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
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 recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Granulated sugar is the best sweetener for a light and fluffy cake. See the FAQ section below for alternatives.
Fresh lemon juice and zest for the best flavor. Alternatively, bottled lemon juice is fine. If you don’t want the lemon flavor, you can omit the zest and replace the lemon juice with dairy-free milk.
Neutral-flavored oil, such as sunflower, avocado or olive 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 will need to bake the cake for 5 minutes longer.
How to make this cake
Simply add all the dry ingredients to a large 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).
At this stage, we aren’t fully mixing the cake batter because we’re still mixing it later. Please don’t overmix the batter otherwise your cake will be dense and stodgy! Initially, the cake batter may be very thick but it will loosen up after a couple of minutes when the sugar dissolves in the liquid ingredients.
Finally, add the blueberries and fold them through the batter. The thick batter naturally prevents the blueberries from sinking when we bake the cake.
Once you pour the batter into your cake pan, scatter the remaining blueberries on top and press some of them into the cake.
The cake is ready when the surface is golden brown and you can insert a toothpick in the center and there’s no wet batter on it (a few moist crumbs are fine).
Customizing this cake
This vegan lemon blueberry cake will work with coconut sugar, however it will change the flavor profile. Imagine eating a caramel cake with a hint of lemon!
Yes! Check out the notes in the recipe card at the bottom of this post 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’re dividing 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. You’ll need 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 in the 3 cake pans and bake them for 35-40 minutes. You’ll need 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 through. Alternatively, check my vegan blueberry bread or vegan lemon loaf that are designed for loaf pans.
For muffins or cupcakes, I suggest baking my vegan blueberry muffins and adding extra lemon zest, or using my lemon blueberry cupcakes recipe.
This cake would be lovely 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 recipe (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
- 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. 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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Easy to make and delicious! All my colleagues raved about it and asked for the recipe, will definitely make it again!
Thank you for your lovely feedback! We’re thrilled to hear it was such a hit with your colleagues and that you found it easy to make! So happy you’ll be making it again 😊
Can I make this cake in a loaf pan?
Hi Anita! Yes, it should work in a loaf pan! Loaf pans can vary in size though so I would recommend scaling the recipe to better fit your loaf tin, this conversion chart from Sally is super handy. You can tap the number next to “Yield” on the recipe to automatically adjust the ingredient amounts. Just keep in mind that the baking time might need adjusting too. Happy baking!
It’s a lovely flavour and looks great from the outside but didn’t rise very well and also the middle didn’t cook and is quite stodgy, even though I followed the recipe… The outside became quite brown and I left it in for almost the hour and a cake tester came out clean .cooled it for 10 mins in the tin and turned onto wire racking. Just came to cut it hours later once cooled but it was stodgy in the middle, not like your photo which is lovely and crumbly. Not sure what went wrong as I followed the recipe 🙂
Hi Mel, I’m so sorry this cake didn’t work out for you! This cake can turn out stodgy if you accidentally overmixed the batter or if your raising agents are on the older side – this can happen to the best of us! Also, as the top of this cake can be crusty, sometimes it wipes off any raw batter when you insert a toothpick in the middle. Thanks so much for your feedback, and I hope that helps!
Could you make this a tiered cake by doubling the recipe?
Hi Rachel, yes you can but the original cake is pretty tall, so if you double the recipe it’s best to divide it in 3 cake pans. Hope that helps!
A new family favorite! I substituted maple syrup for sugar and used melted coconut oil.
Hi Busia, that’s amazing to hear! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Hi Anthea. I’ve made this cake many times now it’s my go to recipe. It’s perfect every time. Last time I topped it with a vegan lemon buttercream icing it was delicious!
Hi Vicki, I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake and I love that you topped it with lemon buttercream too! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Hi Anthea,
I made this cake twice. The flavour is lovely thank you, however with the exact measurements the batter turned out very thick, almost like a dough. I needed to add extra milk. I am not sure if it changes the texture, so is it okay to add milk and how thick should the batter be?
Hi Neris, glad you enjoyed the flavour of this cake! By any chance, did you use measuring cups? If you did, accidentally packing too much flour into the cups can make the batter thicker. Using cold milk can also result in a thicker batter. Nevertheless, the batter is meant to be a little thick as it prevents the blueberries from sinking. If you scroll up, you can see some process images and the consistency of my batter. Initially the batter will be thicker but it’ll soften after 5 minutes as the sugar dissolves.
Love all your recipes. Could you prep this and freeze it?
Hi Melissa, thanks so much for your support! Yes, you can absolutely freeze this cake after baking. The blueberries texture will change (just like when you thaw frozen blueberries) but it’ll still be good to eat! Enjoy 🙂
Easy to make
Delicious and very moist
It definitely was a crowd pleaser
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
I’ve made this a few times already and it’s been a hit every time. Moist, great flavor, and definitely a low effort showstopper.
Hi Haley, sorry I just saw your comment! I’m so glad you made this cake on repeat and that you loved it every time 🙂
Can you use all gf flour in the recipe instead of using almond flour if you have a nut allergy
Many thanks
Hi Jeana, it really depends on the flour blend. We’ve tested the recipe with King Arthur’s measure for measure flour and it worked well. Readers have also made it using Bob Red Mills and enjoyed it. Other gf flours may work but it depends on the blend. Hope that helps!
Can I replace the sugar with maple syrup or does it have to be a dry sugar?
Hi! It needs to be a dry sugar. In saying that, some granulated sugars have more moisture so will have slightly different results.
Perfect cake! Enough moist, soft texture. For the flour, I used only gluten-free flour (Bob Mills). Baked 60 min. It turns out great! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Irina, I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake and that it worked well with Bob Red Mills flour!! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Hi Irina. Did you use Bob’s 1 to 1 GF baking flour? And which milk? Thanks!