If you have already established a larder packed with vegan-friendly substitutions (including quinoa, legumes, seeds and nuts) and a shelf full of vegan cookbooks, then you might just be looking to find some additional inspiration for healthy desserts.
If, however, you are new to Veganism or are preparing a vegan meal for a friend or loved one, you might be longing to find a straightforward recipe that uses up some basics around the kitchen, rather than requiring an expensive trip to the shops!
As you will see from my selection below of vegan baking recipes, I'm all about the idea of easy cooking and simple ingredients.
The recipes all still look and taste as delicious as the full fat versions.
What's more, you can impress guests at your summer BBQ by cooking dessert free from animal products at the barbecue itself! Scroll to the end for said recipe and more information on the method (just make sure no meat has been cooked on the same grill beforehand!). Here are some of our favourite nutritious, plant-based desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Vegan Food Essentials
First-time vegans may not be familiar with the vast range of meatless foods that can help to add protein, flavour and texture to their dishes. Moreover, some people who have attempted a diet change may have given up because they found food boring and fell out of love with eating. Here is a handy guide to some of the best food types to keep in your house to keep making delicious recipes for you, your friends and your family!
Beans
Namely, lentils and chickpeas - lentils are great to add to soups and salads, while chickpeas can go into pasta dishes and stews.
Grains
Grains, like brown and white rice, quinoa, and bulgar, offer nutrition, texture, and flavour.
Tempeh
Tempeh is a great source of protein.
Tofu
Tofu is essential for any vegan kitchen.
Nuts
Almonds, pine nuts and cashews are good to keep handy and whole or chopped nuts can be put in salads and grain dishes.
Dried fruits
Raisins, dried apricots, and dates are perfect for snacking and for adding flavour to cooked dishes.
Miso
Keep light and dark miso paste in the refrigerator as they can make excellent soup and dressings for salad.
Coconut oil
Coconut oil is very versatile and can be used to sear food, to add into dishes or it can be used for bake.
Maple syrup
Maple syrup is a natural sweetener and can be used for baking, making dressings and glazes, or for eating with vegan pancakes (see recipes below).
Ground flax seeds
Flax seeds are super nutritious and loaded with fibre and Omega-3 fatty acids. Stir them into oats, add them to muffin recipes (they are a great egg replacement) or mix them into smoothies to get their goodness.
Delicious Vegan Cake Recipe You’ll Fall in Love With
Malaysian Coconut-Pandan Vegan Cake
This soft, aromatic vegan cake blends the tropical richness of coconut milk, the floral scent of pandan, and a hint of palm sugar (gula melaka) for that truly Malaysian essence. Light, moist, and perfectly sweetened, it’s a cake that feels like home, comforting, familiar, and irresistibly fragrant.
Ingredients
For the Cake Batter:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour (or cake flour for a lighter texture)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup pandan juice* (see below)
- ⅓ cup neutral oil (such as sunflower or canola)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lime juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Pandan Juice:
- Blend 6–8 fresh pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) with ½ cup water, then strain.
For the Glaze (Optional but Recommended):
- ¼ cup coconut cream
- 2 tbsp gula melaka syrup (melted palm sugar)
- A pinch of salt
👩🍳 Instructions
- Preheat and Prepare
Preheat your oven to 170°C (fan) or 180°C (conventional).
Grease a 7-inch round cake tin and line the base with parchment paper. - Mix Dry Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined. - Combine Wet Ingredients
In another bowl, whisk the coconut milk, pandan juice, oil, sugar, vinegar (or lime juice), and vanilla extract.
Stir gently until the sugar is mostly dissolved. - Make the Batter
Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, folding gently until smooth.
Avoid overmixing — you just want everything combined. - Bake
Pour the batter into your prepared tin and bake for 35–40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. - Prepare the Gula Melaka Glaze (Optional)
Warm the coconut cream and gula melaka syrup in a small pan over low heat.
Stir until smooth and glossy. Allow to cool slightly before drizzling over the cooled cake. - Serve and Enjoy
Slice, serve, and enjoy your soft, fragrant vegan pandan cake with a cup of Malaysian-style coconut or soy milk tea.
🌿 Baker’s Notes
- For a richer coconut flavour, replace ¼ cup of coconut milk with coconut cream.
