Easy Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
This vegan lemon blueberry cake is made with only 7 ingredients and comes together in one bowl! It’s soft, moist, has the perfect crumb and isn’t too sweet.
This cake is perfect for Spring or Summer, just like my Lemon Olive Oil Cake and layered Vegan Lemon Cake and Vegan Blueberry Muffins!
Why You’ll Love This Cake
Perfectly balanced flavors. Fresh lemon balances the sweetness so the cake tastes light and not too sweet. Plus, you get pops of juicy blueberries in every bite.
Easy to make! The batter truly comes together in one bowl and you don’t even need to toss your blueberries in flour! The batter is thick, which prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cake. And no fancy frosting or decorations are needed!
Beautiful texture. Soft and tender but sturdy enough to be used in a layer cake.
Allergy-friendly. Naturally dairy-free and egg-free! Readers often share that their guests can’t tell the difference! I’ve included a gluten-free option too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes About The Ingredients
Granulated sugar is the best sweetener for a light cake. See the FAQ section below for alternatives.
Fresh lemon juice and zest for the freshest flavor. If you’re in a pinch, bottled lemon juice will work. If you don’t want the lemon flavor, you can omit the zest and replace the lemon juice with dairy-free milk. The lemon juice does make the cake more tender so your cake may have a slightly different texture.
Neutral-flavored oil, such as avocado oil, a light olive oil or sunflower oil. Olive oil imparts a slightly fruity flavor, such as in my lemon olive oil cake.
Fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, you don’t need to thaw them but you will need to bake the cake for an extra 5 minutes.
How To Make Lemon Blueberry Cake
First, add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Then, add all the wet ingredients (except the blueberries) and mix until just before it’s combined – there should still be some small pockets of flour in the batter. I don’t recommend fully mixing the cake batter at this stage because you will still need to mix it later.
Finally, add the blueberries and fold them through the batter. Initially, the batter will feel very thick, but will loosen after a couple of minutes as the sugar dissolves. The batter is meant to be thick as it will prevent the blueberries from sinking during baking.
TIP: Please don’t overmix the batter otherwise your cake will be dense and stodgy!
After you pour the batter into your cake pan, scatter the remaining blueberries on top and press some of them into the cake. Then your cake is ready to bake!
To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick in the center. It should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs – just no wet batter! You’ll also know it’s done when the top turns golden brown.
Customizing this cake
This vegan lemon blueberry cake will work with coconut sugar. However, coconut sugar is less moist, so your cake will be a bit drier. Coconut sugar will also change the flavor profile of your cake (just imagine eating a caramel cake with a hint of lemon).
Yes! Check out the notes in the recipe card for details.
This cake will bake well in a larger cake pan or bundt pan. As the cake is quite tall, I don’t recommend baking it in a smaller pan unless you divide the batter between two pans.
To make a 2-layered 8-inch cake, scale up the recipe by 150% and divide the batter between the 2 pans. It’ll work with 1 1/2 batches of my blueberry buttercream frosting. Or check out my vegan lemon cake recipe.
For a 3-layered 6-inch cake, make the batter as written, divide the batter into the 3 pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. It’ll work with 1 1/4 batches of my blueberry buttercream frosting.
You can also make this cake in a loaf pan, but it will take 70 minutes to bake. Alternatively, check my vegan blueberry bread or vegan lemon loaf, which are designed for loaf pans.
For muffins or cupcakes, I suggest baking my vegan blueberry muffins (add extra lemon zest), my jumbo blueberry muffins, or my lemon blueberry cupcakes.
This cake would be incredible with my:
– Blueberry frosting or strawberry frosting (use half the recipe)
– Simple lemon icing used in my olive oil cake
– Vegan cream cheese frosting used in my carrot cake (use half the recipe)
– Whipped dairy-free cream
More easy vegan cakes
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Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
- 2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour, spoon and leveled (note 1 for gluten free)
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt, optional
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk, room temperature
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
- ⅓ cup (80g) lemon juice, and zest of those lemons (overall, you'll need about 2 large lemons or 3 medium lemons, note 2)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 1 ¼ cups (190g) blueberries, fresh or frozen
To serve (optional, note 3)
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F). Line a 20 cm (8-inch) round cake pan with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to a large mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add the wet ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice/zest and vanilla) and mix until just before it's combined. Initially, the batter will be thick but it will loosen up after a few minutes.
