Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Easy vegan lemon olive oil cake using only 6 key ingredients and 1 bowl. This cake is fluffy, tender and light and perfect for Spring!
This light and zesty cake has a similar flavor profile to my vegan lemon poppy seed muffins, vegan lemon cake and lemon drizzle cake.
Key ingredients you’ll need
This vegan lemon loaf uses only everyday ingredients including:
Ingredient notes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil adds moisture and flavor. Some types of olive oils are sweet while others are a little peppery so your cake will adopt the flavor of your particular oil.
Lemon juice and zest and lots of it for extra zing! Lemon juice is acidic so reacts with dairy-free milk to make buttermilk which gives a cake a tender crumb. I used fresh lemon juice but bottled will also work.
Granulated sugar for the lightest vegan olive oil cake! Alternatively, you may use coconut sugar however it’ll make your cake a little denser and darker in color.
You don’t need any special egg replacers as the cake stays moist and fluffy from the olive oil, sugar and baking powder!
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to prepare the batter
Like most of my cakes, you’ll only need one bowl to prepare this vegan lemon olive oil cake!
In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients, add all the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. The final batter should be a little runny without no lumps of dry flour or streaks of wet ingredients. Alternatively, you may use a stand mixer or hand mixer but be careful to not overmix the batter!
Pour the cake batter into an 8-inch (20 cm) lined loaf pan and bake it in your preheated oven. Your house will smell wonderful while your vegan olive oil cake is baking!
Decoration suggestions
This vegan lemon loaf is lovely with a simple 2-ingredient icing that sets at room temperature.
For a more decadent cake, you can top it with lemon buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting (such as from my ginger cake recipe).
If you don’t have a big sweet tooth, you can top the unbaked cake with sliced almonds (just keep an eye on the almonds so they don’t burn). After baking, dust the top with powdered sugar or serve with yogurt and berries.
Can I bake this cake in a different pan?
This vegan olive oil cake will bake well in any loaf pan that’s 8-inches or longer. If you’re using a longer one, your cake will just be shorter.
Alternatively, you can use an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan. For easy removal, use a springform pan!
To make cupcakes, I recommend using my vegan lemon cupcakes recipe which fits perfectly in 1 muffin pan.
Customizing this cake
For a less sweet cake, I recommend enjoying the cake without the icing (or only with powdered sugar on top).
The sugar can be slightly reduced to 1 cup (200g). However, keep in mind that sugar adds moisture to the cake, and balances out the sour lemon flavor and slight bitterness from the zest.
Orange juice is sweeter and less acidic than lemon juice so I recommend using more orange juice. Reduce the amount of milk and replace some of it with orange juice. Remember to use the orange zest for extra flavor!
I recommend using my lemon blueberry cake recipe. It’s similar to this vegan olive oil cake but the batter is thicker so the blueberries don’t sink!
More vegan lemon desserts
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Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- 2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour, spoon and leveled (note 1 for gluten-free option)
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of salt, optional
- 1 cup (250g) dairy-free milk, room temperature
- ½ cup (125g) extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup (80g) lemon juice, (note 2)
- ~2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
To decorate (optional, see note 2 for alternatives)
- 1 ½ cups (150g) powdered sugar / icing sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 cup (150g) fresh berries
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Add all the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to a large bowl. Mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla) and mix until just combined.
- Pour the lemon cake batter into your prepared pan. Smooth the surface if necessary.
- Bake the cake for 1 hour or until you can insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and there's no wet batter on it. As this is a moist cake, some crumbs on your toothpick are fine. If the surface of your cake is browning too quickly, carefully tent the pan with aluminum foil.
- Allow the cake to cool in the loaf tin for 10 minutes then let the cake cool on a cooling rack.
To make the icing:
- Add the lemon juice and sugar to a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add more lemon juice or non-dairy milk for a thinner icing (like a lemon glaze) or more powdered sugar for a thicker icing.
- Drizzle the icing over your cooled cake. If desired, top the cake with berries just before serving.
- Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake can be stored without the icing in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- This lemon cake works well with King Arthur’s gluten-free measure for measure flour. If using, I suggest baking the cake for 5-10 minutes longer. Other gluten-free flour blends may produce different results.
- You’ll need around 2-3 medium lemons to yield the amount of lemon juice and zest for the recipe.
- Alternatively, you can enjoy the cake plain, topped with fresh berries or a light dusting of powdered / icing sugar.
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So simple to make and so delicious!
I’m so glad to hear! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Hi Anthea, I made this cake today, I love the texture and taste. But when I mixed the wet ingredients together, the mixture curdled. Is this OK?