- You can top the cake with toasted coconut flakes or crushed roasted peanuts for extra crunch.
- This cake keeps well for up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
💡 Why Malaysians Love It
The blend of pandan, gula melaka, and coconut is iconic in Malaysian desserts like onde-onde and kuih seri muka. Translating those beloved flavours into a vegan cake makes it both nostalgic and innovative, a perfect dessert for festive gatherings, birthdays, or just a cosy tea-time treat.
Top Malaysian Vegan Butter for Baking Lovers (and Vegan-Friendly Butter Alternatives)
1. Grabenord Plant-Based Buttery Spread
While not strictly a Malaysian brand, this plant-based “buttery spread” is increasingly accessible in specialist vegan shops in Malaysia. It offers a smooth texture and decent “buttery” flavour suitable for vegan cake batters.
Why consider it for baking: It behaves like a soft butter or margarine in mixing and creaming, which is helpful for achieving a tender cake crumb.
Any caveats: As with many spreads, the water/oil ratio may differ from dairy butter, so when creaming with sugar, you may wish to chill the block briefly to firm it up.
2. White Cub Unsalted Vegan Butter
Another international vegan butter alternative, this unsalted version is handy for home bakers who want more control over seasoning, especially in cakes, tarts or cookie doughs.
What stands out: Being unsalted means you can adjust salt in the recipe more precisely, a useful feature for professional-style baking.
Consideration: Check availability and shipping/import cost in Malaysia, as international vegan speciality items may have premium pricing.
3. White Cub Salted Vegan Butter
This salted variant is convenient for general baking when you don’t want to add extra salt manually. Useful for quick cakes, muffins or when the recipe assumes salted butter.
Strength: Plug-and-play replacement for dairy butter in many recipes.
Watch out: If you’re following a low-salt diet or want full control of salt content, you may prefer the unsalted version above.
4. Butters & More Vegan Premium Unsweetened
This brand is marketed as a “premium” vegan butter alternative, which suggests a closer match to dairy butter in terms of texture and performance for baking.
Ideal for: More advanced home bakers who bake layered cakes, use buttercream, or make pastries where butter consistency matters.
Tip: Because it is unsweetened and neutral-flavoured, it works well for both sweet and savoury vegan baking.
Locally Available Vegan-Friendly Spreads in Malaysia
In addition to the above product entities, there are some spreads and margarines available locally in Malaysia which are suited for vegan or dairy-free baking. They may require slight adjustments (because they are not explicitly branded as “vegan butter block”), but they are credible and popular.
- Nuttelex Buttery Spread – Available via vegan shops in Malaysia. This is dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free and labelled for baking and cooking.
- Suitable for baking: The brand states, “for cooking, baking and frying simply swap your butter or oil content in your recipes for the same amount of Nuttelex.”
- Note: It is a spread rather than a firm block of butter, so in recipes where stage-creaming is important, you may wish to chill it first or adjust technique slightly.
- Malaysian margarine alternatives (e.g., Daisy Margarine) – Though not specifically labelled vegan, many are pure vegetable-oil based and dairy-free. For example, Daisy Margarine is part of a Malaysian manufacturer (Lam Soon Group) and uses vegetable oils, marketed for baking (“BakePlus technology delivers richer, buttery flavour and improved volume”).
- Caveat: “Margarine” may still contain traces of dairy or milk derivatives in some cases; always check the label if you require a strictly vegan.
- Useful as an economical alternative when specialised vegan butter is not easily available.
What to Look For When Choosing Vegan Butter for Baking
When selecting a vegan butter substitute in Malaysia (or ordering for delivery), keep the following criteria in mind:
- Fat-to-water ratio: Traditional dairy butter has a certain fat content and water content. Vegan spreads or butters vary significantly; spreads may have more water or a softer texture, which can affect creaming, rising and texture of cakes.
- Firmness/block vs spread: For baking, especially when creaming with sugar, a firmer block works better than a soft tub spread.
- Salted vs unsalted: Decide whether your recipe assumes salted butter; if so, a salted vegan brand simplifies substitution. If you use unsalted, be sure to add salt per recipe.
- Ingredient profile: For vegan baking, it’s ideal to use products with minimal dairy/milk derivatives, and preferably labelled vegan. Also check for allergens (soy, nuts).
