What’s better than Vegan Strawberry Shortcake? Replace the shortcake with doughnuts for a really delicious and special treat. Summer desserts don’t get much better than this vegan strawberry shortcake with sugar doughnuts! Homemade olive oil vanilla cake doughnuts, coated in cinnamon sugar layered with fresh juicy strawberries and coconut whipped cream. Truly such a sweet and delicious, fluffy, perfect summer dessert!
Growing up, my family ate a lot of strawberry shortcake. But it was always the biscuit kind. I was shocked one day when I found out a lot of people use some sort of fluffy white cake instead of biscuits. It seemed so wrong! I thought biscuits were the standard!
And although I am partial to biscuits for strawberry shortcake, I really thought this recipe idea sounded too good not to try. And you know what? A cake-type base is delicious too! Why only do it one way, when you can do vegan strawberry shortcake all the ways?
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
These doughnuts are cake doughnuts (baked, not fried) and a version of my ever-popular churro-inspired doughnuts. These ones are olive oil vanilla flavour covered in cinnamon sugar and oh my gosh… they are SO yummy! I have been seeing olive oil cakes all over instagram lately so I wanted to put my own spin on it. And you can never go wrong with vanilla!
I definitely want to try making classic fried doughnuts sometime, but deep frying still scares me, so that will be a project for another day!
We keep it simple with the strawberries, only adding a dash of sugar to bring out the juice and then lightly mashing them. It’s like a combination of a strawberry sauce, with larger chunks of fresh strawberries, all in a strawberry syrup. You can’t get much better than that!
Lastly, for the coconut whip, I just kept it super simple and used the canned stuff. But feel free to make your own with coconut cream! I have a recipe for that in my vegan parfait with chocolate chip cookies, strawberries and coconut whip (a seriously easy and amazing vegan dessert).
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Strawberry Shortcake with Sugar Doughnuts
- A delicious twist on a classic. The cinnamon sugar doughnut is the pièce de résistance of this easy vegan dessert. Plus you have juicy strawberries and luscious coconut whipped cream… What could be better?
- The perfect summer dessert. Take advantage of strawberry season with this delicious vegan strawberry shortcake recipe. All eaters will enjoy this classic summer dessert!
- A little better for you. The doughnuts are baked, not fried, so they’re a lot lower in fat. But you won’t even care because they are SO delicious and the perfect vessel for our strawberries and coconut whipped cream.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Olive Oil & Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
- All purpose flour: This is the base of the cake doughnuts.
- Cane sugar: In some countries (like the United States), conventional cane sugar may not be vegan (but organic usually is).
- Baking powder: To give our cake a little lift! Newer baking powder is better. Older baking powder (that’s been in your cupboard a while) can result in a flatter or more dense doughnut.
- Non-dairy milk: Use any unflavoured, unsweetened non-dairy milk.
- Ground flaxseed: We’ll mix this with water to create our egg substitute.
- Olive oil: If you don’t have olive oil, you can substitute another oil like grapeseed or canola. But I highly recommend using olive oil if you can!
- Vanilla extract: For a lovely vanilla flavour in our cake doughnuts.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Cane sugar and ground cinnamon: Use cane sugar and some cinnamon to make the amazing topping.
For Serving
- Fresh strawberries: Pick up the reddest, freshest strawberries you can find.
- Cane sugar: We’ll toss the chopped strawberries with a little sugar to help bring out their sweetness and natural juices.
- Coconut whipped cream: You can buy this or make it yourself. I have a recipe for it in my vegan parfait with chocolate chip cookies, strawberries and coconut whip post.
How to Make Vegan Strawberry Shortcake with Sugar Doughnuts
- Start the oven and prepare your flax egg. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Stir together ground flax and water and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Make the doughnut batter. In a mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Add non-dairy milk, oil, flax egg and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Bake the doughnuts. Spray the doughnut pan with spray oil. Divide batter into doughnut pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in a doughnut comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Let doughnuts cool. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan.
- Prepare the strawberries. Meanwhile, toss strawberries with sugar, then mash lightly and set aside.
- Coat doughnuts in cinnamon sugar. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Dip each doughnut in the sugar mixture, coating it.
- Assemble the vegan strawberry shortcake. When ready to serve, top doughnuts with strawberries and coconut whipped cream.
Ideas for Serving
This vegan strawberry shortcake with sugar doughnuts is the ideal dessert for summer get-togethers like barbecues or dinner on the patio. You could even set up a little dessert station where guests can help themselves.
Serve these vegan strawberry shortcake desserts with fun summertime drinks like this Vegan Berries & Cream Pink Drink (Starbucks Inspired) or this easy Sonic Ocean Water (copycat recipe)!
How to Store
The doughnuts can be stored for up to 5 days in an airtight container, but store them out of direct sunlight.
Sugared strawberries are best the first day, so you might just want to eat up any leftovers (or freeze them for a future smoothie!). If you are using store bought coconut whipped cream, refer to the package for how long it will keep.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make this recipe gluten-free?
I have not tested this recipe with a gluten-free flour but if I were to try it, I’d use a good quality 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.
Can I make the doughnuts without a doughnut pan?
I haven’t tried it, but I found this article on how to bake doughnuts without a doughnut pan!
Can I use biscuits instead?
Of course! If you prefer biscuits for your vegan strawberry shortcake, by all means do that. For extra fun, try my vegan chocolate chip cream cheese biscuits!
Can I use frozen strawberries?
When thawed, frozen strawberries can be a bit soggy, but if you don’t mind more of a strawberry compote, you can definitely try thawing strawberries and then mixing them with the sugar (you may need to chop them a bit depending on how big your frozen strawberries are).
Is there an alternative to coconut whipped cream?
Sure, you can use any other vegan whipped cream. Or swap it with vanilla non-dairy ice cream or even vegan buttercream frosting! I have a recipe for vegan vanilla buttercream frosting in my vegan + gluten-free chocolate cake post.
Similar Vegan Summer Dessert Recipes to Try Next
- Strawberry Chocolate “Honeycomb” Ice Cream
- Vegan Blueberry Crisp Mug Cake
- Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Vegan & Gluten-Free)
- Vegan Cinnamon Peach Crisp Pie
- Easy Strawberry Bread
- Chocolate Cookie Dough Swirl Vegan Ice Cream Bars
Vegan Sugar Doughnut Strawberry Shortcake
- Total Time: 1 hour (including cooling)
- Yield: 6 servings
Description
Homemade olive oil vanilla cake doughnuts, coated in cinnamon sugar layered with fresh juicy strawberries and coconut whipped cream.
Ingredients
Olive Oil & Vanilla Cake Doughnuts:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup nondairy milk
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp of water)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar:
- 1/2 cup sugar + 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Strawberries:
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
- 1 tbsp sugar
- coconut whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Stir together ground flax and water and let sit for 5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Add non-dairy milk, oil, flax egg and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Spray the doughnut pan with spray oil. Divide batter into doughnut pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in a doughnut comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan.
- Meanwhile, toss strawberries with sugar, then mash lightly and set aside.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Dip each doughnut in the sugar mixture, coating it.
- When ready to serve, top doughnuts with strawberries and coconut whipped cream.
Notes
- You can buy the coconut whipped cream or make it yourself. I have a recipe for it in my vegan parfait with chocolate chip cookies, strawberries and coconut whip post. Alternatively, use any vegan whipped cream, non-dairy ice cream, or vegan buttercream frosting.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
