Vegan lemon cake using WHOLE lemons including the rind and pulp. This eggless lemon cake is gluten free, grain free and made with only 5 key ingredients!
This oil-free cake uses only common pantry ingredients. It's bursting with lemon flavour because it uses lemon juice, pulp AND rind! However, if you prefer a vegan cake without a whole lemon, see my lemon olive oil cake or easy lemon blueberry cake.
What to expect from this recipe
This whole lemon cake is super moist and has a texture like a lemon pound cake or friands.
The flavour is a more complex than your typical vegan lemon cake (with a drizzle) which uses just fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. This cake is packed with lemon rind which is naturally full of essential oil (according to Healthline) so the lemon flavour is outstanding! For a refined palate, this is the best vegan lemon cake you can ask for!
The recipe was adapted from my popular vegan whole orange cake. It's the same easy process and still uses only 5 key ingredients but with slightly different ratios!
Eating a whole orange is obviously very different from eating a whole lemon... so I made adjustments to ensure this easy vegan cake is still DELICIOUS!
Or if you're more of a chocolate person, see my Flourless Vegan Chocolate Cake.
5 ingredients for this vegan lemon cake
Conventionally, a whole lemon cake uses up to 6 eggs but with a simple substiution, we can make an eggless lemon cake! You will need:
- 2 whole lemons, preferably organic
- Almond flour (US) or blanched almond meal (Aus)
- Potato starch or corn starch
- Sugar
- Baking powder
And water! Even though this a butter free and oil free cake, it's incredibly moist from the whole lemons!
If you're wondering why I chose potato starch (or corn starch) as a gluten free flour and egg substiute, read my orange cake recipe post (section titled 'The simple magical ingredient.')
Non-vegan whole lemon cakes have a slight yellow hue from the lemon rind and eggs. However, for this eggless lemon cake, we can mimic the colour with a little turmeric (completely optional). Turmeric's colour is intensified through heat so it was perfect for this cake!
As always, all the ingredient ratios are in the grey recipe box at the bottom of this post.
Boiling the lemons
This cake is easy to make! First, place your two lemons in a small saucepan of water. They don't need to be completely covered but there needs to be enough water to steam/boil and the lemons. Boiling the lemons helps soften the skin and pulp making them more digestible in the final vegan lemon cake.
When the lemons are soft and can be pierced without much resistance, drain the water and allow the lemons to cool down.
Roughly chop the lemons and remove all the seeds. The lemons should appear 'hollow' and the pulp will feel a little slimy which is completely normal. The lemons don't need to be chopped finely but just enough so they fit in your food processor.
Preparing the lemon cake batter
Place the chopped lemon in your food processor and blitz until it forms a rough puree. If you have a large food processor, your lemon puree might be more chunky. That's fine - we'll be processing them further!
Simply add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until combined. It will be a thick batter which is perfect! You may have little bits of lemon rind in your batter which add texture and flavour to your final vegan lemon cake.
If your batter is too thin, gradually add a few more tablespoons of corn starch/flour until it forms a thick batter. The texture should be like thick rice pudding or half mashed banana. If it's any thinner, your lemon cake has too much moisture and may not bake well.
I usually wouldn't recommend mixing cake batters in your food processor as there's a risk of overmixing! Overmixing strengthens the gluten and makes a tough crumb in your final cake. However, this vegan lemon cake is gluten free so you can mix the batter as much as you want!
As the batter is quite thick, you'll need to scoop it into your lined cake tin. The top can be smoothed with the back a spoon :).
Baking the whole lemon cake
This cake doesn't have much added liquid so we only need to bake it for 35-40 minutes. It's also a large and FLAT cake which doesn't need much time in the oven to fully bake!
How to serve this lemon cake
Just like my whole orange cake, this lemon cake is perfect for morning tea or afternoon tea! I personally prefer it plain as the cake is full of flavour (and moisture).
However, you can also serve it with dairy free yoghurt, ice cream or cream! You can also top the cake with a simple lemon powdered sugar icing/glaze such as the one I used for my lemon pistachio cake.
Questions and answers!
Yes absolutely! Meyer lemons are a bit more sweet than regular lemons so feel free to adjust the amount of sugar, to taste.