- Availability and price in Malaysia: Imported vegan butter tends to cost more and may be shipped chilled; local substitutes (margarines) may be easier to source, but check for vegan certification or dairy-free status.
For Malaysian bakers looking for excellent vegan butter alternatives:
- If you want the easiest and most reliable choice right now, use Nuttelex Buttery Spread (available via vegan supply stores in Malaysia).
- If you are willing to order/import, choose one of the premium block-style vegan butters listed above (Grabenord, White Cub, Butters & More) for top baking performance.
- If budget or availability is tight, a well-formulated vegetable-oil margarine (like Daisy or other local brands) can work, just check the ingredients and account for slightly different texture.
With any of these choices, you can confidently bake vegan cakes, cookies and pastries in Malaysia — achieving good texture and flavour without dairy butter. For more ideas on healthy plant-based dishes and treats, explore vegan health benefits and recipes.
10 Vegan Baking Recipes For Parties (Or Just For You!)
Here are ten recipes that use straightforward ingredients, suitable for any vegetarian or vegan diet.
1. Vegan tiffin
Ingredients
• 75g coconut oil, plus extra for the tin
• 200g vegan dark chocolate
(at least 70%), roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 200g vegan ginger nuts
• 100g dried cranberries
• 50g pistachios, toasted and chopped
Method
1. Lightly oil a 20cm square brownie tin with coconut oil and line the base with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil and golden syrup in the microwave in 30-second bursts until smooth and glossy.
2. Break the ginger nuts into small pieces in a bowl, then add the dried cranberries and pistachios. Scrape in the chocolate mixture and give everything a good mix to combine, then spoon the tiffin into the tin. Use the back of the spoon to smooth out the top and press it down, then chill in the fridge for 2 hrs or until set hard. Once set, cut into 25 mini squares. Will keep for a week in the fridge.
Recipe courtesy of BBC Good Food.
2. Sticky Toffee Pear Pudding
Quite possibly the most iconic British pudding around, up there with Jam Roly Poly, Bread and Butter Pudding and Spotted Dick, Sticky Toffee Pudding is a very moist sponge cake traditionally made with dates and toffee.
This lighter version of sticky toffee pudding contains all the main ingredients, such as dates and spices, yet it additionally offers the juicy texture of poached pears. A crowd-pleaser at any dinner party, your guests will be shocked to find out that this is a fully vegan-friendly recipe!
As well as being dairy and egg free, this delicious dessert has just 27g of fat and 2g of saturates. Sugars come in at 75g, meanwhile salt is low with 0.9g per serving.
Though it may sound disgustingly healthy for a rich pudding, don't be fooled. This sweet dish still comes in at over 600kcal per serving!
You can find the full recipe for this on BBC Good Food.
3. Avocado strawberry ices
Avocado and strawberry? Together?? Indeed.
These super yummy frozen dishes are easy to make and are completely free of dairy or eggs. The avocado, which is often referred to as a superfood, replaces the dairy element usually found in ice creams and frozen yoghurts; meanwhile, the natural sweetness of the strawberries is brought out by pairing them with balsamic vinegar.
With avocados being packed full of good fat, this summer's dessert has 7g of fat per portion. Meanwhile, there is less than 5g of saturated fats, carbs, sugars, fibre, protein and salt in each serving, with the number of calories totalling 94.
For the full list of ingredients and cooking method, visit BBC Good Food.
4. Banana bread
Wet ingredients
• 8 very ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup (252g) maple syrup
• 1/3 cup (76g) coconut oil (melt if it’s cold and hard)
• 1 cup (250ml) unsweetened plain almond milk
• 1/4 cup (43g) chia seeds
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients
• 1 cup (126g) millet flour (buy, or make your own by grinding 1 cup whole millet in a blender until fine flour forms)
• 1 cup (169g) rice flour (buy, or make your own as per millet directions above)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 cups (186g) unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
Method
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit or 140-160 degrees Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, mash 6 bananas until smooth. Stir in remaining wet ingredients; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except coconut. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients; stir until fully combined. Stir in coconut.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared loaf tins, smoothing out tops. Top each loaf with slices of the remaining 2 bananas. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Store loaves well-covered in the fridge.
