Best vegan birthday cakes in Vancouver

If you’re struggling to find a good vegan birthday cake in Vancouver, then look no further! After many years of planning birthdays for my vegan friends and boyfriend (he’s also dairy intolerant), I have tried a large range of vegan birthday cakes in Vancouver. Sadly, not all were good – some too dry, too sweet, or bland. Over the years I’ve found some pretty solid cakes.

Keep reading for a list of my favourite vegan birthday cakes in Vancouver…
For my favourite vegan restaurants in Vancouver, click here.

TO LIVE FOR BAKERY

I’ve been a huge fan of Erin Ireland’s To Live For brand for years, especially the delicious lemon loafs. I was super excited when To Live For Bakery & Cafe opened its brick and mortar location in east Vancouver. My partner ordered the Funfetti vegan birthday cake for my birthday party and all of our guests were raving about how good it was. They did such a great job decorating the cake too! I can’t wait to try out the other flavours.

BONUS BAKERY

Not only does Bonus Bakery have amazing cookies, they also have one of the yummiest birthday cakes in the entire city! It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with sprinkles, so of course I was immediately drawn to the Naked Sprinkle Cake with four layers of sprinkle crumble. This cake tastes just as good as it looks. It was super moist and the vanilla icing with the crunchy crumble was just perfect. I ordered this for a colleague’s birthday and everyone loved it, even the non-vegans. At just $35, this cake is on the smaller side at 5.5 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall, but it actually fed quite a few people (I think around eight?). This is a cake I would gladly eat for my birthday every year 😊.

INNOCENT ICE CREAM

Since developing a dairy allergy, one of the things I’ve missed the most is ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen (lol). For my birthday last year, my boyfriend got me an ice cream cake from a store that will not be named and unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan. It didn’t have a cookie crust, so it just felt like I was eating regular ice cream. I had almost given up on vegan ice cream cakes when I found out that one of my favourite ice cream joints, Innocent Ice Cream, makes vegan ice cream cakes with cookie crumble crust! The flavours are customizable, you can pick and choose your own combinations. For my vegan friend’s birthday, I ordered a 7” vegan ice cream cake ($48), half chocolate peanut butter fudge and half vanilla coconut with a chocolate chip cookie crust flavour. The cookie crust is amazing and really ties in all the textures and flavours! If I received this cake for my birthday, I’d be very happy (hint, hint 😉).

LEVEL V BAKERY

Level V Bakery makes some of the most beautiful vegan birthday cakes I’ve ever seen! They are a small bakery/café, sharing their space with Whisk Matcha Café. I ordered this for a friend who also has a dairy allergy. I had a hard time choosing between the flavours… Crunchy Chocolate Peanut Butter, Tiramisu, Earl Grey, Cheesecake… they all sound delicious! We settled on the Hojicha Opera Cake. The cake was very moist, I would’ve never known it was vegan! The Hojicha Opera flavour had a nice, light taste of tea. The prices are very reasonable too, $65 for a 9” inch cake and it definitely fed more than six people! Their 6″ cake is $45. Level V Bakery also makes plant-based pastries, which I’m super excited to try.

LEMONADE GLUTEN FREE BAKERY

Lemonade Gluten Free Bakery in the Fairview and South Cambie area is a full-service bakery offering 100% gluten-free baked goods! Like I was prior to trying this bakery, you’re probably skeptical about gluten-free cakes. I am happy to report that Lemonade’s baked goods are amazing! Though it is not fully vegan (just dairy-free), the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake is one of our favourite dairy-free cakes in Vancouver that we’ve ever tried. I ordered it for my boyfriend’s birthday and shortly after he made plans to order another shortly after. For full vegans, Lemonade Gluten Free Bakery has a Chocolate Coconut Cake and Chocolate Passionfruit Tart which are both fully vegan, among with an assortment of other baked goods.

WHOLE FOODS

Yes, that’s right! Whole Foods has a bakery and you can call to preorder birthday cakes. I’ve ordered their vegan chocolate cake for several birthdays over the years (I usually pick up from the location on Robson Street). The cake is double chocolate and on the simpler side, with prices starting around $40 depending on the size. This cake is quite dense and sweet. I’d say the consistency is very thick, almost like a brownie. This has been tried and approved by many non-vegans as well!

PUREBREAD

This vegan cake from Purebread is thicccc! The two layers of chocolate were so moist and dense. The dark chocolate soy ganache paired with the cake crumble was perfect. It was hard to tell that it’s vegan. At $57, it is great value because it’s quite large and feeds up to 10 people. I ordered this cake online for a friend’s birthday and picked up at their location on West Hastings. Purebread has several locations around Vancouver (and one in Whistler), which makes pickup convenient.

EDIBLE FLOURS

I’m actually quite picky about what I include on these lists. I almost didn’t include vegan bakery Edible Flours because I wasn’t a huge fan of their Black Forest cake when I tried it a few years ago. However this year for my birthday, I was gifted PB & J and was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was! It’s a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, filled with a fresh layer of raspberries. The flavour of the frosting was on point and perfect when paired with the juicy raspberries. Anyone who’s a fan of peanut butter would love this cake! Gluten-free options are available (though I wouldn’t recommend them unless you have an allergy/dietary restrictions… gluten-free cake is just not the same!).

I hope this list was helpful! Please don’t hesitate to let me know if there are any other vegan ice cream cakes in Vancouver I should give a try.