Vanilla Cake Pan Cake

Excellent, easy, quick vegan cake! You can’t go wrong with this vanilla version of the standard (chocolate) cake pan cake. I’m also going to try other flavors, like cherry, lemon, and orange.

Ingredients

  • 240g all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur since this is based on their recipe)
  • ¾ teaspoon table salt
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 198g water
  • 99g light olive oil
  • 149g granulated sugar
  • 21g cider vinegar or white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8” square or 9” round pan that is at least 2” deep.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the water, olive oil, sugar, vinegar, vanilla, and almond extract.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine. It’s OK for a few small lumps to remain.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  6. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top feels set, the edges are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Remove the cake from the oven and either serve the cake warm from the oven or allow it to cool completely in the pan before frosting.

Notes

March 31, 2025: I made a half-size cake today using this recipe. I halved the ingredients, just slightly reducing the sugar to 72g, and added ¼-½ teaspoon of vanilla bean paste (in addition to the extract) just because I had it and like it. I chose apple cider vinegar over white vinegar. I baked the cake in an 8½ x 4½” pan on rack 2 for a total of 22 minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes. It came out perfectly! I made a half-recipe of America’s Test Kitchen chocolate frosting (my favorite). There was more than necessary for this cake, so we also used some on a small banana bread I made a few days later.

April 7, 2025: Today I made a maraschino cherry version of this half-size cake. I added 44g of maraschino cherries, chopped fine, and 32g of the cherry juice (along with 67g of water) as a substitute for the 99g of water. Because of the sweetness of the cherry syrup, I reduced the sugar to 65g. I reduced the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon and increased the almond extract to ½ teaspoon. I baked it exactly the same as the vanilla version, and it came out well. Next time, I may try using white vinegar instead of the apple cider vinegar, and I might also use a bit more almond extract for more “cherry” flavor.