This vegan lemon cake with velvety lemon buttercream frosting is perfectly moist and spongey and will make all your lemon cake dreams come true!
This vegan lemon cake is pure lemony perfection!
Jaye was saying it’s exactly like the lemon cake his grandmother used to make! Which is high praise considering his grandmother was quite the chef.
The recipe is based on our vegan vanilla cake, with lots of lemon flavor added in via lemon zest and lemon extract and of course, a delicious lemon buttercream frosting and lots of lemon zest as decoration.
It’s super easy, and will happily fulfil all your lemon cake dreams!
When looking around the web at lemon cakes in general, I saw a lot of lemon loaf cakes. And I definitely want to make one of those too!
But that isn’t what comes to my mind when I think of a lemon cake, to me a lemon cake is a lemon layer cake, and a lemon loaf cake or a lemon pound cake is the loaf cake. Anyway, just saying because I hope you didn’t come to this page hoping for a loaf cake.
If you did, well, I’ll do one of those soon too don’t worry, I want to do ALL the cakes! (Update: Vegan lemon pound cake is here!)
I went with two 8-inch cake pans for this cake. Usually my preference has been for 7-inch cake pans, but I have broken out. I got some 8-inch and 9-inch cake pans and I am going to be making a bunch of cakes for them now!
And don’t these layers look fat and gorgeous? They rise just beautifully!
Egg replacement?
I didn’t use a flax egg in this cake, which I also don’t use in my vanilla cake recipe that I based this recipe on. I don’t find I need it in this recipe and I don’t want it to affect the color.
In light colored cakes, a flax egg can affect the color leading it to look a bit spotty, so in this case it’s best to leave it out.
So there isn’t any specific egg replacer in this recipe, unless you count the baking soda/vinegar combination, which definitely acts together to create some crucial baking science that causes the cake to rise beautifully. Somehow it all just works.
That’s all I’ve ever done with my cakes, try things and see if they work, and they definitely do! At least the ones published here do, the failures don’t make it to the blog (of course).
Vegan Lemon Layer Cake Q&A
Can I make this cake gluten-free? You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour, but if you do that I would recommend you increase the oil by around 1/4 cup and perhaps add a couple of tablespoons of applesauce too.
I have not tested this recipe as gluten-free but that is what I would do based on what I know about gluten-free baking. It may also alter the baking times slightly, just keep an eye on it and make sure it passes the toothpick test – a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake must come out clean – to know it’s done.
Can I make this recipe into cupcakes? We’ve already done it! Check out our vegan lemon cupcakes recipe.
Can I just use lemon juice instead of lemon extract? Well, sure you can, but the lemon flavor will be lessened quite a bit. I do recommend getting some lemon extract if you possibly can.
So I really think you are going to love this vegan lemon cake! It is:
- 2-Layers
- So Lemony!
- Moist
- Spongey
- Topped with velvety lemon buttercream!
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay gorgeous for a few days or keep it covered in the fridge where it will last for up to a week.
More gorgeous vegan cakes!
- Our vegan white cake is a classic 8-inch beauty which is pretty much a vanilla cake, just with attempts to make it even whiter in color!
- Our recipe for the best vegan chocolate cake can be made in either 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans whereas our classic vegan chocolate cake is a 7-inch sponge cake topped with a velvety chocolate frosting.
- Our vegan banana cake can be made as a 9×13 sheet cake or a 2-layer 8-inch cake. It’s also topped with a delicious lemon frosting.
- Our vegan coffee cake isn’t just a cake to eat with your coffee, it’s actually a coffee flavored cake! Topped with a kahlua frosting it’s a real treat.
- Our vegan red velvet cake has a beautiful vibrant color and it’s perfect for special occasions and our vegan carrot cake is always very popular.
So what do you think of this gorgeous vegan lemon cake? Let us know in the comments and please be so kind as to rate the recipe too. Thank you!
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Vegan Lemon Cake
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 10-12
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Pin RecipeDescription
This vegan lemon cake with velvety lemon buttercream frosting is perfectly moist and spongey and will make all your lemon cake dreams come true!
Ingredients
For the Vegan Lemon Cake:
- 2 and 1/2 cups (312g) + 2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) White Sugar
- 1 and 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest*
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 3 and 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice*
For Decoration:
- Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Spray two 8 inch cake pans* with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Then add the soy milk, olive oil, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest. Whisk with a hand whisk briefly until nicely combined and no big lumps remain. Don’t overmix, tiny lumps are okay.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the pans and place onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by placing the powdered sugar, vegan butter and lemon extract and lemon juice* into the bowl of an electric mixer. Start off at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until thick and smooth.
- Frost the cooled cakes and decorate with lemon zest.
Notes
*You can switch the extra virgin olive oil for canola oil or other vegetable oil if you prefer. Any vegetable oil will work great here.
*2 Tbsp of lemon zest is from about 2 lemons, but it does depend on the size of the lemons, if it’s a large lemon you might get 2 Tbsp worth of zest from 1 lemon.
*You might not need all the lemon juice in the frosting. I used all of it, but how much you need will largely depend on the brand of vegan butter you use. If you use a firmer type of vegan butter (lower water content) you will need more lemon juice, whereas if it’s more of a soft spread (higher water content) you may need less. So this will require a little flexibility.
*This cake recipe can also be made in 9-inch cake pans with no other changes. The layers will be slightly thinner, but still perfect! The cooking time will be the same.
