This vegan lemon cake is soft, light, moist, and incredibly easy to make, with a few simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.
Eat it as is, or fill it with a light lemon-vanilla custard for an even tastier and party-friendly cake. We show you how to make both.
Check out our best plant-based desserts recipes collection!
What to expect
A vegan lemon cake is a soft and light cake, similar to a sponge cake but lighter and airier.
It has a distinct lemon flavor thanks to the juice and the zest of lemon.
The cake is delicious plain, as is, without any fillings. We eat it like that as a mid-afternoon snack, with a cup of tea, and sometimes even as a quick breakfast.
But you can also fill it with a lemon curd or vegan custard to make it even more delicious and turn it into an elegant dessert for a special occasion.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Lemons: get two large, yellow lemons, best if organic since we are eating their peel. We use both lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Flour: we use all-purpose flour. For a gluten-free cake, you can replace all-purpose flour with gluten-free all-purpose baking flour.
- Milk: we use almond or oat milk for this cake. Any dairy-free milk works for this recipe, including soy milk, rice milk, and others.
- Sugar: we use organic brown sugar. Any other sugar works, including white sugar and coconut sugar. We haven't tested this cake with maple syrup, so not sure if it works with that.
- Oil: we use sunflower seed oil. Any neutral, light-colored vegetable oil is ok. You can replace sunflower oil with rapeseed oil or canola oil. Just make sure it has a light, neutral taste.
You could replace oil with vegan butter, although we do not recommend it as vegan butter often contains saturated fats and palm oil. - Vanilla extract: it goes really well with the lemon, making the flavor of the cake rounder (the lemon on its own can be a little sharp). We recommend vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla pod.
- Baking powder: to help the cake rise, and to make it light and airy.
- Powdered sugar: sprinkle on top. We like to keep our cakes light so we don't apply frosting, but prefer to sprinkle the cake with powder sugar for a sweet yet light touch of sweetness.
- Cake filling: this cake is delicious as is, without any fillings. However, I cannot deny that is even more delicious if you decide to fill it with our light lemon-vanilla custard or with our lemon curd.
Here we show you how to fill it with a lemon-vanilla custard made with non-dairy milk, cornstarch, sugar, lemon, vanilla extract, and a tiny pinch of turmeric for color.
What about egg replacements?
There's no need for special egg replacements. We replace eggs by adjusting the quantity of flour and milk.
With cakes, it's all about getting the ratios of wet and dry ingredients right, and we test this many times till we get the perfect cake consistency.
Flax eggs, ground flax seeds, aquafaba, or other egg replacements are not necessary and often change the texture, consistency, and flavor of the cake.
How to make vegan lemon cake (with tips)
Start with the lemons
As a first step, preheat the oven to 340 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 degrees Celsius.
Then line your cake pan with parchment paper. We use an 8 inch or 21 cm cake pan.
Anything up to 9 inches or 23 cm is ok, but the larger the cake pan, the thinner the cake. Also, we like to use a springform pan, the one that opens on the side, so that it's easier to remove the cake from it afterward.
To a large mixing bowl, add the grated zest of two lemons.
Tip: Only grate the yellow part of the peel, not the white flesh under as that part is bitter.
Then cut the lemons in half, squeeze them, and add ½ cup or 120 grams of lemon juice to the same bowl. Make sure you don't add any lemon seeds.
Add wet ingredients
To the same bowl, add ½ cup or 120 grams of plant milk of your choice, we are using almond milk. ¼ cup or 50 grams of neutral vegetable oil, we are using sunflower seed oil and a little over half a cup or 120 grams of sugar.
So, our cakes are not very crazy sweet so you can definitely add more sugar if you like. And also add one tablespoon of vanilla extract to give a fuller aroma to the cake.
Mix well with a whisk to combine.
Add dry ingredients
Now sift in 2 cups or 300 grams of all-purpose flour and 1 tablespoon or 16 grams of baking powder.
Mix with a whisk to combine the dry and wet ingredients, but make sure not to overmix the batter. Some lumps are ok. It should barely take you a minute to mix the batter.
Tip: when making vegan cakes is best not to overmix. Overmixing will activate the gluten in the flour and will make the cake heavier and more compact. So to keep your cake light and fluffy mix as little as possible.
Bake
Pour the batter into the cake pan, level it off, and bake immediately in the central wire rack of your preheated oven at 340 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes.
After 35 minutes, insert a skewer in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean, the cake is done baking. If not, bake for a few more minutes.
Let the cake cool down for at least 1 hour before slicing and eating it. Then dust it with powdered sugar, slice, and serve.
This is the easiest, softest vegan lemon cake ever. It's simple, yet packed with lemon flavor. Its crumb is compact, yet incredibly soft and light. It cuts perfectly, and it's with very simple ingredients.