Hi Uma, I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake! The mixture can curdle if your milk was a tad too cold (for example, if it was straight from the fridge) or if your lemon juice was extra acidic (as this causes the milk to curdle). It sounds like it didn’t affect your cake negatively, which is great. Thanks so much for letting me know!
10 out of 10 recipe. I used gluten-free APF, monkfruit in lieu of sugar, and an allulose powder for the frosting/glaze. I also used a high-quality Moroccan olive oil, which I truly think influenced the taste. The lemon flavor was subtle, but present and delicious. I topped the cake with chopped strawberries, which really enhance the flavor. I baked it in a 8 inch round cake pan for an hour.
Will definitely be making this again!
Hi Sierra, I’m so glad this recipe worked well with your substitutions and it’s great to know it worked with your gf flour too! I know other readers will appreciate knowing what worked for you too. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Hi! If we chose to bake this in an 8” round pan, does that affect the total baking time?
Hi Sierra! I haven’t tested this cake in a round pan, but from experience, it should take 5 minutes less to around the same amount of time. Hope that helps!
It’s my third time making this recipe in 2 weeks, and it’s FAB. I have to say though, the quality of the olive oil makes a huuuuge difference to the cake flavour. The first and third time I made this I used fancy Spanish EVOO, but the second time I used store brand EVOO. The difference was insane, you would not believe it was the same cake.
I plan to add blueberries or raspberries to the batter the next time I make it. For now I have experimented with adding Earl Grey to the batter, it adds the most delicious fragrance to the cake. Highly recommend.
Thank you so much for making this cake again and taking the time to share your feedback! It’s really interesting to hear how the olive oil influenced the flavor. I wonder if that also changed how the lemon comes through. I love that you added Earl Grey as well. Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback!
I loved the crumb of the cake, very tender and moist. I was gifted some great Spanish olive oil by a friend and I’m very glad I used it in this recipe. I used weight measurements for the flour and the sugar, and volume measurements for the milk and the oil. Only thing I would say is that the lemon flavour is not as pronounced as some might want, I certainly do. What I can think of is adding more lemon zest, and also rubbing the zest into the sugar to release the natural oils and aromas. The cake is the perfect level of not-too-sweet for me so I wouldn’t tinker with the sugar amount at all, but wondering if I could also increase the amount of lemon juice to get more of a tart taste?
Hi Dipa, I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake and I love that you used a special olive oil to make it! The lemon flavor is definitely influenced by the age/type of lemons you use but you can definitely add more lemon zest and rub it into the sugar. I don’t recommend increasing the lemon juice though as too much will make the cake deflate and dense. Lemon juice is really acidic so too much can negatively impact a cake. Increasing the lemon zest won’t negatively impact the crumb. I hope that helps!
Hi! I want to make this today and was wondering if I can use honey instead of sugar? Thanks, this looks delicious!
Hi Alex, I don’t recommend using liquid sweeteners in place of sugar as it’ll throw off the ratios of the other ingredients. It may work if you adjust the liquid ingredients accordingly but it’ll require some testing. Hope that helps!
This was so easy to make and came out absolutely DELICIOUS! This will be a new go-to! Thanks so much!
Hi Alyssa, that’s wonderful to hear!!! Thanks so much for your kind feedback, I appreciate it a lot 🙂
I don’t often cook vegan recipes and I was very skeptical when I tasted the batter becuase of the amount of baking powder! However, the cake is DELICIOUS.
I added orange zest, a tiny bit of whole wheat flour becuase I ran out of white, and frozen blueberries at the very end, which added a little color/texture/moisture.
Will be making again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake! The baking powder flavor is neutralized through the baking process, so thank you for trusting the process :). I love how you customized the recipe as well! Thanks so much for your feedback!
Hello, can you specify what brand of dairy free milk you use? Can you substitute with oats or almond milk at same measurements?
Hi Nisha, I’ve baked this recipe about 10 times and have used different brands of milk every time. I haven’t come across any brand or type of milk that won’t work, though a full-bodied creamy milk or one that you enjoy the taste of will work best. No changes needed.
My vegan daughters were amazed! Thank you
Hi Tom, I’m so glad your daughters enjoyed this, thank you for your review!
Hi! Would it be possible to bake this in an 8″ round pan instead of a loaf pan? Have you tested that before? Thank you!
Hi Saundra, if you just want one layer, yes this will work in an 8″ round pan. If you want two layers, check out my lemon layer cake recipe – it’s almost the same recipe but scaled up. Hope that helps!
Thank you! This cake is simple yet delicious.
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