Vegan Lemon Cake

Our vegan lemon cake is a soft, light, one-layer cake similar to a sponge cake but with a beautiful lemon flavor. It's very easy to make, with simple ingredients you already have at home and with very little effort.

The cake has a distinct lemon flavor thanks to the juice and the zest of fresh lemon, and best of all, it doesn't taste vegan at all, and no one will be able to tell that it is.

It is delicious without fillings or toppings, and you can eat it as a mid-afternoon snack with a cup of tea or coffee.

Or you can turn it into a special lemon dessert by topping it with a beautiful vegan cream cheese and lemon frosting. Let's see how to make it.

Lemon

Get a large, yellow lemon; best if organic since we are using the peel. We use lemon zest and lemon juice, so there's no need for lemon extract.

Flour

We use all-purpose flour. To make it gluten-free, you can replace all-purpose flour with 1 to 1 gluten-free flour for baking.

Water

We tried making this cake with dairy-free milk in the past; however, after several rounds of testing, we figured out that the cake turned out much more delicious with water.

Sugar

You can use white sugar or brown sugar. We haven't tested this cake with maple syrup, and we are not sure if it works. Coconut sugar or palm sugar works, too, although the cake will be less sweet.

Oil

We use sunflower seed oil or canola oil. You can replace sunflower oil with any other neutral vegetable oil.

We can't recommend vegan butter or coconut oil here; they'll make the cake heavier and less fluffy.

Vanilla

It goes well with the lemon, making the flavor of the cake rounder. 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. We don't use baking soda in this recipe.

Salt

A pinch of salt helps bring the flavors together.

Vegan Cream Cheese and Lemon Frosting

You can make a delicious vegan cream cheese and lemon frosting with vegan butter, vegan cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla extract.

What about egg replacements?

There's no need for egg replacements. Instead, we adjust the quantity of flour and water.

With vegan cakes, it's all about getting the ratios of wet and dry ingredients right, and we tested this many times till we got the perfect cake consistency.

Flax eggs, ground flax seeds, aquafaba, or other egg replacements are unnecessary and often change the cake's texture, consistency, and flavor.

Preheat the oven to 340°F or 170°C. Butter your cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. We use an 8-inch cake pan.

To a large mixing bowl, add grated lemon zest.

Then cut the lemon in half, squeeze it, and add ¼ cup or 60 grams of lemon juice to the same bowl. Make sure you don't add any lemon seeds.

Now add water, oil, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and whisk well.

Tip: Only grate the yellow part of the peel, not the white flesh under, as that part is bitter.

Next, sift in flour and baking powder.

Whisk to combine the dry and wet ingredients, but don't over-mix the batter. Some lumps are ok. It should barely take you 30 seconds to mix the batter.

Tip: when making vegan cakes is best not to overmix the batter. Overmixing will activate the flour gluten and make the cake heavier and more compact. So keep your cake light and fluffy mix as little as possible.

Pour the batter into the cake pan, level it off, and bake immediately in the central wire rack of your preheated oven at 340°F or 170°C for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

Let the cake cool down in the cake pan for 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cool down completely (at least 1 hour) before applying the frosting.

Vegan Cream Cheese and Lemon Frosting

Add softened vegan butter, the zest of one lemon, and the vanilla extract to a bowl.

Whisk with a hand mixer until the butter turns creamy.

Add the cream cheese and beat with a hand mixer until combined.

Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

Store it in the fridge to set if you don't apply it on the cake immediately.

Tip: you can add between 1 cup and 4 cups of powdered sugar based on your taste. We like it with 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar.

Spread evenly on top of the lemon cake. Optionally, garnish with yellow sprinkles.

Let the cake and frosting cool down in the refrigerator for about an hour before slicing and serving it so the frosting firm up nicely.

If you want to be faster, pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then slice it and serve.

Lemon Custard Filling

Want to try something other than the usual frosting? Fill this vegan lemon cake with a light, creamy, and delicious lemon custard, or for something even more lemony, you can try our vegan lemon curd.

First, bake the vegan lemon cake, then let it cool down completely. In the meantime, prepare the filling. Follow our vegan custard recipe or our vegan lemon curd recipe.

Fill the cake

Cut the cake in half with a serrated knife.

Take the top off the cake and pour the filling onto the base layer. Spread the filling with a spoon evenly across the cake, almost to the edges.

Then cover with the top part. Gently press down to put it in place, but ensure the filling doesn't fall out.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and set in the refrigerator for about one hour before slicing and serving.

Lemon muffins

You can make beautifully soft and fluffy lemon muffins with the same vegan lemon cake batter. They are perfect as a snack or for a quick breakfast, and you can top them with a sweet streusel or frosting too.

Check out our lemon muffins recipe.

Refrigerator: keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezer: freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw: defrost in the fridge slowly, over several hours, or overnight.

More Easy Cake Recipes

• Vegan carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, a reader favorite, and single-layer cake
• 7-ingredient vegan apple cake with tender and sweet apple pieces inside
• Orange cake: easy and quick orange cake with a sweet and tangy orange curd filling
• Easy chocolate cake with eight ingredients and a chocolate ganache topping
• Soft pear cake: light, fluffy, and super moist, this Italian pear cake is topped with cinnamon sugar!
• Vegan vanilla cake: with cream cheese frosting and a pillowy soft cake base

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 delicious.

• Vegan lemon bars: an easy way to combine lemon curd and pie crust!
• Easy lemon pound cake with yogurt and an airy texture
• Quick lemon curd with five ingredients
• Lemon blueberry pound cake: it takes just 5 minutes to whip up this soft and delightful pound cake!
• Vegan lemon tart with 5-minute custard and a flaky pie crust

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