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Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. No added refined sugar in this soft and Delicious Lemon Cake! Makethe batter into cupcakes, loaf or a sheet pan cake. Vegan Soyfree Recipe, Can be nut-free, glutenfree Jump to Recipe
This Cake is Zesty, lemony, Soft, Moist, Sumerry and everything I want in a Lemon Cake. A super easy Cake with loads of lemon juice and zest covered with 4 ingredient vegan cream cheese frosting. I use kite cream cheese or a cashew based home made cream cheese. A simple glaze with a few tsp lemon juice and half cup powdered sugar will work wonderfully as well.
It takes just a few minutes to put together and then it is the excruciating wait time to bake, cool and frost! All maple syrup, no refined sugar in the cake or the frosting. The batter can be baked into cupcakes, baked donuts or a loaf like my Cinnamon Swirl Loaf which is getting made every day on Instagram!
Soft, Spongy, Fresh and so Lemony! Perfect to have some around at all times.
More Cakes from the blog
- Cinnamon Swirl Cake. Super popular!
- Eggnog Pound Cake
- 1 Bowl Banana Apple Bread. Can be made into muffins
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
- Lemon blueberry pound cake
- 1 Bowl Oil free Turmeric Coconut Loaf
Gluten-free options
- GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake.
- Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll Bread yeast-free.
- GF Carrot Banana Bread – Also grain-free.
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
Tips to make a great Vegan Lemon Cake
- Adjust the batter based on the ingredients used. Different flours and differences in amounts(measurement errors), means the mixture will absorb moisture differently. You want a flowy batter, but not too thin (will make gummy cake with high moisture content), and not too stiff(will make a dryer cake).
- Add more zest if using less lemon juice.
- Once mixed, bake the batter immediately. Because of the higher acidity, the reaction with the leavening agents will already start on mixing. If the batter sits for too long, it will tend to rise less on baking.
- This recipe makes a moist cake with higher moisture content. It can easily end up gummy, see point 1 to ensure fluffy cake.
Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1/2 cup maple syrup, (add 1 tbsp sugar for sweeter)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice, ( 1 tbsp more if using whole grain flours)
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup water, or non dairy milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Dry:
- 1 1/2 cup flour , (I use all purpose or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat pastry/white whole wheat flour, 1 :1 or 2:1 ratio)
- 2 tbsp almond flour or meal, , or use more flour to make it nutfree
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp turmeric, for color, optional
- zest of 1/2 to 1 lemon depending on the size of the lemon and your preference of lemonyness
Frosting:
- 6 oz vegan cream cheese, (I use kite hill plain almond cream cheese, see notes to make your own cashew cream cheese)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- a pinch of salt
- 1 - 2 tbsp powdered sugar and 2 drops of vanilla if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Add the 1 1/4 cup flour and the rest of the dry ingredients and whisk well to make a smooth batter. Add rest of the flour 1 tbsp at a time to make a smooth flowy batter, but not overly watery or overly stiff. You might not need all of the flour if using whole grain flour.
- Pour the batter into a lined or greased pan. Even it out using a spatula.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes if using a square baking dish or brownie pan. If the dish is stoneware, add a few more mins to the baking time. If baking a Loaf: 40 to 50 minutes, Cupcakes: 20 to 25 minutes for cupcakes. Test with a toothpick from the center. It should come out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 mins, then remove and let it cool completely before frosting.
- Whisk the ingredients under frosting until smooth. Add 1-2 tbsp powdered sugar for sweeter frosting. Adjust the tang with lemon zest if needed. Add a drop or so vanilla extract or almond extract for flavor (optional). Chill the frosting for 15 mins if too flowy.
- Spread the frosting on the cake evenly. Slice and serve. Store refrigerated for upto 4 days. The lemon flavor gets stronger on storing
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks amazing! totally adding it to my meal plan for next week.
Richa the best thing about your blog recipes is the fact that you always put alternatives and useful tips (like the extra lemon if you’re using whole grain flour) Thank you, I will make this! 🙂
Made it! Delicious!
I used half whole wheat pastry flour , half white flour and it was just a tad bit dense. Next time I’ll use a 2:1 ratio of white to whole wheat pastry flour 🙂
Hi Richa, as you saw on Instagram, I made this yesterday–so good. I always use white whole wheat flour, so the texture isn’t as delicate/fine as it would be if I used AP or cake flour, but it’s still great. As you suggested, using the whole grain flour, I didn’t need to add the last quarter cup of flour–just a tablespoon or so.
With all of that said, sometime I think I’ll try this with AP flour just to enjoy the finer texture!
Awesome! You can try a mix of whole and ap flours for a better texture. Or 1-2 tbsp cornstarch with the whole wheat flour. Whole grains flours can get a bit dense and strong tasting, so i generally use a mix.
Can I use coconut flour instead of almond flour?
no, just omit the almond flour
Can I use ripples originAl peas milk?
it should work. i havent used it in baking yet, let me know how it turns out
Could this recipe be used for cupcakes?
Yes, bake for 18-20 mins (depends on your oven and pan), check at 18 min mark from the center of one cupcake
I just can’t wait to make this. I love lemon cake, and Kite Hill cream cheese is also the best–what a combo! Thank you. This might top your orange cake. 😉
Made this just now! The Cake and the frosting is amazing!
If I do not want to use oil, what should I do?
Will homemade almond butter do?
applesauce would work
Store applesauce?
If homemade, how to make?
I Live in Pune, India
blend some apple and cook it for a 5-10 minutes to take the raw flavor off and reduce the moisture a bit, cool, measure and use.
I just saw this, went to the kitchen and immediately made it. All I can say is, wow! It just came out of the oven a few minutes ago and I can honestly say that it may not make it to the frosting phase! So moist and so delicious. Thank you for this it’s just what I needed.
Thats awesome!!