This recipe is simple, delicious, uses only one bowl, and is quick—it will only take about 15 minutes to prep and then 30 minutes to bake. It’s completely delicious and only has ¼ of the emissions of a traditional recipe!
This recipe is only slightly modified from a great vegan dessert cookbook: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I highly recommend this book!

- 1 1/2 cup white flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 3/4 t baking powder
- 1/4 t salt
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 1/2 t vanilla
- ½ cup Earth Balance or you can use 1/3olive oil
- 1 t apple cider or white vinegar or lemon juice
- 3¾ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup vegan butter like Earth Balance
- 4 T soy milk or other milk alternative, amount is approximate
- 2 t vanilla
Servings |
Ingredients
Frosting
|
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- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour and 8-inch layer pan.
- For the cake, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder (the first four ingredients) to a bowl and mix well with a fork.
- Add the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon or mixer.
- Pour into the pan or pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes.
- It’s done if a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.
- For the frosting, put all ingredients in a bowl except a bit of the soy milk into a bowl and mix well.
- Add the remaining milk as needed to get the right consistency. You can also add more powdered sugar if it gets too runny.
Frost the cake when cool, and add seasonal fruits.
Here it is with just berries:
Check out the ingredient-by-ingredient carbon footprint information.
Carbon footprint for cake alone:
Ingredient
(this recipe) |
Carbon Footprint
g CO2-equivalents |
Ingredient
(traditional recipe) |
Carbon Footprint
g CO2-equivalents |
1.5 cups flour | 118 | 1.5 cups flour | 118 |
¾ cup sugar | 138 | ¾ cup sugar | 138 |
1 cup soymilk | 56 | 1 cup 2% milk | 326 |
½ margarine | 131 | ½ cup butter | 1335 |
1 egg | 156 | ||
Total | 443 | Total | 2,073 |
Carbon footprint for frosting alone:
Ingredient
(this recipe) |
Carbon Footprint
g CO2-equivalents |
Ingredient
(traditional recipe) |
Carbon Footprint
g CO2-equivalents |
3.75 cups conf. sugar | 432 | 1.5 cups flour | 432 |
½ cup margarine | 131 | ½ cup butter | 1335 |
¼ cup soymilk | 14 | 1/4 cup 2% milk | 81 |
Total | 577 | Total | 1,848 |
Carbon Footprint for Frosted Cake:
Total (this recipe) | 1,020 | Total (tradit.) | 3,921 |
The big difference in carbon footprint comes primarily from switching out the butter and milk. This is because these are both dairy products, and raising cattle for both beef and dairy is particularly resource-intensive, even when compared to other animal agriculture. Like all livestock, most of the energy they consume throughout their lives goes toward their metabolism or is lost in manure. But for cows and other ruminants, methane–a highly potent greenhouse gas– is naturally produced as part of their digestive process. So, reducing products from ruminant animals seriously shrinks your carbon footprint!
Enjoy!
If you do make this, you can put it on Instagram with #easymealsfortheplanet so we can check out what you made!
And please follow the blog for 1-2 low carbon footprint recipes per week!
Talk about a win win! This is a beautiful cake — and better for the planet. I loved it.