Vegan Almond Cake
Soft and moist vegan almond cake with a crunchy sliced almond topping. This cake comes together in one bowl and can be made gluten-free! Or check out my crunchy vegan almond cookies.
What to expect
TASTE/TEXTURE: More moist and denser than a regular vegan cake. Fluffier and has more ‘body’ than marzipan or the almond filling for a croissant!
DIFFICULTY: Easy to make. You don’t need a food processor, blender, hand mixer or any special equipment!
Simple 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
Almond flour adds moisture and flavor. I recommend using almond flour rather than almond meal (with the almond skin still on) for a lighter vegan almond cake.
All-purpose plain flour for structure and to bind the almond flour. You cannot only use almond flour as the cake will deflate and crumble. Flax eggs, aquafaba and other common egg replacers do not work for this recipe.
Oil doesn’t only add moisture but makes the cake fluffier. For alternatives, see the section ‘Customizing this recipe’.
Dairy-free milk. I recommend choosing a higher protein plant milk, such as soy milk as it makes a more tender cake. However any milk will work, such as almond milk or oat milk.
Almond extract and lemon zest to complement the nuttiness of the almond flour.
How to make a vegan almond cake
This almond cake is easy to make as you just stir the dry ingredients in a large bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
For the fluffiest and most flavorful vegan almond cake, here are some tips:
- Rub the lemon zest with the sugar. This releases the oil in the lemon zest and brings out more lemon flavor.
- Mix the cake batter until there are no large lumps, but not too much otherwise the final cake will be dense and stodgy.
- The final batter is meant to be quite thick! This recipe works best with a thicker batter as a thinner batter is more likely to sink when baked.
Tips for baking the cake
For extra crunch and almond flavor, I love decorating this cake with sliced almonds!
In most ovens, the almond topping will not burn. However, if your oven has a strong top heating element, your almonds may brown too quickly. If you know your oven tends to burn cakes on top, I recommend covering your cake pan with aluminum foil at the beginning of baking.
With the exception of a burning cake, I strongly recommend avoiding opening the oven door in the first 45 minutes of baking. Almond flour is a delicate gluten-free flour so inconsistent oven heat will more likely make your cake sink.
Adding other ingredients to this cake
This cake is lovely by itself! However, the following ingredients will complement the cake:
- Chocolate chips
- Dried fruit such as cranberries
- Dried coconut
- Fresh raspberries
For an apple almond cake, make the gluten-free version of my vegan apple crumble cake. It uses a combination of almond flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour!
Customizing the recipe
Yes, I tested this cake replacing all-purpose flour with all-purpose gluten-free flour and it worked well! However, some brands of gluten-free flour are more absorbent so, if your batter is very thick, I suggest adding a dash of dairy-free milk.
It depends on what kind of cake you’re after. I tested this cake with as little as 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (and more almond flour) but it resulted in an overly moist cake that sunk and had a wet marzipan texture.
If you want a 100% almond flour recipe, see my vegan almond flour shortbread.
I tested this recipe in a regular 12-cup muffin tin and the muffins spread and deflated. Instead, I recommend checking out my vegan almond muffins recipe.
You may also like my vegan almond cookies, and almond croissant cookie bars.
You can experiment by replacing it with applesauce or mashed banana. In my tests, replacing the oil with other ingredients made the cake denser.
Alternatively, check out my other vegan cakes that use almond flour and don’t have added oil:
– Whole Orange Cake
– Whole Lemon Cake
– Flourless Chocolate Cake
– Strawberry Cake
More vegan desserts using almond flour
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Vegan Almond Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients for almond cake
- 2 cups (200g) almond flour / blanched almond meal
- 1 ½ cup (190g) all-purpose plain flour, or gluten-free all-purpose flour (use grams, note 1)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar, (note 2)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest, or orange zest, optional
- Pinch of salt
Wet ingredients for almond cake
- 1 cup (250g) dairy-free milk
- ⅓ cup (85g) neutral flavored oil, light olive oil or melted vegan butter
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice, optional (note 3)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
To decorate (optional)
- ½ cup (45g) sliced almonds
- powdered sugar / icing sugar
Instructions
- For the best results, I recommend using a digital scale to weigh the ingredients for this recipe. It's difficult to accurately measure the key ingredients using cups and this recipe has been tested using grams (except the smaller ingredients).
Making the vegan almond cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line an 8-inch (20 cm) springform or loose bottom cake pan that's at least 2-inch or 5cm tall with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is well combined. Add all the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. The batter should be quite thick.
- Scoop the cake batter into your cake tin. Smooth the top of the cake with a spoon or spatula. Generously sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.
Baking the cake:
- Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes. The cake is ready when you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out with no wet batter (a few moist crumbs are fine). For a cake with a slightly fudgy marzipan-like center, underbake the cake by 5 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the cake pan for 30 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
- To serve, dust the cake with powdered sugar. Serve with fresh berries, yogurt or as desired. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- I recommend using grams because not all brands of gluten-free all-purpose flour have the same volume measurements as regular all-purpose flour. Some brands will also make the cake batter much thicker than pictured. If so, add a dash of dairy-free milk to ensure the cake isn’t dry.
