One bowl vegan lemon blueberry cake which uses only 7 ingredients! This cake is soft and 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 Vegan Lemon Cake (layered) and Vegan Blueberry Muffins!
What to expect from this cake
This lemon blueberry cake is:
- Delicious, fluffy, moist and golden (all of the good things)!
- Incredibly easy to make
- Not too sweet because the lemon balances out the sugar (and there's no frosting)
- Stackable for a layer cake
- Naturally eggless and can be made gluten free
- Designed so the blueberries don't sink to the bottom!
Ingredients you'll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Granulated sugar is best for a light and fluffy cake. See the FAQ section below for alternatives.
Lemon juice and zest, preferably fresh. Alternatively, bottled lemon juice is fine. For a blueberry cake with less lemon flavor, check out my vegan blueberry bread recipe.
Neutral-flavored oil, such as sunflower, avocado or olive oil. Olive oil imparts a slight flavor, such as in my lemon olive oil cake.
Blueberries, fresh or frozen. If you use frozen blueberries, you don't need to thaw them but may need to bake the cake for 5 minutes longer.
How to make this cake
Simply add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Add all the wet ingredients except the blueberries and mix until just before it's combined (there should still be some pockets of flour).
We aren't fully mixing the cake batter at this stage because we still need to mix it more later. We don't want to overmix the cake batter!
Then add the blueberries and fold them through the batter! I made this a thick batter which helps prevent all the blueberries from sinking to the bottom when we bake the cake.
The lemon cake batter is a scoopable consistency but isn't so thick that you will need to flatten the top. Once you pour the batter into your cake pan, scatter the remaining blueberries on top and press some of them into the cake.
I pressed only some of the berries into the cake for appearance and stability but this is optional.
The cake is ready when the surface is golden brown and you can insert a skewer in the middle and there's no wet batter on it.
Customizing this cake
This vegan lemon blueberry cake will work with coconut sugar, however it completely changes the flavor profile. Imagine eating a caramel cake with a hint of lemon!
Check out the notes section in the gray recipe box at the bottom of this post
Yes, though keep in mind that it'll make the cake more dense.
I'd only recommend using a larger cake pan or bundt pan for this recipe. It's already a very thick cake so a smaller and taller cake tin may not bake in the middle.
This cake will bake in a loaf pan. However, I recommend baking it for at least 70 minutes. Alternatively, check my vegan lemon loaf or vegan blueberry bread which are designed for loaf pans.
If you'd like a multiple-layer cake, I recommend following my vegan lemon cake recipe but adding blueberries.
If you'd like muffins instead of a cake, I recommend baking my vegan lemon poppy seed muffins and adding blueberries. You can omit the poppy seeds if you prefer!
Yes, however I suggest using only ¾ cup (110g) of blueberries and omitting the blueberries on top.
You can top this cake with:
- Simple lemon icing used in my olive oil cake
- Passionfruit icing used for my passionfruit cake
- Vegan Cream cheese frosting used in my carrot cake recipe
- Whipped coconut cream
- Your favorite buttercream recipe
More light and zesty vegan desserts
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Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake
- 2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour, (note 1 for gluten free)
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of salt, optional
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk
- 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 or grease a 20 cm (8-inch) round cake pan.
- Add all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to a large mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice/zest and vanilla) and mix until just before it's combined.
- 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 lemon cake gluten free, substitute the plain flour for 1 ⅔ cups (165g) almond flour / blanched almond meal and 1 cup (160g) gluten free all-purpose flour.
- 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.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in 2019 and updated in 2021 for simplicity.
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This was delicious and received so many compliments at our charity cake sale. I lightly coated the bluberries in flour to ensure they didn't sink.
This cake was delicious! I followed the instructions to the letter and it turned out perfect. I used fresh blueberries. Yes sweet but not too sweet I thought. This will be another go to recipe for me. 😋
Before I make this, I wanted to ask why a lot of other vegan recipes online have baking soda, salt, vanilla extract and vegan yoghurt as additional ingredients vs what you have. I’d like to try yours, as it seems simple! But do you have any advice or reasons why these other ingredients are commonly used?
