Light, zesty and fluffy vegan lemon drizzle cake using only common pantry ingredients. Easy to whip up and a definite crowd pleaser!
Spring is in the air which means it's time for light and fruity vegan Spring desserts! This lemon loaf cake is not too sweet and will impress the fussiest of critics (I speak from experience).
Ingredients to make this vegan lemon cake
I'm always up for recipes that use common and very accessible ingredients. One of my common peeves is having a getting a bag of certain flours which I've used for only one recipe and I can't figure out how to use it again. You will need the following ingredients to make this lemon drizzle cake:
- Plain / all-purpose flour
- Cane sugar
- Almond meal, to add moisture
- Liquid vegetable oil such as sunflower or rapeseed
- Lemon (surprise!)
- Plant-based milk, such as coconut, soy or almond. They all work fine.
- Baking powder
Even though this is an eggless lemon cake, you don't need any egg replacers!
Can I substitute any of the ingredients?
The ingredients above make a FLUFFY lemon cake so some substitutions will make the cake more dense. However you may:
- Replace plain flour with wholemeal or spelt. I haven't done that for this exact recipes but those flours will always make a cake more dense
- Replace oil with melted butter
- If you can't have almonds, you can replace the meal with more flour
However, I do not recommend replacing the white sugar for coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is brown so darkens any cake it touches. It also has a caramel tone which many people don't think complement lemon. If you HAVE to reduce the refined sugar, use half coconut sugar and half white sugar.
I haven't tried replacing the oil with yoghurt, apple sauce or the like. If you do, it'll make the cake more dense. Let me know if you do!
How to make the lemon drizzle cake
Like most of my cake recipes, combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until combined. It should be a light coloured and thick batter like below.
Pour the batter into a lined loaf tin (mine was about 20 cm or 8 inches long) then bake the lemon cake in a preheated oven.
For the 'lemon drizzle', make the drizzle by combining and heating lemon juice and a liquid sweetener. You may use granulated white sugar instead of the sweetener.
Poke holes into the cake using a skewer or a sharp knife. Simply drizzle the lemon mixture over the loaf and into the little holes! I'd recommend doing this while the cake is still warm and in it's loaf tin.
How to make a simple lemon glaze
You can make a glaze by combining lemon juice with some icing (powdered) sugar. If the glaze is too thick, add some plant-based milk or more lemon juice. If the glaze is too thin, add more icing sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.
To achieve a controlled 'drip look' like the lemon loaf cake in my pictures, I made sure my lemon glaze was very thick. It may look too thick initially but it will create a beautiful drip on the sides of your cake. I drizzled the glaze on the cake when it was CHILLED to make sure the drip doesn't melt away.
How to serve the vegan lemon drizzle cake
I decorated my eggless lemon cake with strawberries. However, any seasonal berry or fruit will do! I'd recommend placing the fruit on top right before serving otherwise its natural fruit juices may seep into your glaze and it'll be messy.
Enjoy!
Check out my other vegan lemon dessert recipes:
- Vegan Whole Lemon Cake (5 ingredients!)
- Blueberry Lemon Bars
- No bake Lemon Cheesecake
- Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake
- Vegan Lemon Tart
Or my easy vegan cake recipes:
Easy Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
Dry cake ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) plain or all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (100g) cane sugar
- ½ cup (50g) blanched almond meal / almond flour, or substitute with the same amount of plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
Wet cake ingredients
- 1 cup (250g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut
- ¼ cup (65g) light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed
- Zest of 2 lemons and juice of 1 lemon
Drizzle
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ~2 tbsp rice malt syrup or maple syrup or cane sugar
Glaze
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 cup (100g) powdered sugar / icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F).
To make the cake:
- Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl. Mix til there are no big lumps. Add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into a 20 cm (8 inch) lined loaf tin.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until you can poke a skewer or knife in it and there's no batter on it. Set aside.
Meanwhile, make the drizzle:
- Heat the lemon juice and sweetener in a small saucepan. If you're using sugar, make sure your sugar has dissolved. Mix until combined.
- While your loaf is still warm, poke holes in the loaf using a knife or skewer. Pour your drizzle over the loaf. Set aside to cool.
To make the glaze:
- Add all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add more lemon juice or plant-based milk for a thinner glaze or more icing sugar for a thicker glaze. The drizzle in the above pictures is quite thick but you can have a thinner drizzle if you'd like.
- Drizzle the glaze over your cooled cake. If desired, top the cake with berries just before serving.
Storing the cake:
- Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake can be stored without its frosting in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
Great recipe! Each time I bake this cake, I'm impressed at how easy the recipe is, and how tasty the final product is! This is definitely one of my favourite recipes on Rainbow Nourishments. Perfect for afternoon tea during the summer months.