This scrumptiously layered Nut Cake is an easy vegan dessert recipe that is perfect for the holidays! It is made of incredibly moist and tender rum-laced hazelnut cake nestled between nut-flavored dairy-free cream frosting. It is versatile, freezer-friendly, and delightfully festive! Use walnuts to make a walnut cake!
The Best Vegan Nut Cake Recipe
I cannot believe how outrageously yummy and fancy-looking this cake turned out to be! The cake layers are super moist with a nice molasses undertone from the rum, warmth from the cinnamon, and crunch from the ground hazelnuts. The cream layer has the perfect balance of sweet and nutty and is melt-in-your-mouth delicious! No one will believe that this stunning nut layer cake recipe is without eggs, dairy milk and butter.
I garnished it with more nuts and white currants, but if you are planning to make it for Christmas, you can always decorate it with cookies or other berries and edible decors to make it festive and cheery.
A Versatile Vegan Cake
What I really love about this cake is how you can easily make several variations with a few simple changes. Here are some ideas that you can try:
- Make it Fruity. If you like, you can spread the cake layers with fruit jelly, jam or compote before adding the cream. You can also add raisins or dried fruits to the batter before baking it. Lastly, garnish the cake with fresh fruit slices or berries before serving.
- Fancy a chocolate nut cake? If you love the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate aka nut nougat cream or vegan Nutella, you can spread the nut cake layers with chocolate cream or chocolate mousse and finish the cake with chocolate ganache.
- Turn it into a loaf or bundt cake. While a round, layered cake calls for a more celebratory setting, a loaf cake can be enjoyed on a simple afternoon with your fave tea or coffee. Just pour the nut cake batter into a loaf or bundt pan and bake as instructed. You can enjoy the coffee cake with or without the cream frosting.
- Make Cupcakes. Another great way to enjoy your nut cake is by turning it into single-serve cupcakes! These handy sized cakes are ideal for potlucks, picnics, and for gifting too.
Ingredients Used
For the Nut cake
- Flour: for fluffy soft cakes, all-purpose, light wheat, or spelt flour or a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend works best. Using heavier flour, such as whole wheat or oat flour, will make baked goods more compact.
- Ground hazelnuts: or you can use other types of nuts like pecans, walnuts, cashews, or almonds ground into flour.
- Raw cane sugar: if you do not have this, it is okay to use other types of sugar like regular white sugar, brown sugar or coconut sugar.
- Plant milk: soy milk is best for vegan baking, but you can use other plant milk like almond milk and oat milk too.
- Neutral oil: butter-flavored canola oil or sunflower oil would be amazing for this recipe.
- Rum: aside from giving the batter a deeper, more complex flavor, rum also makes the cake a lot moister and softer. For a alcohol-free version, you can leave it out or opt for other flavors like vanilla extract, almond extract, coffee or orange juice.
- Cinnamon: while this is optional, nothing gives cakes a more festive flavor than cinnamon!
- Apple cider vinegar: works with the leaving agents to make the cake light and fluffy. You can use lemon juice as an alternative.
- Baking powder + baking soda: are the leavening agents for the cake.
- Salt
For the Nut cream
- Vegan whipping cream: or other whippable vegetable creams. If you can’t find a good vegan whipping cream brand, you can also make cream cheese frosting or buttercream frosting.
- Fine sugar
- Cream stabilizer: this will keep the cream moist and firm even after storage. You can use cream of tartar too.
- Ground hazelnuts: or other ground nuts of your choosing.
To garnish (optional)
- Chopped hazelnuts (hazelnut brittle)
- White currants
How to make Nut Cream Cake
As always, I recommend checking out the recipe video and these step-by-step instructions first. Then, you can find the full recipe with the exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Make the hazelnut cake layers
Start by sifting flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add ground hazelnuts, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar and whisk together. In a measuring cup, combine plant milk, oil, rum and apple cider vinegar. Then pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Divide the batter into two parchment paper lined round cake pans and bake at 356 °F (180 °C) for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Then allow to cool completely.
Step 2: Whip up the nut cream frosting
In a mixing bowl, beat the vegan whipping cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, gradually adding the sugar and cream stabilizer. Then gently fold in the ground hazelnuts with a spatula.
Step 3: Layer the cake
Cut each cake in half horizontally so that you have 4 even cake layers. Place one cake layer on a plate and spread about ¼ of the nut cream on top. Place the next cake layer on top, spread cream on it again and repeat this process for the third layer as well. Then place the fourth layer on top and spread the whole cake with cream.
Step 4: Decorate your layer cake!
Finally, sprinkle the sides of the cake with chopped hazelnuts. This works best when you put the cake on a clean work surface and then carefully “throw” the hazelnuts to the sides of the cake. Then pick up the remaining nuts and throw them at it again.
Spoon the remaining whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe onto the cake. Decorate with white currants or other fruits and berries as desired and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Enjoy!
Tips when Making Vegan Nut Cake
- Do not overmix the batter! Simply mix the dry and wet ingredients until just combined, a few small lumps are okay.
- Check for doneness! The baking time can vary depending on the type of oven, the type of baking pan, or whether you cover the cake during baking. Therefore, be sure to test with a skewer! Remember: the longer you bake the cake, the drier it gets.
- Bake ahead. I always recommend baking the cake layers the day before, as they are easier to cut and layer when they are well chilled and set. Wrap the cakes tightly in plastic wrap after they have cooled and store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble.
- Cool! If you are assembling the cake on the same day, make sure to place the cake layers on a cooling rack until they are completely cooled down before layering. If you layer while they are still warm, the cream will melt and will turn the cake soggy.
