This vegan lemon pound cake is seriously the best ever. Also known as vegan lemon loaf, it is moist and rich and topped with a deliciously tangy lemon glaze.
Ever since making our 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 original pound cake, this one was a total breeze and a 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.
And the frosting is a simple mix of powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract.
And if you love lemon desserts then you’ll also love our vegan lemon cake.
How To Make Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add vegan butter and white granulated sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until well mixed. Add vanilla extract and lemon extract and mix in.
- Prepare vegan buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Let it curdle.
- Add the vegan buttermilk to the mixer and mix it in with the vegan butter and sugar mix. It will look curdled but this is fine.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a separate mixing bowl, add baking powder and salt and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix into a batter with a spoon. Be careful not to overmix.
- Add lemon zest and mix in. The batter will be thick.
- Transfer the batter to a 9×5 loaf pan (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with parchment paper so that there is overhang on either side) and smooth down.
- Place into the oven to bake at 350°F 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. Return it to the oven to bake for the final 20 minutes.
- Lift the cake out using the parchment paper overhang and place it onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely before adding the lemon glaze.
- To make the glaze, mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract in a bowl.
- Spoon the glaze onto the cake and spread it around the top evenly. Allow the glaze to set in the fridge for 10 minutes before slicing and serving the cake.
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.
You simply 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.
Why This Recipe Works
Texture. 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.
Moisture. The moistness in this cake comes about from the vegan butter and homemade vegan buttermilk.
Rise. The lift comes from 3 teaspoons 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.
Result. The result is a lovely vegan lemon loaf with a delicious lemon flavor that really pops with the addition of the lemon glaze.
Serving Suggestions
This cake is divine served as is, but if you wanted to serve it 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.
Make It Gluten-Free
If you’d like to make this lemon loaf gluten-free then my recommendation would be to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. I haven’t tested it with this recipe, but that is usually what works best.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 3-4 days or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week. Bring it to room temperature before serving.
It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Lemony Vegan Desserts
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
- Vegan Lemon Pie
- Vegan Lemon Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Bars
- Vegan Lemon Curd
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the Lemon Pound Cake:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 1 cup Vegan Buttermilk (240ml) 1 Tbsp lemon juice + soy milk up to the 1 cup line
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar (120g)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- ⅛ teaspoon 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 vegan butter and white granulated sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until well mixed. Add vanilla extract and lemon extract and mix in.
- Prepare vegan buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Let it curdle.
- Add the vegan buttermilk to the mixer and mix it in with the vegan butter and sugar mix. It will look curdled but this is fine.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a separate mixing bowl, add baking powder and salt and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix into a batter with a spoon. Be careful not to overmix.
- Add lemon zest and mix in. The batter will be thick.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared 9×5 loaf pan and smooth down.
- Place into the oven to bake at 350°F 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. Return it to the oven to bake for the final 20 minutes.
- Lift the cake out using the parchment paper overhang and place it onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely before adding the lemon glaze.
- To make the glaze, mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract in a bowl.
- Spoon the glaze onto the cake and spread it around the top evenly. Allow the glaze to set in the fridge for 10 minutes before slicing and serving the cake.
Notes
- Weigh your flour for the most accurate/best results or use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
- 2 Tablespoons of lemon zest is what you’d get from about 2 small lemons.
- Tenting with foil stops the cake from browning too much on top.
- Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 3-4 days.
Hi would this work as a tray bake/ sheet cake? Thanks
I haven’t tried it that way, hmmm, I’m not sure at all! Our vegan lemon cake can be done as a 9×13.
Could I make this using whole wheat pastry flour?
Hey 🙂
the recipe sounds awesome!
Can I bake it with Erythrit instead of sugar?
best regards
Hi Sarah, I have never tested it that way but I don’t think it would work.
The loaf was very soft, I didn’t have lemon extract and used lemon juice instead so it was not very lemony, I made a lemon drizzle syrup to make it lemony…my only issue was I had too much baking powder taste. What brand baking powder do you use? Is that without aluminum powder?? I later read we need to use less baking powder if it’s with aluminum compound vs aluminum free baking powder. Going to try it again with the baking powder-baking soda ratio I usually use…keep you posted 🙂
This is the most delicious lemon pound cake I’ve ever tasted! I love all your recipes. Thank you so much!
Awesome! Thanks Bhav!
Love this recipe and I have made it so many times.
I didn’t have lemon extract and just added a little extra zest and juice to the recipe and it still came out really lemon-y.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Madi!
I’ve used this recipe countless times but never said “thank you”. So thank you. I usually modify recipes but this one is perfect for me as it is, I just add something extra to the glaze to make it more sour candy-like. But seriously, so perfect. Thank you, thank you, thank you ToT
You’re so welcome Remina! Thanks so much for posting!
Incredible – it’s amazing! Complete vegan recipe win. We cut the pound cake loaf in half horizontally and spread on a layer of raspberry jam, which made it just perfect. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Fantastic! Thanks so much Sara!
Great recipe but each time I’ve made it, my loaf caves in the middle. What could be causing this?
It can be that your oven temperature is too high so it rises too fast. I highly recommend an oven thermometer so you can check the temperature that the oven is reaching inside.
How do I make this gluten free ?
You could try it with a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, but I haven’t tried it this way so I’m not sure how well it will work.
Hii,
I made this recipe yesterday, and it was amazing. I’ve made a few recipes from your blog and they have all been phenomenal.
If I want to double this recipe, how much baking powder am I supposed to use? And will I just double the other ingredients normally?
Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! If you double the recipe then everything will need to be doubled including the baking powder, so you would use 6 tsp. 🙂
Thank you for responding Alison. I will definitely be making it again.
Absolutely perfect! Wonderful flavor and texture. Tender but with a nice crisp edge! I doubled the recipe and baked it in a tube pan. So beautiful for the holidays! Thank you for another winning recipe Alison.
Thanks so much Sheila!
Could you add fresh blueberries to this cake?
Hi Kimberly, I think you could! I haven’t tried it myself but I think you can.
Omg, Alison, I made this cake and it was delicious. Thank you so much!
Do you have any recipes with soy curls?
So glad to hear that Judith! We don’t have any recipes with soy curls yet.
Hi, I’m going to make this cake but don’t have any lemons for the zest. What can I do?
You can leave it out, it will still be good without it.
You could try orange or lime zest