Some recipes use both baking powder and baking soda to provide extra lift and for color/browning. However it's not always necessary depending on the recipe. I always test my cake recipes with just baking powder and if it's not fluffy enough, I'll add baking soda. For this cake, 3 teaspoons of baking powder was enough for a good rise/color. Baking soda can be trickier to work with because if there's not enough acid in a recipe, you'll taste the baking soda and I want to make my recipes as straight-forward as possible!
Many baking recipes, vegan or not, include vanilla and salt for flavor. Vanilla is a great base flavor and adds 'smoothness' whereas salt enhances the sweetness and other flavors in a baked good. I included them in this recipe for depth of flavor. A cake will work without vanilla and salt, but it'll just be more bland.
And, yoghurt is often used in a vegan cake as a binding agent and to provide extra moisture. However it can make a cake more dense. If I test a cake recipe and it's not overly crumbly or dry, I will avoid using yoghurt because it can weigh down the crumb. I hope that helps!
I made the vegan version and it was excellent. The batter seemed runny, but the cake came out fine. The only slight issue was that the blueberries sunk to the bottom, so next time I might top it with the blueberries after it's set up a bit in the oven.
Hi Alf, glad that you enjoyed this cake! There could be a few reasons for the blueberries sinking. I personally try to make sure my blueberries are completely dry before adding them to the batter (so they aren't slippery). And after you add the batter to the cake tin, gently stir the batter again to make sure the berries aren't at the bottom. Hope that helps!
Another delicious cake! And so pretty too. I had to have a big slice when still warm as I couldn’t resist. I tried it with frozen mixed berries and i reduced the sugar to 200g which it may be why the dough was less thick? It came out delicious anyway. I wanted to reduce the sugar a bit more. Any advice? 🙂
Hi Alessia, that's great to hear and I agree, warm cakes are the best! Normally the cold temperature of frozen berries and reduced sugar makes a batter thicker. Technically, sugar is a wet ingredient because when it touches a wet ingredient, it starts to liquify. Normally, if you reduce the sugar the batter should be thicker. However, if your batter was runnier than pictured, it might just be because your sugar had more time to dissolve. I haven't tried reducing the sugar beyond 200g for this recipe, however you can try to reduce it to 175g and bake the cake for a few less minutes :).
I made this cake as the reviews were so good and it was totally delicious.
I made as per recipe and will definitely make again and again.
Very pleased to have found Anthea’s recipes.
Hi Suze, I'm so glad that you enjoyed this cake!! I hope you enjoy any other recipes that you get to bake from my site, and thanks so much for your lovely feedback 🙂
I'm a terrible cook and my oven sucks, but that cake still managed to come out beautifully!! I'm in owe, and shocked, first time ever🤣. Thank you for sharing so much information and details. Best vegan blog out there!!!
Hi Nao, I'm thrilled that you found this cake approachable and that it worked well for you!! You're wonderful! Thanks soo much for your support and kind words. I appreciate it a lot! 🙂
I made the gluten free version and it’s not very good. Waaaay too sweet and just a really sludgy texture. There’s no way that ‘cake’ is ever going to crumble. It’s just going to set into a horrible rubbery mess. I’m starting to think the gluten free version has not been tested……. and I didn’t add all the milk either because I could see the batter was quite runny Extremely disappointed.
I'm sorry that the gluten-free version didn't work for you, like it has for myself and others. I suspect it's to do with the brand of gluten-free flour, as all brands are made of different flours. Some people who used gluten-free flour for this cake actually said the opposite that their batter was thicker than pictured. Can I ask what brand of flour you used?
Made it many times. Always perfect. Tried the same reciepe as muffin for easy portioning for school and that worked 100% as well.
Hi Cemen, aw that makes me so happy to hear! I'm thrilled that you've made this on repeat. Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
The cake really crumbles for me, do you know why?
Hi Esti, this can be from packing too much flour in your measuring cup. Try using the spoon and level method, or use a measuring scale. If your cake was just crumbly to cut into, it may be that your sugar wasn't dissolved enough or your oven runs a little hot. This can be fixed by letting the cake batter sit for a few minutes, or covering your cake pan with foil. I hope that helps!