Moist and rich vegan lemon pound cake topped with a lemon glaze. Deliciously lemony and tangy, and easy and fun to make!
Ever since making my basic vegan pound cake recipe, I have wanted to make a vegan lemon pound cake.
After doing all the heavy lifting of figuring out how to even make a pound cake when I made our basic vegan pound cake, this one was a total breeze and complete pleasure to make.
Topped with a delicious lemon glaze it is total lemony perfection.
The lemon flavor in the cake is subtle and comes from a little lemon extract and some lemon zest. The vegan buttermilk is also made with a little lemon juice.
And the frosting is a simple mix of powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract.
Tenting with Foil
This cake bakes for an hour, which can lead to excessive browning on top. So the trick is to bring it out after 40 minutes and tent it with foil and then put it back in for the last 20 minutes.
So basically you wrap the whole loaf pan in foil so that there is a tent shape on top, this is so that the foil doesn’t press down on your cake from the top, but protects it from getting overly browned.
Bringing it out at the 40 minute point doesn’t effect the rise of the cake or cause any sinking effect (as it would do if you opened the oven at an earlier point) because all the rising has already happened at this stage and it’s close to done.
The cake is quite dense, which is what you want in a pound cake. It’s not super light and fluffy, but it’s not meant to be. It’s still probably lighter than a traditional pound cake, but you can see from the photos that it has a fairly tight crumb.
The moisture comes from vegan butter and homemade vegan buttermilk. The lift comes from 3 tsp of baking powder, which is the maximum amount you can use in this recipe, any more and you’d have it rising too high for the structure to support and then you get sinking in the middle.
The result is a lovely lemon loaf with delicious lemon flavor that really pops with the lemon glaze.
So if you love pound cake, then this vegan lemon pound cake will definitely not disappoint! It is:
- Super easy
- Lemony
- Moist
- Rich
- Dense (but not heavy)
- Topped with a lemon glaze
If you wanted to serve this with something else like a scoop of vegan lemon ice cream, that would be divine too! Pound cake really works well served alongside other things.
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week.
More Lemony Vegan Desserts!
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
- Vegan Lemon Pie
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Vegan Banana Cake with Lemon Frosting
So what do you think of this vegan lemon pound cake? Let us know in the comments and please rate the recipe as well, thanks so much!
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Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 10
Description
Moist and rich vegan lemon pound cake topped with a lemon glaze. Deliciously lemony and tangy, and easy and fun to make!
Ingredients
For the Lemon Pound Cake:
- 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour*
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (240ml) Vegan Buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest*
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup (120g) Powdered Sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1/8 tsp Lemon Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray and line it with parchment paper, letting the parchment paper hang over the sides so that the cake can be easily lifted out. Set aside.
- Add the vegan butter and white sugar to an electric mixer and cream them together. Then add in the vanilla extract and the lemon extract and mix in.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder and salt and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the creamed butter and sugar mix.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp lemon juice into a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Stir it in so it curdles. You can also use almond milk for this step if you prefer.
- Pour the vegan buttermilk in with the other ingredients and mix in with a spoon until combined, but be careful not to overmix.
- Add in the lemon zest and stir in. The batter will be thick.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it down evenly.
- Place into the oven and bake for 60 minutes. At the 40 minute mark, bring it out and tent the top with foil so that the foil makes a tent shape over the top, and return it to the oven for a final 20 minutes.*
- Lift the cake out with the parchment paper and place onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely before you add the lemon glaze.
- Add the powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract to a bowl and stir it in until well combined. You can use an electric mixer for this if you want to, but I found it very easy to just mix it in with a spoon.
- Spoon the glaze onto the cake and spread it around the top evenly. Allow the glaze to set (if you put the cake into the fridge for 10 minutes, covered, the glaze sets very nicely) before slicing and serving.
Notes
*Weigh your flour for the most accurate/best results.
*2 Tbsp of lemon zest is what you’d get from about 2 lemons, depending on the size of the lemons of course. A large lemon might provide enough zest by itself.
*Tenting with foil stops the cake from browning too much on top.
- Category: Dessert, Cakes, Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 10)
- Calories: 278
- Sugar: 31.9g
- Sodium: 363mg
- Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1g
- Carbohydrates: 52.9g
- Fiber: 0.9g
- Protein: 3.3g
Keywords: vegan lemon pound cake
I made it this morning and my whole family is loving it and they’re not vegan which is great, can’t wait to make this again!!