- Category: Dessert, Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 12)
- Calories: 512
- Sugar: 69.5g
- Sodium: 400mg
- Fat: 14.2g
- Saturated Fat: 2.2g
- Carbohydrates: 92.8g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 3.8g
Keywords: vegan lemon cake
Lois Roe says
April 20, 2019 at 3:11 amI’ve tried making this twice and have not been able to get the beautiful fluffy yellow layers you get. I get really thin layers that ate very sticky and I have needed ~8 extra minutes. I use King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure gluten-free flour, which has worked well for me in many other cakes. The taste of the cake is delicious, I just wish I knew how to make it come out so beautifully.
Alison Andrews says
April 20, 2019 at 9:25 amHi Lois, gluten-free flour is going to change things quite a bit. I have some notes about making it gluten-free in the recipe post, but this is not how I made it, so it’s not going to be exactly the same. So glad it still tastes good though! 🙂
Marci says
April 21, 2019 at 12:29 pmI made this recipe into cupcakes. amazing! wish I could post pics
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
April 22, 2019 at 10:08 amHi Marci, so glad to hear it worked out great! Thanks for the awesome review. If you’re on instagram, you can tag us in pics there. 🙂
Addie says
April 21, 2019 at 2:21 pmMade this cake for my roommate’s birthday and it turned out great! I didn’t want to use lemon extract so I just upped the amount of lemon juice in the cake itself (to around 5 tablespoons) and added a little more flour. Same with the frosting and just added more confectioner’s sugar. I also added a layer of raspberry jam in the center of the cake and it was delicious! Garnished with raspberries and lemon zest around the edge. Thanks for the recipe! It was a hit!
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
April 22, 2019 at 10:07 amSounds awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review. xo
Kimberly Simon says
April 25, 2019 at 6:22 pmMade this cake last night and it was delicious. My cake turned out a bit dense though. Is there any thing I could do to fluff it up some?
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
April 26, 2019 at 9:22 amHi Kimberly! So glad it was delicious! Did you weigh the flour by any chance? Using a little too much would be my first guess at causing it to be a little too dense. If you weigh it next time, that should hopefully solve that issue. 🙂
Rob says
May 10, 2019 at 5:14 amI made this cake exactly as written and it just might be the best non-chocolate vegan cake I’ve ever made. And people at work loved it.
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
May 10, 2019 at 9:53 amFantastic! This might be the best comment ever! Thanks so much Rob. 🙂
Kelly Neal says
May 13, 2019 at 4:19 pmHi! First, thank you for sharing your recipes! Is there a way to make icing and frosting without powdered sugar? I use honey, maple syrup and agave for sweeteners but have not been able to find a recipe using these for icing. I tried creating one myself and it was OK but just want your expertise.
Alison Andrews says
May 14, 2019 at 10:29 amHi Kelly! I have made a frosting with cashews that doesn’t use powdered sugar for our gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes. 🙂 Hope that helps! xo
Heidi says
May 15, 2019 at 10:12 amThis was my first attempt at a vegan cake. I actually made it into cupcakes for my son‘s school mayday celebrations. They were very popular and I also gave a couple to my neighbour who is dairy intolerant. She LOVED them and ate 2 before even finishing making her cup of tea!!!
Heidi says
May 15, 2019 at 10:14 amI forgot to rate this on my last comment. Absolutely 5 stars!!
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
May 15, 2019 at 6:18 pmSo glad they were enjoyed! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Tashina says
May 16, 2019 at 7:19 pmJust put this in the oven, won’t need it for two days. Is it ok to freeze and then frost later? I’ve seen other vegan recipes that don’t do well of frozen. Thank you!!
Alison Andrews says
May 18, 2019 at 8:13 amIt should be fine. 🙂
C.Pitts says
May 22, 2019 at 8:42 pmThis was such a good recipe, I’m trying the lemon pound. So delicious!!!! Thank you and God bless🙋
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
May 23, 2019 at 9:41 amAwesome! Thanks so much for the great review. 🙂
Paula Wells says
May 25, 2019 at 5:24 pmDelicious 😋 I made it for my daughters birthday last year, and I’ve just made another for a fundraiser tomorrow!
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
May 28, 2019 at 10:07 amWonderful! Thanks so much for the awesome review. xo
Nicole says
May 26, 2019 at 7:09 pmMade the cake in 9 inch pans this past week and it was the best cake I’ve ever made. I did shorten the cook time a bit, but I usually do that with my oven. It was my daughter’s 12th birthday and everyone loved it. I’m not sure it made enough frosting to frost the whole cake so we left the sides naked, decorated the top with berries, and it was gorgeous! I don’t fancy myself a baker so I was quite proud, as was my daughter! 😂🤣
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
May 28, 2019 at 9:56 amWonderful! So glad it worked out great. Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review! xo
Ros says
June 1, 2019 at 2:56 pmThis is the fifth time I’ve made this glorious cake now, it’s perfect every time, fluffy, moist and so tasty – I gave some to my partners non-vegan family and his dad said it was *the best cake he’s ever eaten*! And he knows his cakes! Number five is in the oven right now, thanks so much for sharing with us! Your page has given me such a passion for baking vegan sweet treats! Keep up the great work! Ros Xx
★★★★★
Alison Andrews says
June 2, 2019 at 11:14 amThanks so much for this awesome comment Ros, so pleased to hear it’s been a regular success and that is the best praise for this cake ever. I’m thrilled to inspire your passion for vegan baking too! Thanks for the amazing review. xo