Strawberry Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

It's my birthday!  So I'm baking myself a cake!  But last week it was my roommate's birthday, and since she's alergic to a lot of things, I wanted to bake a cake she was able to eat as well.  So I took all dairy out of the following cake and frosting.  No eggs, no butter, no cheese.  Wait.  A cream cheese frosting without any dairy?  Yes, yes indeed.  It is definitely not the real thing, but it certainly tastes good and cream cheesy.

Now as for what makes me happy...strawberries!  So I did some searching, found a lovely little strawberry cake recipe on Joy The Baker's site, and then Emily-proofed it.

Here's what you'll need:

Strawberry Layer Cake

1 18.5 oz box White Cake Mix (no pudding)
1 3oz Package Strawberry Jello Mix
1 Tbs Self Rising Flour
4 tsp Sugar
3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
Egg Substitute the equivalent of 4 Eggs (or actually use 4 eggs if you're not allergic)
1/2 Cup Water
1/3 cup Fresh Strawberries, finely diced


1. Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease and flour 3 8-inch cake pans.


2. Combine cake mix, jello, flour and sugar and mix well.  Add in oil and mix.  Add egg substitute and mix well.  Add water and strawberries and mix until combined.


3. Divide batter evenly between 3 cake pans.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pans for 20 minutes, then carefully remove to cool on racks.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz Container Toffutti Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Dairy Free or Soy Margarine
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice


1. Combine Toffutti and margarine and beat until fluffy.  Slowly add powdered sugar while beating.  Add vanilla and lemon juice and mix until well combined. 

The lemon juice adds that tang to the frosting that you would expect from a real cream cheese, but don't usually get from a tofu cream cheese.  And even though there are three cups of powdered sugar, it is not overly sweet, as I do not prefer overly sweet frostings.  This recipe makes enough to fill and frost a three layer 8-inch round cake.

 I filled the cake with a layer of sliced strawberries and frosting.

This cake debuted at my Carnival Caity birthday party.  There were also slip n slides and pinatas in attendance.