This recipe is fantastic! The crumb comes out really well. Thanks for the recipe.
I had to use up some yoghurt so subbed 1/2 a cup of the milk for 1/2 a cup of vegan yogurt and it still was very good.
★★★★★
Awesome, thanks Alex!
I make this all the time for my mom who loves lemon and it always come out so moist and delicious. Even my dad who hates on anything vegan was surprised the first time we made it and he loves it too. Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing Sabrina!
Can I use gluten-free flour or will it change the texture? Tried a lemon cake with gluten-free flour yesterday and had to bin it 🙁
Have seen your recipe looks & sounds a winner. Does it matter if it’s rice or almond flour? Never baked gluten-free so this is why I ask any help appreciated:-)
Hi Debbie, you can try this with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, that is likely the only way it would work as gluten-free. Rice or almond flour alone would definitely not work. All the best! 🙂
Just made this today and can’t wait to eat it! Looks and smells delicious 😋
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Susan!
I’m not vegan but I made this for my friend who is and I fell in love with it. Soo good. Seriously, it is my go to lemon cake.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Angela!
Getting ready to make this recipe and add poppyseeds. I was going to add two tablespoons.
What do you think?
I think that would be great! 🙂
So so so so GOOD! Thank you! Cannot wait to make it again!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Dianna!
Love this lemon pound cake, it’s my second time around.. Yummy!
★★★★★
This cake is delicious, the only change I made was rather than icing, I mixed lemon juice with a bit of sugar and maple syrup, poked holes in the top of the cake with a skewer, and spooned the lemon syrup over the cake while still warm. One of the tastiest lemon cakes I have ever had!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Ali!
Omg! I am not a lemon cake lover, but I made it for a friend and omg ate half of the whole thing by myself! Thank you for this great recipe!
One critique: my glaze turned out too thin.
DELICIOUS CAKE RECIPE! THANK YOU AGAIN!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it Yasemin. If the glaze comes out too thin next time, you can add more powdered sugar to thicken it. 🙂
Can I substitute more lemon zest for the extract since I do not have any at hand, or is there something else that substitutes better? If so, how much?
Hi there, sure you can do that! More lemon zest will increase the lemon flavor. All the best!
Can you add poppyseeds to this recipe? If so, how would you adjust the recipe?
I think you can! I wouldn’t adjust the recipe at all, just add some in. 🙂
This is a really solid recipe. I added 1 extra tsp of lemon extract to compensate for the lack of lemon zest on hand. In retrospect, I should have dropped in a few drops of yellow food coloring for more of a traditional lemon pound cake look. I made it right before bed and honestly the next morning it was very mediocre. By that night (24 hours after baking) it was a bit better. By 48 hours after being made it was really good and somehow even better by 72 hours. The crumb started so close and it was almost dry but it became more tender as it sat. By Day 3 my husband who “isnt a lemon guy” ate an entire piece standing in front of the fridge. I have no idea why it needs to age but I’m happy to comply! I look forward to making this on a Friday for a Sunday dinner or to bring to work on Monday. The end result is absolutely worth a little bit of planning. Thank you for this great recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing Taylor!
I had the same experience where the cake texture got better after a couple of days. By day 2 the cake was perfect! I guess it’s a good make ahead project!
I have this in the oven now. I was excited to see how nicely it had risen at the 40 minute mark. I took it out to tent it with foil and I saw it start deflating. Now I’m worried that it’s ruined 🙁
Update: the cake was a tad sunken but still delicious, especially with the glaze. My edges turned a bit hard and crunchy…how can I prevent this? Thanks!
★★★★
Glad it was delicious! Ovens can vary a lot and if the temperature is a little high that can cause the edges to be hard and crunchy, it may be a good idea to check the temperature with an oven thermometer. 🙂
Another update: the flavor and texture of this cake gets better each day! I made it 2 days ago and I’m loving it even more now!
★★★★★
Fantastic! Thanks for the update Pavi! 🙂
Made this Last night for thanksgiving (which is today) and it’s half gone already. SO good!!
Awesome! So glad you’re enjoying it! Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