How to fill the lemon cake
Make the filling
If you want to make an even more party-friendly cake, you can fill it with easy lemon custard.
Before doing this, let the cake cool down fully. Then prepare the vanilla lemon custard.
With a paring knife, peel one lemon and add its peel to a medium saucepan.
Now add in 2 cups or 500 grams of plant milk of your choice, we use oat milk, ⅓ cups or 70 grams of sugar, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or the real beans of a vanilla pod, ½ cups or 50 grams of cornstarch, and a tiny bit of turmeric, the tip of a knife, to add color to the custard.
Whisk well to combine till all lumps are gone completely, then bring onto medium heat and cook, while whisking, until you get a thick creamy custard.
Oh and remember to remove the lemon peel halfway through cooking.
Set the custard aside, whisking it occasionally to prevent it from lumping up.
Fill the cake
Remove the cake from the pan, peel off the parchment paper at the bottom, then place the lemon cake on a serving platter.
Cut the cake in half. You need a serrated knife to do that, the one you use for bread.
Cutting this cake in half is actually easier than you think, so go ahead and do it with confidence.
Take the top off of the cake, then pour the filling onto the base layer. Spread the filling with a spoon evenly across the cake, almost all the way to the edges.
Then cover with the top part and gently press down to put it in place.
Now sprinkle with powdered sugar and let the cake cool down in the refrigerator for about an hour before slicing and serving, so that the custard firms up nicely.
If you want to be faster, pop it in the freezer for like 15 minutes, then slice it, and serve.
This is still a simple vegan lemon cake recipe with an irresistible filling that really makes this cake very special.
Variations
Turn this cake into lemon muffins or lemon cupcakes by simply baking the cake batter into muffin tins. You'll only need to bake the muffins for about 15 minutes in this case.
- Like tangy flavors? Replace our custard filling with our lemon curd, packed with lemon flavour. If you are into the sour, tangy taste of lemons, you have to try it.
- Prefer oranges to lemons? Then have a go at our light, soft and fluffy orange cake. We even made a carrot-orange cake that is
Storage
Store the vegan lemon cake without filling at room temperature for up to 4 days. It's best to keep it under a cake dome, or in a food-grade plastic bag to keep it soft.
Keep the lemon cake with the filling in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
You can freeze both cakes for up to 3 months. To freeze them, cut them into smaller pieces and put them into food-grade plastic bags. Thaw in the refrigerator over a day or overnight.
Similar recipes
If you're as big a fan of plant-based desserts as we are, take a look at these easy vegan cakes:
- Vegan carrot cake
- 7-ingredient vegan apple cake
- Orange cake with orange curd
- Easy vegan chocolate cake
- Vegan coffee cake with filling
- Easy brownie cake
- Vegan fruit tart
- Chestnut flour cake
PSST! If you are hungry for a vegan dessert right here and now, try our vegan custard or chocolate custard. They take 5 mins to make and they're delightfully creamy!
More vegan lemon desserts
Because... why not?
- Vegan lemon bars
- Pound cake with lemon and yogurt
- Vegan lemon curd
- Lemon blueberry pound cake
- Vegan lemon tart
- Vegan vanilla cake
- Torta della nonna (custard pie)
For many more dessert ideas, check out our desserts category page.
Recipe
Vegan Lemon Cake
Equipment
- cake pan / spring form pan 8 inch or 21 cm
Ingredients
For the lemon cake
- 2 lemons the grated zest
- ½ cup lemon juice (from the two zested lemons)
- ½ cup plant milk (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk or other)
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
For the filling (optional)
- 2 cups plant milk (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk or other)
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon the peel
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 340 degrees Fahrenheit or 170 degrees Celsius. Line your cake pan with parchment paper.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the grated zest of two lemons. Cut the lemons in half, squeeze their juice and add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add plant milk, sugar, oil, vanilla extract and mix well with a whisk.
- Sift in flour and baking powder. Mix with a whisk for just a minute to combine but do not overmix. Some lumps are fine.
- Transfer cake batter to cake pan and bake immediately at 340F or 180C for 35 minutes.
- Let cool down completely before transferring the cake to a serving platter and dusting it with powdered sugar. You can eat the cake as is or you can fill it with our lemon-vanilla custard.
For the filling (optional)
- To a pot off the heat, add all the ingredients: plant milk, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon peel. Stir with a whisk till all lumps are gone.On medium heat, stir continuously until the liquid thickens into a creamy custard.
How to fill the cake
- Put the cake on a serving platter, cut it in half (it must be cold before you cut it) and pour the custard over the base layer.
- Spread the filling with a spoon, cover with the top layer, sprinkle with powdered sugar and let set in the refrigerator for about an hour before slicing and serving.
Video Recipe
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