Recipe courtesy of Vegan Society
5. Brownies
Ingredients
• 110g plain flour (
20g cocoa powder (0.7oz - 1/4 cup)
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• 10g desiccated coconut (0.3oz - 2 tbsp)
• 80g brown sugar (6.3oz - 1 cup)
• 50g golden syrup (1.7oz - 2 tbsp)
• 120g soy milk (4.2oz - 1/2 cup)
• 15 drops vanilla extract
Method
1. To begin with, preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
2. Sift the flour, the cocoa powder, and the baking powder into a bowl.
3. Add the coconut, the sugar, the syrup, the milk and the vanilla into the bowl, and whisk the ingredients to combine them, and complete the batter.
4. Pour the batter into a greased 20-centimetre (8-inch) round pan, and bake the brownies for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, remembering to rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time.
5. Before removing the brownies from the oven, pierce them with a toothpick to ensure that they are cooked. If they are, the pick will come out dry and with no mixture on it.
Recipe courtesy of Vegan Society.
6. Enchanted vanilla pancakes
Pancakes don't have to be simply for Shrove Tuesday. They are also so versatile - you can have sweet or savoury pancakes for breakfast, topped pancakes for lunch, or you can have pancakes with fruit as an easy pudding. Instead of the usual egg and flour recipe, though, these enchanted pancakes are packed with the power of beans and whole-grain flour. But what to have with them? Try them with fresh fruit (as part of your 5 a day) or a chai-spiced peach compote.
7. Lemon cake
The freshness of a lemon cake is perfect any time of year. Enjoyed in the summer with a gin and tonic or gobbled up in the winter with a cup of tea. One of the best things about this vegan recipe is the smell given off by the grated lemon zest — it all adds to the flavour! If you’re curious about how a plant-based lifestyle can improve your health and wellbeing, read more about the benefits of being vegan.
BrainFacts.org explains how taste and smell are intertwined:
"Taste and smell are separate senses with their own receptor organs, yet they are intimately entwined. Tastants, chemicals in foods, are detected by taste buds, which consist of special sensory cells. When stimulated, these cells send signals to specific areas of the brain, which make us conscious of the perception of taste."
For the full list of ingredients and cooking method, visit The Vegan Society.
8. Deep-dish vegan apple pie
Ingredients
• Dough
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 2 Tbsp vegan granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp white vinegar
• Fine salt
• 1 cup unrefined virgin or extra-virgin coconut oil
• 8 - 10 ice water
Filling
• 4 lb(s) mixed apples (8 or 9), such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and McIntosh
• ? cup vegan granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 4 Tbsp unrefined virgin or extra-virgin coconut oil
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon or apple-pie spice
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond or soy
Method
Dough
1. Put the flour, sugar, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor, and pulse to combine. Add the coconut oil in small spoonfuls, and pulse until the largest pieces are pea-size. Add 8 tablespoons of ice water, and pulse until evenly combined. Squeeze a handful of the dough together; it should just hold its shape. If the mixture is very powdery, pulse in an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of ice water. Divide the dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap, pat each into a 1/2-inch thick disc and chill for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
Filling
1. Meanwhile, peel and core the apples; cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Toss with the sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl. Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until the firmer apples soften but hold their shape, about 12 minutes. Add the flour, cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and stir to combine. Remove from the heat, and let cool completely. (The filling can be made up to 2 days ahead; cover and refrigerate.)
2. To assemble: To make rolling easier, let the dough soften a bitit should be slightly soft when pressed at room temperature (this may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen). Roll 1 disc of dough out into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface or between two pieces of floured parchment or wax paper. If the dough gets too warm, refrigerate it to firm it up. Ease the crust into a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie pan. Add the cooled filling, mounding it slightly in the centre.
3. Roll out the remaining dough disc into a 12-inch round; place it over the filling, and press the 2 crusts together around the edges. Fold the overhanging dough under itself, and crimp as desired. Brush the top and edges with the almond milk, and sprinkle generously with sugar. Pierce the top with a knife (or make decorative cutouts) a few times to let steam escape. Chill for at least 1 hour.