- Use up leftovers! Any cake parts that you cut off to make the layers can be used to make Vegan Cake Pops so they do not go to waste.
Storage Notes
Leftover cake can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, depending on how stable the whipped cream frostig is. You can also freeze the cake layers tightly wrapped in plastic for 2 to 3 months.
This Vegan Nut Cake recipe is:
- Quite easy to make
- Can be made gluten-free
- Super moist
- Tender
- Dairy-free
- Versatile
- Delicious
- Festive
- The perfect cake for the holidays!
More Vegan Cake Recipes
- Chocolate Vanilla Cake
- Poppy Seed Lemon Layer Cake
- Raspberry Almond Cake
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Snickers Cake
- Blueberry Lemon Cake
- Strawberry Lemon Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Blueberry Coconut Cake
- Strawberry Cream Cake
- Vanilla Cake
- Strawberry Coconut Cake
- German Danube Wave Cake
- German Bienenstich Kuchen
If you try this vegan nut cream layer cake recipe, feel free to leave me a comment and a star rating! And if you take a photo of your result and share it on Instagram or Facebook, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka because I love seeing your creations! Enjoy baking! 🙂
Vegan Nut Cream Cake
Author:Ingredients
Nut Cake
- 2 ⅔ cup (320 g) all-purpose flour or spelt flour or gluten-free flour*.
- 1 cup (100 g) ground hazelnuts (hazelnut flour) or other ground nuts, *see notes
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda or 1 tsp more baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 cup (200 g) raw cane sugar or other sugar
- 1 ⅓ cup (320 ml) soy milk or other plant milk (*see notes)
- ½ cup (120 ml) neutral oil e.g. butter-flavored canola oil or sunflower oil
- 2-3 tbsp rum or 5 drops of rum flavoring or other flavoring (*see notes)
- 1-2 tsp cinnamon optional
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or 2 tbsp lemon juice
Nut Cream
- 14 oz (400 ml) vegan whipping cream or other whippable dairy-free cream
- 3 tbsp fine sugar or to taste
- 2 sachets (16 g) cream stabilizer or ¼ tsp cream of tartar (optional)
- 1 cup (100 g) ground hazelnuts (hazelnut flour) or other ground nuts
For Garnish
- 1 cup chopped hazelnuts hazelnut brittle
- white currants
Instructions
*Note: Check out the step-by-step pictures and recipe video above!
Nut Cake (*see tip below)
- Preheat the oven to 356 °F (180 °C). Grease the sides of two 8-inch (20 cm) springform pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add ground hazelnuts, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar and whisk together.
- In a measuring cup, combine plant milk, oil, rum and apple cider vinegar. Then pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Divide the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
Cream Frosting
- In a mixing bowl, beat the vegan whipping cream with an electric mixer until stiff, incorporating the sugar and cream stabilizer. Then gently fold in the ground hazelnuts with a spatula.
Layer the cake
- Cut each cake in half horizontally and, if necessary, cut off the top a little (you can make cake pops from leftover cake), so that you have 4 even cake layers.
- Place one cake layer on a cake plate and spread about ¼ of the nut cream on top.
- Place the next cake layer on top, spread cream on it again and repeat this process for the third layer as well. Then place the fourth layer on top and spread the whole cake with cream.
- Finally, sprinkle the sides of the cake with chopped hazelnuts (this works best if you put the cake on a clean work surface and then carefully "throw" the nuts to the sides of the cake. Then pick up the remaining nuts and throw them at it again).
- Spoon the remaining whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe it onto the cake. Decorate with white currants as desired and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Flour: For fluffy soft cakes, all-purpose, light wheat, or spelt flour or a gluten-free flour blend works best. Using a heavier flour, such as whole wheat or oat flour, will make baked goods more compact.
- Plant milk: soy milk is best for vegan baking, but you can use other plant milks too.
- Fruit layer: If you like, you can spread the cake layers with fruit jelly, jam or compote before adding the cream.
- Fancy a chocolate nut cake? If you love the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate aka nut nougat cream or vegan Nutella, you can spread the nut cake layers with chocolate cream or chocolate mousse and finish the cake with chocolate ganache.
- Cream: If you can’t find a good vegan whipping cream brand, you can also make a cream cheese frosting or buttercream frosting.
- The baking time can vary depending on the type of oven, the type of baking pan or whether you cover the cake during baking. Therefore, be sure to test with a skewer! Remember: the longer you bake the cake, the drier it gets.
- Tip: When making layer cakes, I always recommend baking the cake layers the day before, as they are easier to cut and layer when they are well chilled and set. Wrap the cakes tightly in plastic wrap after they have cooled and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble.
- More helpful tips and information, including storing and freezing notes, are mentioned in the text above the recipe card!
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I really like this recipe. Although I couldn’t cut my cakes up into two parts each without them crumbling apart, there was no way I could lift up a slice without it falling apart. What did I do wrong?
Did you chill the cakes overnight before cutting as mentioned in the recipe?
Yes I chilled them overnight, I made them cream the next day and wanted to build the cake, but it got too crumbly especially on the sides, I cut through it but I was afraid to pick up the layers, I could feel them falling apart 😓 I made a few of your other recipes and I have never had this problem before.
Did you make any changes in the recipe? Did you stick to the recipe exactly or did you swap ingredients? Also, did you measure the ingredients correctly in grams and ml using a kitchen scale? Did you use ground hazelnuts from the store or did you process whole hazelnuts into flour at home?