This vegan lemon cake with velvety lemon buttercream frosting is moist and fluffy 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 gorgeous vegan lemon pound cake.
I went with two 8-inch cake pans for this cake. The layers are really fat and beautiful. 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 and our easy vegan chocolate cake adapts well to multiple different cake pans.
- 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.
- Want to have an English tea? Make this delicious vegan Victoria sponge cake!
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Cake
Ingredients
For the Vegan Lemon Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¾ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ cups Soy Milk (360ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (540g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 3 ½ 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 all purpose 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.
Video
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method or by weighing it on a food scale. For the spoon and level method, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
- You can switch the canola oil for another vegetable oil if you prefer. We have made this with various oils including a light 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 25 minutes.
Anna says
The most tasty cake I ever ate really
Alison Andrews says
Thanks so much Anna!
Shea says
Do you think whole wheat flour would work for this recipe?
Alison Andrews says
It would change the texture and would be more coarse. But if you’re okay with that then it may still work okay.
Pauline Feldman says
This cake was perfectly moist and the perfect combination of sweet and tangy. Such a simple recipe too. I used 9 inch cake pans and apple cider vinegar and it turned out great. Will definitely be making again!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Pauline!
Jeann Showman says
Hi, can you make this with 3- 6 inch pans?
Alison Andrews says
I think if you’re using 6-inch pans it would make 4 layers.
Tara says
I made this cake for Easter and used your lemon pound cake glaze for the icing. I did create my own filling. For the filling I mixed a version of your lemon curd (I didn’t have all the ingredients) with a bit of raspberry jelly and sweetened coconut. But I wanted to say how amazing both the cake and icing where. Possibly my favorite lemon cake of all time. Great recipe. I highly recommend it.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks so much Tara!
Sandra Chamberlain says
Hello , I would like to know what happens if I don’t use two cakes pans and instead I put all in one
Thanks!!!
Alison Andrews says
It depends on the size of your cake pan. This would work great in a single layer 10-inch cake pan. However if you’re using an 8-inch cake pan it will likely take very long to cook. You could halve the recipe for a single 8-inch cake layer.
Toni Barraclough says
I made this lemon cake today. It was delicious! I added a little shredded coconut to the batter with some lemon zest. In. between the layers I put some apricot – raspberry preserves. So good – even my non vegan family members loved it.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks Toni!
Lauren says
If I wanted to make this a three tier cake with thinner layers, could I split the batter into three pans or do you recommend making a larger quantity? If so, how much to increase by?
Alison Andrews says
You could split it into 3 layers if they’re all 8-inch, then you’d have thinner layers but it would work great.
Paige says
Hello,
Would vanilla unsweetened almond milk be okay to use?
Alison Andrews says
Yes sure! 🙂
Genevieve says
Hello, I know you told someone in another comment that OIL was best for this recipe—but am still wanting to sub it out for maybe applesauce. Do you have any suggestions on quantity I might try?? (Baking chemistry is Not my forte????)
Alison Andrews says
Hi Genevieve! If you want to use applesauce instead of oil then you would use the same quantity as the oil. All the best! 🙂
harlee says
hey!! I’m about to make this cake but only have self raising flour, could I use this? if so would I cull the baking powder all together? ????
Alison Andrews says
Hi Harlee, I would still use the baking soda because it reacts with the vinegar in this recipe to create the rise, maybe just use half the amount though and you can also leave out the salt. I have never tested this recipe with self raising flour though so I’m not sure how it will turn out. Let us know how it goes!
Am says
Awesome cake. I halved the recipe and made it as one big cake instead of 2 layers. Thank you so much!!!:)
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Laurie says
It’s my birthday… and ian I use plant based butter rather than oil?
Alison Andrews says
Happy Birthday! You can likely use melted vegan butter but oil is better in this recipe.
Rachel Salisbury says
Hi there!
I only have 6 inch cake tins, would that work? Would it affect the cooking time? I like tall cakes so hoping it would be fine.
Thanks!
Rachel
Alison Andrews says
Hi Rachel, I think the cakes would be ‘too’ tall and might struggle to bake properly in the middle. I think it might be a better idea to adapt our vegan vanilla cake, that cake is designed as a 7-inch two layer cake but also works GREAT as a 6-inch cake (and the layers are nice and tall). All you would need to do is drop the vanilla down to 1 tsp and add 2 tsp lemon extract and lemon zest. All the best!
Sabine says
Couldn’t I just use lemon juice instead of the vinegar? Should work just the same, right?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Sabine, yes that might work fine. I usually do the vinegar/baking soda combo to get the lovely rise, but it’s true that lemon juice should work too.