Try this soft homemade vegan lemon cake recipe, with ultra light and creamy plant based lemon frosting. It is an absolutely delightful dessert!
The best vegan lemon cake
This recipe is for all of you lemon dessert lovers.
The delightfully simple one bowl lemon cake is the ultimate classic dessert, perfect for any summer party or gathering.
It’s a naturally dairy free and vegan recipe, made with basic ingredients you can always keep on hand – no butter, and no eggs required!
You might also like this 100 Calorie Chocolate Cake
I was having a conversation with my younger sister a few days ago about our favorite dessert flavors.
Mine are chocolate and peanut butter, which you can probably guess from how many of my recipes include them, such as the Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars, the Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, this Peanut Butter Dip, or the Chocolate No Bake Cookies.
But my sister said she much prefers lemon desserts to chocolate. And I’ve come across quite a few of you who feel similarly.
After tasting this light-as-a-cloud vegan lemon cake with its irresistible lemon whipped cream frosting, even I contemplated transferring over to team Lemon.
A classic will always be in style.
(Unlike the male romper, which apparently is a thing now. Please, just no.)
The recipe will also work as Vegan Lemon Cupcakes.
Follow the cake directions below, and bake in cupcake tins for seventeen minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a lemon cupcake comes out clean.
Dairy free lemon cake ingredients
The recipe calls for lemon juice and lemon zest, pure vanilla extract, dairy free yogurt, spelt, white, or gluten free all purpose flour, sunflower, vegetable, or coconut oil, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar or a sugar free substitute, and water.
You can use your favorite frosting and stir in the zest of one lemon. Or beat together the creamy part of two cans of coconut milk (discard the watery part in the cans) with two teaspoons each of lemon juice and zest, and half a cup of powdered sugar or stevia to taste.
If you prefer to frost your lemon cake with a vegan cream cheese frosting, try the one included in my recipes for Vegan Cinnamon Rolls and Vegan Carrot Cake.
Vegan Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup yogurt, such as coconutmilk yogurt
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 cups spelt, white, or gf ap flour
- 3/4 tsp each: baking soda and salt
- 1 cup sugar, unrefined or xylitol if desired
- Optional Frosting: Beat together just the thick cream from two cans of coconut milk with 2 tsp lemon juice, pinch stevia or 6-8 tbsp powdered sugar, and 2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- *You can use any glaze or frosting recipe you wish. If using the one above, it's best to serve right after frosting. This makes two 8-inch cakes or one 9×13 cake. If you'd like a double-layer cake, simply stack one cake on top of the other.Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×13 baking pan or two 8-inch pans (round or square), and set aside. Whisk the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the flour until just evenly mixed, then stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into the prepared pan or pans. Bake 25 minutes or until cake has risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. This cake tastes ten times better the next day if you can wait!View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Lemon Desserts
Or this Keto Cheesecake Recipe
I love lemon. I love chocolate more, but lemon comes in second. I can’t wait to try this super easy recipe. It’s a great summer idea.
Just tasted even without the frosting and couldn’t wait for tomorrow, delicious!!!
(Was baked with 1/2 cup pure maple syrup instead 1/2 sugar )
Hi
Sorry for asking, do you have measurements in gram?
Thanks!
Can’t wait to try this lemon cake. My son will love this for sure. 😉
P.S. Lol. I hate male rompers, too! 🙂
Wow your lemon cake looks incredible! Like you I am a big fan of everything chocolate and peanut butter but I also love lemon cakes and your “light-as-a-cloud lemon cake” recipe sounds so, so good. Thanks for this amazing recipe. 🙂
Lemon or chocolate is a hard decision for me. I like them both equally! This cake looks delightful.
I am cooking for a family member who has been diagnosed as diabetic type 2. By adapting recipes so he can have little things like this and his efforts exercising he has lost 70 pounds and has it under control without meds so I want to keep on with the recipes! My question is I try the frosting using two cartons of coconut cream but substituting sweetener for the sugar and it curdled badly. I have made this type of frosting before with sugar (pretty diagnosis!!) and never had this result. It was inedible. What have I done wrong – ideas anyone? BTW cream was not out of date ? PS male rompers went viral here in UK last year and I agree they are DREADFUL lol. Katie I love your recipes. So grateful for your hard work!
Pre diagnosis!!! Stupid auto correct lol!!!
I’m sure the taste will be good, but this cake did not rise at all! It was like two giant pancakes! The only thing that I did, possibly, different is using coconut oil word just said 1/3 cup oil. What did I do wrong?
Hi, can you give more specifics about the ingredients used? It is impossible to try and guess what might have happened without more information since others weren’t there to see, but I’d like to help. What sugar, yogurt, flour, baking soda, etc did you use? Also what climate/elevation, and how old was the baking soda used (it can go bad)?
The same thing happened to me but after reading your comment, I realized I forgot the baking soda! ??♀️ Still tastes very good, though.
I do that constantly in recipes! Sometimes with salt or sugar too ??
I definitely would LOVE to try this cake! I’ll try subbing the oil for something else though, like white sweet potato or butternut squash! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Katie, I love this cake, and all your lemon recipes actually – you do lemon so well. The frosting on this one looks so creamy. Dee xx