You don’t need to be a great baker or have frosting skills to make a pretty cake. Even if you’re vegan, you can still use a box cake and store bought frosting rather than making everything from scratch. All it takes are some strawberries, flowers, and powdered sugar to make it look like you put in much more effort than you actually did!
I’m using a white cake with white frosting but there are no limits to how this recipe can be modified! Use whatever flavor of cake and frosting you’d like. You can also add food coloring and flavor extracts. Top with fruits, candy, flowers… seriously, no limits! This method also works for cupcakes and smaller cakes.
Ingredients
- box cake*
- egg replacer of choice (I use 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce per 1 egg)
- store bought frosting**
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar per tub of frosting
- decorating items (I used strawberries and baby’s breath flowers)
Instructions
- Preheat oven based on box’s directions.
- Prepare cake batter using your choice of egg replacer.
- Evenly divide among cake pans. You can divide however works best for you using as many boxes as needed. I used one box cake and divided among three 6 inch pans.
- Bake according to box directions. Vegan batter usually takes less time to bake so start on the lower end.
- Let cakes cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Trim tops if they’re significantly domed. A minor dome is ok for 3 layers or less.
- Once cooled, use a brush or your finger tips to cover the edges in powdered sugar.
- Dump frosting into a bowl and add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar per tub of frosting. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until combined and fluffy.
- Pipe dollops of frosting on each layer and dust with powdered sugar before stacking. This method is perfect if you don’t have a frosting tip or bag. You can put the frosting in a ziploc bag and cut approximately 1/2 inch off one of the corners. Use a sugar shaker, sifter, sieve or fine strainer to dust with powdered sugar.
- Decorate with strawberries and flowers. Use a toothpick to secure the strawberries to the cake. Just be sure to put the toothpick in the strawberry first then attach to the cake. This way you won’t end up poking through the other end of the strawberry.
*Not all box cakes can be made vegan. Check the bottom of the ingredients list and make sure it doesn’t say “Contains dairy.” For this cake I used Duncan Hines Classic White.
**The same goes for the frosting. I used Pillsbury Creamy Supreme White Frosting.
