Strawberry Vegan Funfetti Sheet Cake

I may love this strawberry version of my popular funfetti cake more than the original! Although the other is a favorite cake that I took a long time to perfect, this version is much easier to make as it’s a sheet pan not layer cake. It will definitely take less time to make than a layer cake so opt for this when you just don’t have it in you to fuss around.

While developing my funfetti cake recipe, I road tested just about every other vegan recipe out there and they all came up short for me. They either didn’t have the right texture, or flavor and were just disappointing. I’ve been baking since I was a kid and I remembered a book I bought when it came out in the late 80s called “The Cake Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I made so many cakes (all in my pre-vegan days) from this book and I recalled she had an unusual method of incorporating ingredients and I went to my bookshelf to grab my well worn copy and started reading the recipes again. Yep, she had written about a revolutionary method of adding the fat to the dry ingredients FIRST before adding the liquid ingredients. It’s come to be known as the “reverse creaming” method and it guarantees a moist cake with an incredible texture. It’s a method used in commercial bakeries although they usually use vegetable shortening and not oil like I am in my recipe.

What is reverse creaming?

Reverse creaming refers to the way the ingredients are combined and in what order. Traditionally, the wet ingredients are mixed together first, the dry whisked together then added to the wet just until combined. This is because over-mixing will cause the batter to form gluten and be tough if you do over-mix. With reverse creaming you add the fat to the dry ingredients first (in this recipe it’s the yogurt and oil) and that coats the flour preventing it from absorbing moisture and forming gluten. When the rest of the wet ingredients are added, it’s almost impossible to over-mix and form gluten. The crumb is also finer and the rise better with this method especially for vegan baked goods.

Another amazing benefit of reverse creaming is that everything is mixed in one bowl. You really should use a stand or hand mixer for this but you could mix it by hand with a whisk. The dry ingredients are all blended together first to break up any lumps and then the oil is added with some vegan sour cream (for tenderness) and some of the vegan milk then mixed completely. Then you add the rest of the milk which we’re adding some lemon juice into for some lift from the acid and then the magical extracts. More about those after the photo jump.

What gives cake that magical funfetti flavor?

Two options: cake batter flavor extract or clear imitation vanilla. I know, I know, Ina Garten only uses “good” vanilla but that just won’t give the cake that bakery flavor. Cake batter extract (I use McCormick brand) is what I prefer. It does color the cake a slight yellow but that’s fine. I grew up using Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and it replicates that flavor. Clear imitation vanilla is also another solid choice and it’s what I like to use in the frosting. I’ll add the extracts to my Amazon store (link at the bottom of the recipe) and the vegan sprinkles I use. More about sprinkles after the jump.

About vegan sprinkles.

Aren’t all sprinkles vegan? They’re just sugar right you might ask? Wrong. Most are made with confectioners glaze which has shellac in it derived from insects and colors can also be questionable. Vegan sprinkles are available online at some retailers (both Kroger and Whole Foods Market sell their own private label versions) but they’re usually way more pastel than their traditional bright intensely vibrant counterparts and tend to dissolve more into the batter. No judging If you use regular sprinkles but for a truly vegan cake you may have to forgo the fireworks in the cake itself and just be satisfied with a ton of them on the outside!

What makes this cake special.

• Freeze dried strawberries in the frosting that you crush in a food processor! (One cup should yield about 1/4 cup ground.) 
• The powdered fruit colors the frosting a light pink!
• Note: You could use freeze dried raspberries or another freeze dried fruit if preferred.

I hope you enjoy this cake for special occasions, events or just on a Tuesday because you’re worth it!

Strawberry Vegan Funfetti Sheet Cake

Recipe by Kreg

4.7 from 7 votes

Cuisine: Dessert

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

My delicious funfetti cake NOW with strawberries!

Ingredients

• Funfetti Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups vegan cane sugar

• 1/4 cup cornstarch

• 1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1 cup plain vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup vegan sour cream or plain vegan yogurt

• 1 tablespoon cake batter flavoring or clear imitation vanilla

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 1 1/2 cups vegan milk

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/2 cup vegan rainbow sprinkles plus more to decorate cake

• Strawberry Funfetti Frosting

• 1 cup vegan butter at room temperature

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening

• 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

• 1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt (this generally is called a “pinch”)

• 2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

• 1 tablespoon vegan milk

• 1/4 cup crushed freeze dried strawberries (see notes)

Directions

• Funfetti Cake
• Prepare your 9×13 sheet pan and preheat the oven to 350°. Spray or butter the pan then add a tablespoon of flour to the pan and shake it around the pan to coat the bottom and sides. Tap out any excess flour in the sink or over a garbage can.
• Mix dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand mixer to combine and aerate for a minute. If mixing by hand, use a whisk. Add the oil, 1/3 cup vegan sour cream and 1/2 cup vegan milk and mix until combined on low speed. Scrape down bowl then continue to mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
• Mix the lemon juice into the remaining 1 cup milk and let it sit for a minute. Add the extracts and whisk to combine. Slowly add the remaining liquid to the mixture in the bowl on low speed then scrape the bowl down and mix for two minutes to combine. The great thing about this is because we use the reverse creaming method you can’t overmix this and make the batter tough because we coated all the flour with fat. Fold in the 1/2 cup sprinkles by hand just until combined. Don’t use the mixer to combine the sprinkles as it will break them up too much. Just fold them in until just combined.
• Pour the batter in the baking pan and even it out and rap on your counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 35-40 minutes depending on your oven but don’t over-bake. I have a convection oven for example and my cakes cook quicker. Cakes are done when a cake tester or tooth pick comes out clean. This website lists baking times for different sized pans but like I said, testing before they should be done is always advised so you don’t over-bake your cakes. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
• Strawberry Funfetti Frosting
• In a small or large food processor pulverize the freeze dried strawberries. You should have about 1/4 cup of strawberry powder. In a bowl, mix the room temperature butter and shortening together with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy about 3 minutes scraping down as necessary.
• Sift the powdered sugar over the butter mixture (if you don’t sift, your frosting will be lumpy – I use a small fine mesh strainer) and add the remaining ingredients including the powdered strawberries and mix until we’ll combined and fluffy about 2-3 minutes. You want it to be a light consistency so you may need more than one tablespoon of milk.
• Frost the cake evenly and completely in the pan and sprinkle some more sprinkles on top of desired. Cut into squares and serve!

Recipe Video

Notes

• You can find vegan sprinkles in some stores like Whole Foods Market and Kroger or you can order them online. I have a link in my Amazon store below.
  
• Use your favorite vegan sour cream (or yogurt) and milk.
  
• If you can’t find it don’t want to use artificial flavorings then use pure vanilla but understand that your cake won’t have a true funfetti flavor.
  
• You can find freeze dried strawberries in most supermarkets now.

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