Thanks for the cornstarch tip to sub for cake flour!
Shelley
March 23, 2012 at 11:16 amYum! I cannot wait for strawberry season here in upstate New York now!
Esther
March 23, 2012 at 12:33 pmWell now I want strawberry shortcake. And strawberry season’s not til May. 😛
Heather
March 26, 2012 at 12:05 amJust wondering where you got that ADORABLE red/white polka dot pan?
Jessica Caneal
April 15, 2012 at 12:33 pmOmg, omg, omg. I can’t wait to try this!!
rebecca @outinthemsticks
April 18, 2012 at 1:35 pmquestion: Would you put the topping on it right away or would you wait until serving time? i.e. does it hold up when put together?
Susan Voisin
April 18, 2012 at 1:57 pmYou can put it on beforehand, but put the whole thing in the refrigerator. Also, it works best if you leave the cake in the pan rather than take it out.
rebecca @outinthemsticks
April 18, 2012 at 3:41 pmThanks so much Susan! I’ll do that now that the cake has cooled. We are having it as a special treat tonight. We LOVE your recipes!!!!
Claudia
March 17, 2013 at 7:28 pmOk just made this……wow. thank you thank you. Had no yogurt on hand but used applesauce and a lil oil combined 4/1 to equal the amount of yogurt. This is sooo what I needed to go along with nada “chicken” parmesan over polenta. Perfect comfort food without too much guilt.
Erin
March 22, 2013 at 5:01 pmI am baking this after seeing the post the other day and then pinning it to make later when I had strawberries. I was missing a couple of ingredients like soy yogurt, but I added a touch more almond milk and it made a very nice batter. We’re all excited to try this. YUM!!
Chelsea
March 19, 2014 at 2:12 pmMy husband was just saying to me the other day – “I wish we could find a good recipe for strawberry shortcake”…. and then this recipe pops up! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
Ceara @ Ceara's Kitchen
March 20, 2014 at 4:59 amSusan this recipe looks delicious and you are so right about strawberry season – sometimes we have to indulge just a little 😉 Excited to try this cake! Thanks for the great recipe – Pinned!
Stacy
August 29, 2015 at 9:06 amHi Susan! My little one has many food allergies and I’m trying to find a vegan and gf cake to make for my birthday this weekend. I can’t find gf cake flour at Whole Foods, so I’m wondering if you have a specific gf suggestion.
You said this above:
“Cake flour has less protein and gluten than all-purpose flour, giving baked goods a lighter texture. In the US, it can be bought in grocery stores–look for boxes rather than bags. If you can’t find cake flour, you can use 3/4 cup of all-purpose mixed with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to substitute for each cup of cake flour.”
Should I follow your advice with the “all purpose” gf flour and mix it with corn starch, or because it has no gluten, use it as is, or should I be looking for a special baking mix?Thank you!!
Susan Voisin
August 29, 2015 at 9:56 amOh gosh, Stacy, I am really no expert in gluten-free baking! I’m not even adequate, really. My belief, however, is that a gluten-free baking mix can be used instead of wheat flour, no extra starch required. I’m not sure about an all purpose gluten-free flour, but if you notice any starches on the ingredients list, it probably is already formulated for baking. Hope it comes out well!
Stacy
August 29, 2015 at 3:50 pmThank you! I’ll try it and see!!
Stacy
August 30, 2015 at 6:24 pmMade the cake with Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour today. That seemed like the best choice at Whole Foods. It turned out great!! Thank you for the advice and the recipe!
Amy
February 22, 2016 at 4:51 amLove this snack cake. I used Truvia sweetener in place of the sugar in the recipe, and it turned out great. Definitely would recommend others to try it. AMAZING!!!
Laina
March 30, 2016 at 4:58 pmHi Susan,
I’ve finally made this recipe – so delicious!!!
Do you have something similar for blueberries? Or can I use blueberries in place of the strawberries?
Thanks!
Laina 🙂
Susan Voisin
March 30, 2016 at 5:43 pmI’m so glad you liked it! I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t use blueberries instead of strawberries. I’d love to know how it comes out if you do.
Gloria petrey
August 12, 2017 at 6:18 pmI’m not able to PIN from this site. Hoping you’ll add it to your Pinterest page so i can pin it from there. Looks amazing!!!
Susan Voisin
August 12, 2017 at 7:30 pmThanks! The Pin button is down right now, but I’ll see if I can pin it from Pinterest.
Jenny
July 7, 2018 at 9:45 pmHi,
I’m confused how this could be fat-free unless you know of some secret ingredients that I don’t know about. How can I find non-dairy milk and non-dairy yogurt without fat? I know they have fat free dairy versions…
Thanks!
Susan Voisin
July 7, 2018 at 10:27 pmHi Jenny, by fat-free, I mean free of added oil. Whole foods plant-based diets don’t exclude foods that have naturally-occurring fat, like soy milk and yogurt.
Suzanne
March 12, 2019 at 7:33 amLove your fat free recipes! Thanks for doing the heavy lifting on developing these for those of us on Dr Esselstyn’s “no oil” (“I said NO OIL!”) diet. You’ve nailed it!
kim
March 29, 2019 at 2:40 pmThis reminds me of my German Grandmothers cottage pudding ( cake) . Only better. She used lemon topping. also yummy. This is easy and very good , Susan! Thank you.