Last weekend, soon after the Strawberry and Cream Dream Cake recipe published, Anh emailed asking if I thought a vegan version was possible. I know little about vegan baking. What to do about eggs for the batter? What about the whipped cream frosting? Those are are all ingredients that brilliantly and naturally function to make baking’s chemistry work.

Could I come up with a version that would fool even non vegans?

To goad me on, Rory reminded me of the 1970s Chiffon margarine commercial:

Ha! So, I spent most of this past week working on an eggless, dairy-free version of my pandan-strawberry and cream cake. Finally, I got satisfaction on Saturday afternoon.

Just because you’re vegan doesn’t mean you should be left out of the dream cake action. I shared the cake with two neighbors — one who’d sampled the regular cake on two trials, and the other is a former vegan. They all enjoyed the vegan cake!

Rory was skeptical but was impressed by the cake’s flavor, which allowed the pandan to shine more than in the regular version. He adored the vegan whipped cream frosting. “No one would know that the whipped cream frosting is vegan,” he said.

The whipped cream

The main reason this cake took me so long to figure out was the whipped cream. I went six (6) rounds with it. Most of the experiments tasted gross or failed to fluff up. No, I didn’t want to use a commercial product because they’re unreliable and can taste funny. In the end, I manipulated a recipe by Miyoko Schindler to get the flavor, texture, and performance that I wanted for this frosting — which is icing on the cake in many ways.

With this vegan cake recipe, the Strawberry and Cream Dream Cake reaches a much a broader range of eaters!

🌱 If you follow a vegan diet— here’s your dream cake with variations and a luscious whipped cream frosting that you’ll be using for lots of other treats.

🥛 🚫 If you’re lactose intolerant, the whipped cream frosting is phenomenal. It would be great for the regular version of this cake or other cakes.

⚡️ If you’re an omnivore, these recipes offer useful takeaways on how to fool Mother Nature and up your cooking game.

While I have you here, watch my helpful video tip for moving a cake around:

There’s lots more below to help you avoid my fumbles and succeed:

• Two (2) recipes in full text and downloadable PDF

  • Vegan Pandan-Strawberry and Cream Cake

  • Vegan Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting

• Three (3) cake variations for vegan versions of Matcha-Strawberry and Cream Layer Cake, Citrusy Strawberry and Cream Layer Cake, and Vanilla-Strawberry and Cream Layer Cake

• Explainers about why certain hero ingredients work better than others

• Advance prep pointers to help you easily make this cake

Let’s whip up this cake!

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