4. Position an oven rack in the lowest position in the oven, place a baking sheet on the rack, and preheat to 425ºF; preheat for at least 30 minutes. Place the pie on the hot baking sheet, and lower the oven to 375ºF. Bake until the pie is golden and the filling is bubbly, 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, rotating as needed. (Cover the edges with foil if they brown too quickly.) Transfer to a rack, and cool until set, about 3 hours.
Recipe courtesy of Food Network.
9. Healthy blueberry mini muffins
Muffins are a great pick-me-up when you're feeling slobbish, but they don't have to be a naughty treat. You can indulge in some fruity blueberry muffins when you're in need of an energy boost, without the guilt! Being smaller in size and packed with the goodness of this super-fruit, you can help yourself to as many of these mini muffins as you wish!
For the full list of ingredients and cooking method, visit Food Network.
10. Barbecued pineapple
Ingredients
• 1 fresh pineapple
• 4 tablespoons rum
• 4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Method
1. Peel the pineapple and, leaving it whole, cut out the centre core. Slice into 8 rings, and place them in a shallow glass dish or resealable plastic bag. In a small bowl, mix together rum, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Pour over the pineapple, cover, chill for 1 hour, or overnight.
2. Preheat barbecue for high heat.
3. Cook pineapple rings on the cooking grate over hot coals for 15 minutes, turning once, or until the outside is dry and chargrilled. Serve with the remaining marinade.
Recipe courtesy of All Recipes.
For more inspiration, check out the best shops for vegan food in Malaysia — perfect for finding quality plant-based ingredients for your next baking session.
What Are The Benefits Of Veganism?
Adopting a vegan diet offers a range of health benefits, and one bonus is that those turning to veganism find that it helps them to get into shape and lose weight.
The need to avoid meat and animal products means that, as a result, you are taking more of some nutrients.
To replace these animal-derived products, vegans must rely on other foods to fill that hole, which may include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, peas, beans, seeds and nuts.
This diet can, in turn, improve kidney function and lower blood sugar levels to put a stop to the onset of type 2 diabetes. Another significant health benefit is the protection that experts say veganism can give you against certain cancers. According to the World Health Organisation, as many as one-third of cancers could be prevented by factors in your control, such as your diet and lifestyle. Take, for example, colorectal cancer, which could be reduced by eating legumes on a regular basis.
However, nutritionists advise eating seven portions of fresh fruits, vegetables and fish per day to lower your risk of contracting and dying from any cancer. As you can expect, a vegan is more likely to consume this higher proportion of plant-based food, and so it could be argued that veganism could help you live longer.
Aside from illnesses like cancer, heart disease is a health issue that nobody wants to face. Eating fresh fruits, legumes, vegetables and fibre is linked to maintaining a healthy heart and so could lower your risk of getting heart disease. Some food experts have revealed that vegans could be as much a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease.
A Vegan diet can, as we see, really put your health on a better track, but it can also make you happier and more comfortable in the process. For instance, this diet choice can have positive effects on people suffering from arthritis.
What's more, plant-based diets can help to shed a few extra pounds! Studies show that many vegans have a lower body mass index than meat-eaters.
More Vegan Food Ideas To Whet Your Appetite
If the above recipes don't inspire, and you want some more challenging baking ideas to recreate, then why not try searching for show-stopping homemade vegan dessert recipes? Just some examples of dishes that will wow your loved ones or visitors are;
- zesty lime cheesecake,
- tangy lemon cupcakes,
- dairy-free cream with granola,
- vegan choc chip cookies,
- hazelnut brownies, fruit salad,
- vegan chocolate cake,
- banana topped with caramel and pecan nuts
- or a heartwarming fruit pie with vegan cream.
For easy vegan recipes to suit any type of dinner or party, take a look at these Vegan Recipes That Will Turn Heads.
Savoury vegan meal and sides ideas include:
- curried stews,
- one-pot Mexican casserole,
- pecan bread, bean soup,
- sundried tomato bruschetta,
- pumpkin pie,
- black bean burritos,
- vegan mac and cheese,
- bean burgers,
- chickpea curry, noodle salad,
- Portobello mushroom wellington,
- crispy tofu with peanut sauce and garlicky dried tomato with spaghetti.
You see, there are so many options out there. Following a plant-based diet doesn't mean you miss out on sweet treats!
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