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.
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 don’t worry, we also have a gorgoues vegan lemon pound cake.
I went with two 8-inch cake pans for this cake. The layers are really fat and gorgeous. This cake also works perfectly in 9-inch cake pans.
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. It all just works.
Recipe Q&A
You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour in this recipe. If it comes out a bit dry (gluten-free flours can absorb more moisture) then increase the oil a little.
Yes you can. This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Or for a perfect 12 cupcakes see our vegan lemon cupcakes recipe.
Sure you can, but the lemon flavor will be lessened quite a bit. I do recommend getting some lemon extract if you possibly can.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it stored in an airtight container at room temperature where it will stay gorgeous for a 3-4 days or keep it covered in the fridge where it will last for up to a week.
The cake is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. You can freeze it either frosted or unfrosted. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
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.
Vegan Lemon Cake
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 10-12
- Diet: Vegan
Description
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) Canola 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, 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 canola oil for another vegetable oil if you prefer. We have made this with various oils including extra virgin olive oil and it has come out great.
*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 perfect! The cooking time will be the same.
- Category: Dessert
- 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
I made this for my Daughter’s Birthday. She absolutely loved it and so did family
members and friends who are not vegan. They all want me to make it again and
they are going to give making it themselves a go.
Thank you for a really delicious recipe
★★★★★
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the lovely comment and review! 🙂
Is there a preference as far as vegan butter goes? Which would do you recommend or was used in this recipe? Thanks,
Hi Elizabeth, it depends where you are as to what is available. If you’re in the US, then Earth Balance will work great.
Best vegan cake ever!!!!
Thanks Marilyn!
Can i use brown sugar instead of white sugar for the cake batter and margarine instead of butter for the frosting? Or it would be different?
Hi Jennie, you can use brown sugar but the color of the cake will be darker. Margarine is just fine for the frosting. 🙂
I made this cake! It was so good!! But i was wondering if i used the batter for a lemon loaf, how long would i have to bake it and in what temperature ?
Hi Jennie, I haven’t made this as a loaf cake so I’m not entirely sure, but I would guess it would be around 50-60 mins bake time. You can also check out our vegan lemon pound cake which is made in a loaf pan. 🙂
Hi Alison..
I love all your recipes.. thank you so much ❤️
I would like to know if I can add fresh
blueberries to this cake(lemon cake).
★★★★★
Thanks Brinda! And yes I think you can!
Can you make this gluten free by using a gluten free flour blend?
Yes you can.
Can I use fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract? We have so many lemons I need to do something with!
Yes you can, but the lemon flavor won’t be as strong.