- Add half of the blueberries and gently fold them through. Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan. Scatter the remaining blueberries on top and gently press some of them into the cake.
- Bake the cake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until you can insert a toothpick in the middle and there's no wet batter on it. This is a moist cake, so some crumbs on your toothpick are fine.
- Allow the cake to cool in the cake tin for 10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
To serve the cake:
- Just before serving, dust the cake with powdered sugar (optional) and serve! The cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day, in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If you freeze the cake, the texture of the blueberries will change.
Notes
- To make this vegan blueberry cake gluten-free, substitute the flour for 1 2/3 cups (165g) almond flour (blanched almond meal in UK/Aus) and 1 cup (160g) gluten-free all-purpose flour. This cake also works well with King Arthur’s measure for measure flour as a 1:1 replacement for regular flour. Other gluten-free flour blends may produce different results. If you’re making the gluten-free version, it’s best to bake it for around 60 minutes.
- Don’t be tempted to add more lemon juice. If you add too much lemon juice, it will make the cake gooey, and it won’t bake through. If you want extra lemon flavor, add more lemon zest.
- Alternatively, you can enjoy the cake plain or topped with fresh berries.
This recipe was originally published in 2019 and updated in 2021 for simplicity.
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Excellent recipe and easy to follow, even for a non-baker like myself. Family and friends were impressed and hardly any of the cake was left by the end of the evening. For decor, I lightly dusted the surface with icing sugar; and served the lemon icing on the side as an option. Thanks Anthea!
Hi Kate, I’m so glad you found this recipe approachable and that everyone loved it!! Thanks so much for letting me know, I appreciate it a lot ❤️
Hi Anthea will this cake keep fresh in the fridge if made 2 days before? I would frost and decorate on the day I’d be serving it.
Vegan lemon blueberry cake.
Hi Vicki, the cake will keep but it won’t be the best texture after 2 days in the fridge as it’ll dry it out. You could try wrapping the cake tightly, freezing it and thawing it the day you need it. Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you Anthea. I ended up making the cake a day later so it would be nice and fresh. I love this recipe it is my go to for all my family and friends. I was making this for my work colleague as a wedding celebration cake at work. Iced with lemon icing and fondant flowers it was just lovely!
Hi Vicki, thanks so much for coming back to let me know! I’m honored that the recipe is a keeper for you and how you made it to celebrate your colleague’s wedding. Thank you again, you’ve made my day!
Can I use caster sugar?
Hi! Yes, caster sugar is absolutely fine ☺️
If using frozen blueberries do you need to do anything to them first?
Hi Laurie! No need to do anything to the blueberries, just add them straight in from the freezer! You will need to bake the cake for an extra 5 minutes ☺️
My to-go cake recipe. Never fails me 🙂
Hi Rita! That’s so nice to hear, thank you!
Hi
I followed your recipe and my cake looked nothing like the pic . It was dark brown and looked unappealing . Didn’t love how it tasted either was very sweet .
I bake all the time so not sure what went wrong there
Hi Maxine, sorry to hear this one didn’t turn out as expected for you. A darker colour can often point to the oven running a little hot, especially if you have a strong top heating element. Sweetness can also vary depending on the specific ingredients used or even if your lemon juice was more subtle. If you measured with cups rather than grams, that can also lead to some variation, so it’s possible that some of the ingredients were accidentally mismeasured.
I’m a nanny and my little girl is lactose intolerant + family is vegan. We had a blast making this delicious cake on a rainy day and it tastes amazing 10/10 and super easy to make with kids.
Unfortunately we did not have lemon but as mentioned the recipe still works perfectly without as long as you replace the lemon juice with some more veg milk.
Hi! So glad to hear you all had fun making this recipe and that it was just as delicious without the lemon. Thanks for sharing ☺️
Can I replace the sugar with honey?
