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
Print Recipe
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
HI Alison,
This looks amazing and I’m looking forward to making it next week for my partner’s birthday!
I wonder if you think I could sub cacao butter for the vegan butter? I know often times vegan recipes call for coconut oil even in replacement for dairy butter, but it sounds like you are going for a thicker consistency here so I’m thinking perhaps the cacao butter might suit.
Appreciate the recipe and feedback!!
Sorry I meant to ask – cacao butter or coconut butter as potential options 🙂
Hi Tina, I don’t think cacao butter would work at all as a replacement for vegan butter in a frosting. I wonder if you mean coconut butter? Even that, I don’t think would work. Is the issue that you’re not able to find a dairy free margarine to use?
Hi!
I made this lemon cake and it was fab! I would like the cake part to be actual white and I think its not due to the Olive oil, can I sub the olive oil with coconut oil?
Hi Bella, you can use melted coconut oil sure! 🙂
This cake turned out amazingly!…so moist and flavourful; you’d never know the eggs/milk/butter are missing! 😀👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Awesome Heather! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Hello,
Do you think this cake would cook ok in a bundt pan? I just put it in the oven without reading all the comments, and now I’m worried it won’t cook right…
Thanks,
Laila
Hi Laila, it should be okay, it will just need a longer cooking time.
I’ve made this three times now, once as cake and twice as (birthday)cupcakes, and very happy with the results. Will be my go-to vegan cake from now on (two of my kids are vegan).
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the awesome review! 🙂
do you have to use lemon extract? Have you tried it without, just using lemon juice and zest?
You can omit it, but the lemon flavor will be lessened.
This is an exceptional recipe. I baked it in a glass 9×13, and it still took the same 30 minutes. I only had granulated cane sugar, but I can’t imagine it makes much of a difference. I’m looking forward to trying it with orange extract and zest one day. I ate a piece (two, woops) without glaze or frosting, and it’s so moist and delicious, I probably won’t bother.
Thank you for a straightforward vegan recipe without eight different specialty flours, sugars or ingredients. Most people with an ordinary stocked pantry could make this. The only thing I had to buy was lemon extract, but that’s hardly an obscure item, just one I didn’t have on hand because I don’t bake much since I’ve gone vegan. I’ll have to cut it up and freeze it for treats for later to avoid eating too much, it’s so good. And it’s so moist, I’m sure it’ll freeze pretty well.
Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Shelley, so happy you enjoyed it! And thanks so much for the wonderful review! xo
Thank you for the recipe. I have used gluten free flour, rice milk, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice instead of lemon extract. I have used half the recipe for a one layer cake. It was yummy, better sponge-y results than other gf recipes out there. It was yummy even without the icing. It did not rise as much as I was expecting as per photo you have posted but it is still tastes amazing.
★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it Nicole, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Fab recipe. I am going to try (!) and make my niece’s wedding cake and definitely start with this one here in the UK.
Awesome! Hope it turns out wonderfully! 🙂
This cake was a doddle to make and sooooo tasty. I really love the American cup measurements, so much simpler than weighing everything..
I do need to invest in some lemon extract for a little more zing, but it was delicious, moist and flavoursome.
I mixed all the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet all in another and then simply mixed the two together as on one. I think the trick is to mix the wet with the dry ingredients and get it into the oven ASAP while the bicarb is stillactive – don’t let it sit on your worktop!
★★★★★
So glad you liked the recipe Karen! Thanks for the awesome rating. 🙂
I have yet to make this cake. It will be in the oven in a few hours. I’m so happy I found this site! We have recently diagnosed food allergies in our family and it has been a tough transition to plant based. Your recipies helped us regain a sense of normallcy. I made your chocolate cake recipe for hubs 40th birthday. He was so overjoyed that it tasted like “real” cake! Thanks for all you do.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Amanda! This is what we strive for! Thanks for the wonderful comment! 🙂