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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.
Turned out pretty good! Used white whole wheat flour, mashed banana instead of oil, and a simple lemon glaze because the vegan cream cheese I bought tasted horrible. Would definitely make again!
This cake looks spectacular and addresses most of my family’s diet restrictions. What substitute would you recommend if they can’t eat wheat/gluten products?
see gluten free option in the recipe notes
Just finished making this cake and love it. I used coconut oil and added two tablespoons of coconut flour instead of the almond flour. The lemon and coconut combination is fabulous! Thanks for inspiring this culinary effort!
thanks!
This is completely amazing! I am about to make for the second time because hubby was SO sad when the first batch was gone! Thank you so much!
yay!
Hi! Can I use honey or molasses? I don’t find marple syrup where I live.
use sugar
If using sugar instead of maple syrup how much more liquid do I need to add?
same amount
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
such a lovely cake! I added dark chocolate chips, as I love the combination with lemon, and made it in a loaf pan. it definitely needed to cool before handling, as it was a bit fragile while warm. for the icing I used maple syrup powder instead of powdered sugar, with maple crystals sprinkled on top. I love the depth of flavor with maple instead of regular sugar. thank you for another wonderful recipe!
awesome!
I’d like to make this. Please let me know what size sheet pan to use. Thanks
9×9 inch pan should do it.
Looks great. What type of oil do you use ?
neutral oil like safflower or canola.
Hi Richa, can we substitute honey for the maple syrup?
love this! I just grab some lemons from our garden. easy one bowl baking and taste good! my one was a bit dense.
great! what flour did you use?
I used standard flour(=ap).
hmm, maybe the batter was too thin or thick? or it needed a bit more baking powder. Baking powder looses its strength with age, so you need a bit more if it isnt fluffing up the cakes as much as it should.
Thank you for the advice, Richa!
I’ve done so quick baking(may be careless). oh, also I used brown suger instead of syrup. I will do it again immidiately with your suggestion cuz I’ve had the half by myself already 🙂
oh the sugar will add a lot of dry as well, so you will need some additional liquid(non dairy milk). Maple syrup had a lot of moisture that will be missing when you use sugar.