Hi! Unfortunately it won’t work with honey. Honey has a very different texture to sugar, and the recipes have only been tested the way they’re written.
hi there, I am making this cake as I type and after 55 minutes in an 8 inch kitchen aid cake tin at 180* it is still very pale on top and wobbly- it has risen very well though- I have followed the instructions to the T and my oven is brand new Fisher and Paykle oven, on Bake setting (heat form the top and bottom). I’m putting it in there for another 30 mnts. Wish me luck! the batter was DELICIOUS! I am hopful that it will turn out good! thank you!
Hi Jennifer! We hope the cake turned out well in the end! It could be that your oven is running a little cooler than it says – this can happen even with new ovens! You can always test the temperature with an oven thermometer to make sure it is reading correctly. Glad to hear the batter was tasty though (we’re big fans of a cake batter test too!).
I’ve made this once and it was SO GOOD. Making again but realize I only have EVOO or vegan butter. Can I swap either for the neutral oil?
Nicole 🙂
Hi Nicole, that’s music to my ears! Yes you can use either – EVOO changes the flavor slightly but lemon complements olive oil well so the cake will still be tasty (as long as you don’t mind it in a cake). Melted vegan butter is always delicious but it solidifies at room temp so can make a cake feel a tad drier – you could just reheat slices before serving. Alternatively, you can even use half EVOO and half melted butter! Hope that helps!
This is an incredible recipe. I have made it twice in round pans. I am making it for a family reunion and would like to use a rectangular ceramic dish, preferably 9×13 in size. Do I need to increase the measurements? If so by how much and how long would you say the bake time is?
Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Anita, so glad you enjoyed this cake in the past! A 9×13 pan is roughly twice the size of an 8″ round pan so you could use the recipe as is for a thinner cake or double the recipe if you prefer a cake of a similar thickness. However, I want to note that sometimes when you double a recipe, the extra weight of the batter results in a denser cake that can sometimes sink. It’s hard to know the bake time without testing it, but I would bake it for around 40-50 mins without doubling the recipe or 60-70 mins if you double it. Hope that helps!
I made this in an 8” cast iron skillet. It was wonderful, but about 1/2 c. of batter flowed out onto a cookie sheet I’d placed on a lower rack. Next time I’ll take out a muffin cup full as a treat for the cook. Or use a real cake pan,,, Everyone loved the cake.
Hi Gail, glad that everyone enjoyed this cake! And thanks for letting me know how it baked in a cast iron skillet – I’m sure other readers will find this really helpful too. Thank you for your feedback 🙂
Thanks for your recipe is very very nice 😘😘💞
Followed this recipe exactly and it turned out great.
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for your lovely feedback 🙂
I just finished baking this cake, and let me tell yah’, it’s simple yet incredible!!! I followed the recipe to a t except I swapped lemon for lime since that is what I had on hand. It was easy to follow the recipe and the pictures help tremendously so you can see how the consistency of the batter supposed to look like. Thank you so much Anthea for the flavorful recipe 🙂
Hi Laura, aw that’s wonderful news!! Lime sounds like a delicious touch and I’m so glad the pictures were helpful too. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know, I appreciate it a lot!
Hello! This recipe looks wonderful, and i’m looking forward to making it. But I was wondering if I can use my Bobs Red Mill 1:1 vs. King Arthur 1:1 for the same results? I asked because you mentioned different 1:1 have different outcomes.
Thank you
Hi Sheri! I haven’t personally tested this with Bobs 1:1 flour so I’m not 100% sure. A reader said they made this recipe with Bobs Red Mills gluten-free flour and it worked well, but I don’t know if they used the red or blue packet. Could you do a small cupcake test to see if it works? Please let me know how you go!
I made this cake for my Company Picnic & it was a hit! I used Almond Milk & a Bundt Cake pan. It was DEVINE! At least that was the comments from all my Coworkers, so from the School Bus Drivers on the Central Coast of Oregon, we thank you!
Hi Tracey, this is amazing to hear!!! I’m so glad it worked well in a bundt pan and absolutely honored that you shared it with your colleagues / school bus drivers. Thanks so much for your lovely feedback, you’ve made me day!