If you're allergic to just almonds, try cashew flour/meal. Alternatively, you can use a combination of all-purpose flour and a light-tasting vegetable oil. The whole lemon cake made with all-purpose flour is fluffier and has a more subtle lemon taste than the original. I've listed the ratios in the notes of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
I wouldn't recommend this. When you think about it, lemon juice and extract is only liquid whereas a whole lemon has lots of fibre and rind. If you're after a vegan lemon cake using only lemon juice, check out my lemon drizzle cake.
Yes, absolutely!
I haven't tried this myself but if you can chop the lemon FINELY as if you blended it, you will probably get the same result making the recipe by hand!
The cake bakes very well in muffin tins and can be divided into smaller cake tins, of course with shorter baking times. However, baking the whole quantity of the cake in a smaller tin (for example 15 cm or 7 inches) may cause 'dense spots' throughout the cake.
See my other vegan lemon desserts
- Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- Lemon Cheesecake (no bake)
- Pistachio Lemon Avocado Cake
- Easy Lemon Tart
- Blueberry Lemon Bars
- Easy Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake
You may also like
Vegan Whole Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 2 x (~250g total) large-size organic lemons, with the rind still on and washed thoroughly (note 1)
- 2 ½ cups (250g) blanched almond meal / almond flour, (note 2)
- 1 cup (200g) cane sugar, (note 3)
- ¾ cup (85g) potato starch, or corn starch / corn flour (plus more if needed)
- ½ cup (120g) water
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp turmeric, optional for colour
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash the skin of the lemons and remove the stems if they're still on. Add around 4 cups of water to a small saucepan and place the whole lemons in the water. Over medium heat, simmer the lemons for 30 minutes until you can pierce the skin with no resistance. Drain the water and allow the lemons to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Grease or line a 20 cm (8 inch cake tin).
- Roughly chop the lemons and remove all the seeds. The lemons should look 'hollow' where the rind is mostly in tact but the inside is soft and almost 'melted' away (if they don't, you will need to add more corn starch/flour in step 5).
- Place the chopped lemon in a food processor and blitz until it is a chunky paste with small pieces of rind.
- Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the food processor. Process until the mixture is combined and quite thick, like the texture of thick rice pudding. If your batter is thinner or your lemons weren't 'hollow' as stated in Step 3 add 1 tablespoon (7g) of corn starch/flour at a time and mix until it forms a thick batter. If in doubt, err towards a thicker batter rather than thinner batter (note 4).
- Scoop the cake batter into a your cake tin. Smooth the top with a spoon or spatula.
- Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer can be inserted into the middle and there is no wet batter on it (some crumbs are fine). Allow the cake to completely cool in the cake tin.
- To serve, dust the cake with icing sugar (Note 5). Store leftovers 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.
Notes
- The thinner the lemon rind, the better! Some lemons have a very thick rind which may give the cake a bitter aftertaste. I'd really recommend weighing your lemons for this recipe and sticking to ~250g. You can still boil half cut lemons if needed! The weight of an 'average' lemon varies country to country. I've seen large homegrown lemons which are 300g each!
- The total amount of almond flour can be substituted with 1 cup (125g) all purpose flour and ½ cup (125g) light-tasting vegetable oil such as sunflower or rapeseed.
- This amount of sugar creates a mildly sweet cake. You may decrease the sugar to ¾ cup (150g) but it will create a more dense cake which may be bitter. Also, some varieties of lemon may be sweeter so feel free to adjust the amount of sugar to taste.
- I'd recommend taste testing the batter at this stage. If it's too bitter for your liking, add ~¼ cup (50g) more sugar. Bitterness comes from lemons with a thick rind.
- Alternatively you can also:
- Drizzle a simple syrup on the cake. Combine 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp of sugar or maple syrup in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved or mixture has emulsified. Drizzle on the cake while it's warm.
- Top the cake with a simple icing, such as the one in my vegan pistachio lemon cake. Wait until the cake is completely cool before you ice the cake.