- This amount of sugar creates a mildly sweet cake. You can decrease the sugar to 3/4 cup (150g) but your cake will be denser and you may be able to taste the baking powder.
- The vinegar or lemon juice reacts with the dairy-free milk to make vegan buttermilk and makes a cake more tender. You will not be able to taste the vinegar or lemon juice in the final cake.
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Can your frangipane recipe be added to this recipe to make it an almond croissant cake?
I haven’t tested it but I suspect it’ll make the cake sink. This cake has a higher percentage of almond flour and doesn’t use applesauce (to thicken the batter) like my muffin recipe – both give this cake a more delicate structure. You could try to bake the muffins in a cake pan, though I haven’t tested that either.
Hi, I’d love to try this with Whole-wheat flour.
Would you say equal 1:1 sib with the white flour?
Thanks
Hi Mary, I haven’t tested it with whole wheat flour but I’d say it’d work 1:1 – just add an additional dash of milk as whole wheat flour is more absorbent. Hope that helps!
hello
i tried this recipe yesterday – i love it!
i only replaced part of the oil with applesauce and and half a spoonful of psyllium husks (because i like the cake firm enough to slice).
Hi Catsie, that’s great to hear!! Glad that it worked with your subs as well – I know other readers will appreciate knowing this too. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Can I use ground almonds? I’m in the UK and ground almonds are readily available
Hi Gita, in the UK, are ground almonds the ones with the almond skin still in tact? If so, I haven’t personally tested this recipe with them but I suspect they won’t work as it’s much heavier than almond flour. The almond flour I used are blanched almonds that have been ground to a fine flour. Hope that helps!
This is my go-to cake for special occasions and when I want to impress…. especially non-vegans! They love it! Ive made this many times; it is a beautiful cake and absolutely delicious. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Holly, that’s music to my ears!! And I’m over the moon that the non-vegans in your life enjoy this cake too. Thanks so much for your kind feedback!
What can I say except an outstandingly sumptuous cake!!!
Thankyou Anthea for this incredible recipe and all the useful information & pointers you provide for all your recipes.
Hi Suman, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you so much for your ongoing support, I appreciate it a lot 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous cake – so good I’ve made two in a week. Highly recommend and so easy to make.
Hi Sandra, I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂
I have made this cake twice now, once using the cup measurements, and once with the weight measurements. Both were good, but the one using weight was fluffier and not as dense. I used orange zest both times and this has become one of my favourites. Each time someone has asked for the recipe. Thank you! 🧡
Hi Annika, thanks for making this cake more than once, and it’s great to know how you went with the cup/weight measurements. It’s the best compliment when others ask for the recipe too! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
This is such a great recipe! Thank you! I think some of the weight measurements might be off, though. 2 cup almond flour = 240g. 1.5 cup AP flour= 180g
Hi Katie, I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! The difference in weight comes down to ingredient density and how different flours (and ingredients) pack differently. All-purpose flour is more compact, so 1 cup is about 125g, whereas almond flour is lighter and sits at around 100g per cup. As a non-food example, 1 cup of stones will weigh differently to 1 cup of feathers. Hope that makes sense!
I made this today on whim and glad I did. I made it at serving size 9, due to the almond meal (I believe it was blanched almond meal) packet size not being enough for more. I also didn’t include any toppings, nor almond extract as I didn’t have those. It was amazing and very easy to make!
Thank you so much for trying out this recipe and I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It sounds like you adapted it perfectly with what you had on hand, and it’s great to know the cake works well scaled down. Thanks again for sharing your experience!
Hi Anthea – firstly, you are my go-to for vegan baking.
Secondly, I made this for my vegan daughter’s birthday (I used ground almonds and plain flour as that’s all I had) and it was so beautiful that my husband (not vegan) asked for it for his birthday the following week. Thank you so much for making my life a lot easier! And good luck with the new baby
Hi Sian, thanks so much for your ongoing support and for choosing to make this cake for your daughter’s special celebration! Aww, I’m so glad your husband requested this cake for his birthday too. It sounds like a busy few weeks of birthdays for you! Thank you for your well wishes too, I appreciate it a lot!
How many calories per slice please?
How many slices does the cake make ?
Hi Sarah, this cake makes 12 slices and you can see the nutrition info at the bottom of the recipe card after you click on ‘nutrition information’
This cake is so delicious. It is not sweet which I like. It is so easy to make. It came out perfectly. I added some sweetened coconut to the batter. Making it again today for a friend who will be visiting. It is great with your coffee too! Thank you for the recipe. Oh you can not even tell it is vegan.
Hi Diane, that’s wonderful to hear and it’s the best news when you can’t tell it’s vegan! Glad to know that it works with added coconut too. Thank you so much for your feedback, I appreciate it!
i’ve made this cake countless times and it is always a hit! it’s perfect for Orthodox fasting days. thank you!
Hi Karine, that’s wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