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.
Halle says
One of the comments said she used fresh lemon juice. How much fresh lemon juice should I use instead of the lemon extract? Will lemon juice change the taste enough that it is worth my buying lemon extract?
Alison Andrews says
It’s definitely going to have more lemon flavor if you use lemon extract.
Elizabeth says
Holy Toledo!!
What a wonderful recipe! Just made this cake this past weekend – My family and I were commemorating my niece’s recent engagement, and a lemon cake seemed just the thing. Well, let me just say, it was a SMASH! Everyone went nuts! Decided to make a 3 layer cake, using 9” pans – I upped the quantities by half, and that seemed to work out well. Aside from that, didn’t mess with the ingredients at all, and it was sheer perfection!! Thanks for this fantastic recipe!!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Elizabeth, thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! Really helpful to know it all worked out increasing the recipe, and so glad it was a smash!
Karen says
Made this for a friend who loves anything lemon and it was delicious. Followed recipe to the T and didn’t change anything. I only discovered your website last week and the recipes are so uncomplicated. Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for the awesome review Karen! So glad you found the blog! Hope you’ll find loads of recipes you love here! 🙂
Elizabeth Stiefel says
Hello,
This recipe sounds wonderful, and I’m going to make it for my niece’s engagement gathering this weekend. I only have 9″ round pans (which I like because I’d like a slightly larger cake than the 8″) – how should I increase the quantities in the recipe to account for the larger pans? Thank you in advance – cannot wait to make this piece of lemony heaven!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Elizabeth, I’m not entirely sure how to increase this for 9 inch pans, it would be a small increase but I’m not sure of the exact ratio. However, the layers on this cake are quite fat, I think if you kept the recipe as is but did it in 9 inch pans it would be okay, just slightly thinner layers. All the best!
Elizabeth Stiefel says
Ok, thanks – I’ll give it a go! 😉
Jo says
I made this for my dad’s birthday and it was better than any cake you’d buy at the shop!
Perfect recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful Jo! Thanks for the great review! 🙂
Sam says
Hi,
I want to make 3 8’ layers, how should I adjust the recipe to make sure it stays as moist and fluffy. I’ve tried it with two 8’ layers and it’s gorgeous.
Alison Andrews says
Increasing the recipe by half would be the best thing, but just be careful, cakes can be notoriously tricky when increasing recipes, but this should work fine (in theory)! 🙂
Lauren says
First of all I’ve made this cake multiple times and love it!!! It’s my favorite! Second, do you know if I can make this gluten free? My MIL wants it for her birthday but recently gave up gluten. Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Lauren, you could definitely try making this gluten-free, I haven’t tested it like that, so I can’t advise on the specifics, but definitely use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend and increase the oil a bit as well as gluten-free flours absorb more moisture so can come out a bit dry. So glad you like the cake! All the best! 🙂
Rachel says
Hello i need to make this tomorrow but a large one on 28cm tins, any advice on amounts?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Rachel, I have never tried increasing this recipe for bigger pans, and since that is a lot bigger than this cake, I would probably try doubling the recipe first off just to see how that goes. I don’t have any other advice, but all the best and I hope it goes well! 🙂
Rae Ire Stars says
Hello sorry for the delay in telling you that i did double the amount and i made for my daughter and whole class of 30 and they all absolutely loved it. Thank you for replying to me with such short notice, it was much appreciated, good fortune to you, x
Sue says
I made this for my Vegan sister – it was the best Cake she had ever had – looked exactly like the photos and tasted fantastic. Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
That is amazing! Yay! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Fiozznah tan says
Can I sub white sugar with brown sugar?
Alison Andrews says
Should be fine, but will affect the color of the cake.
Eva says
Will this cake last till next Wednesday? We’re going camping so we’ll have to make it today!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Eva, it can last up to a week in the fridge but it’s going to be declining in taste and texture towards the end there! And it would have to be in the fridge. At room temperature it’s only a few days. 🙂
Giovanna says
I made this at the weekend for my sisters wedding and everyone went crazy for it. One guest said it was the best cake she had ever eaten! The only thing I did differently was I used self raising flour(UK) instead of All purpose/ Plain flour. The frosting is the best vegan frosting I’ve found. Thank you!!
Alison Andrews says
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing that! Awesome to hear. And really glad it worked perfectly with self raising flour too! 🙂
Morgan L says
Superb. Absolutely superb. Sweet and so so lemony. It’s easy to make, rises beautifully, and look stunning. This is a winner, and one I’ll be making again and again! Thanks for a great recipe.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Morgan! Excellent news! Thanks for sharing and the great review! 🙂
Rhonda Spangler says
my cake fell apart 🙁 what do you think went wrong? It smells and tastes wonderful….
Alison Andrews says
Hi Rhonda, sorry to hear that! If you take a cake out of the pan too quickly, when it’s still very hot, that can be a reason, but even then it usually doesn’t happen. It can also happen if you put the cake down onto the cooling rack on its domed side instead of the right way up. Did you use all purpose flour or did you switch for a different flour? This has happened to me when experimenting with different flours.
Rhonda Spangler says
I think maybe I took it of the pan too soon…I’m about to try again. I used all purpose. Thank you for your response
Rhonda says
Turned out great the second time!
Jennifer says
I made two gluten-free vegan variations for work – one as a lemon drizzle bundt cake and one as a simple loaf cake with buttercream icing – both went down a treat and were gone within ten minutes! I received lots of compliments from colleagues with and without dietary requirements, so it’s not just great for vegans.
Alison Andrews says
That sounds fabulous Jennifer, thanks so much for sharing! 🙂