Some readers reported that their cake turned out too moist. This is due to excess moisture in the cake batter which is from inaccurately measuring ingredients (i.e. using cups) or water leaking into the lemons while they're boiled. I've added an extra step where you can add extra corn starch/flour to balance out the excess moisture.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
Hi. This recipe looks fabulous and I’m definitely going to make it. However I was wondering if I can just use ground almonds (I’m in UK) instead of almond flour/meal or can I just grind whole blanched almonds to make the flour. Many thanks.
Yes! In Australia, almond flour and blanched almond meal is ground whole blanched almonds so that's what I'm referring to :). Thank you!
I followed this recipe for whole vegan lemon cake exactly as written and it was a huge success! Five members of my extended family shared a piece and without hesitation they all gave it 5 stars! I loved how moist it was and how lemony, without being bitter. Congratulations Anthea, I'll definitely be making this one again!
Appreciate your effort and willing to share your recepies... hard work from your side, however blessings for other people by you sharing. Thank you.
Aw thanks so much Pat! I really appreciate your comment on this Friday! x
This recipe didn't work for me at all. I think I had the same experience as another commenter -- Enzarela). It's basically lemon fudge. Really dense and wet. It's as if there were no dry ingredients in it. The only change I made was using arrowroot flour vs potato starch. Followed the recipe to the letter otherwise. Arrowroot should not have made a big difference. I've swapped it in other recipes for corn/potato starch with no problems. I was really hoping this would be a great cake for family gatherings. It's not cake-like at all. I wish I had the good experience that most reviewers had! Bummer! I'm baffled why it didn't work out.
Hi Julie, I'm sorry the cake didn't work for you! It sounds like your batter was definitely too wet which leads to a dense cake. Did you weigh your lemon(s) and all the ingredients or did you use cups? For example, if your lemon was too large or heavy, the cake will not be fluffy.
I baked this twice already and everyone who had a piece (or two) absolutely loved it! It is as lemony and moist as you can imagine from the pictures.
I used 150g white almond meal and 100g all purpose flour and I loved the consistency. Bit spongy 🙂
Although your recipe is for a whole lemon cake, all the photos seem to have oranges in them. Is the lemon cake just as orange as the orange cake?
My suggestion is that more realistic photos would enhance your recipe.
I will have to try it myself to find out!!
I used turmeric in the cake to make the cake yellow. If you saw my stories on Instagram, you'll see that these pictures are quite realistic.
I made this cake & it turned out Superb!
I used 1 cup of coconut sugar & it tasted great! Easy to make. I’ll use this recipe again & again. Thank you.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the cake!! Thanks so much for leaving your feedback, I truly appreciate it 🙂
Such a delicious and easy recipe! Tried it and it turned out perfectly!!!!! Yum.
Yay, I'm so glad to hear!! And thanks for your comment too! x
Didn't work. Used everything as directed, no rise at all and did not bake through in 40 minutes. I used a 9 inch pan so it should have baked even faster. Tasted like very sweet lemon fudge. Had high hopes but it was a waste of ingredients.
Can you think of where your ingredients/baking went wrong? This recipe is a reader favourite and I've never heard of it turning into fudge.
Made this! Love how simple it is and how big in lemon flavor it is. Our kids made an icing and put little slices of candied lemon slices on top (trader joe) which gave it a little extra lemon to it.
Would make again and again!
The only thing different I did was sub half of the sugar with turbinado sugar (what I had left in the pantry) and did it in an 8x8 square pan. 35 minutes cooking was perfect.
I'm soo happy that you loved the cake! Candied lemon sounds so delicious too :). Also, that's great it worked in a different size pan and with half of another sugar. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your feedback Dorothy! x
Hi Anthea, I was just measuring my lemon, just picked from the garden and one lemon weighed in at 389grams!!! Amazing heh!! So do I just boil the one lemon for this recipe?
Thanks so much for prividing such beautiful vegan recipes. Beautiful....
Cheers
Meade
Yes, they can be huge right?! Some websites say that a 'large size lemon' is 140g.... which I don't believe because many homegrown lemons are as large as yours! For homegrown lemons, I'd probably try to pick a slightly smaller lemon which is around 250g and use that (or cut a chunk off your lemon and use that). I hope that helps 🙂