During the summer it always feels like I have a lot of lemon desserts going on around here, but you will forgive me, right? I can’t get enough of the bright, light lemon flavors before we transition into fall, so look out for just a few more lemon centered sweets before we pull out of the sweaters for the season. I’ve had a version of these vegan lemon cakes on my mind for a couple of years now, picturing a sweet, fluffy cake topped with sweetened coconut whipped cream and the best summer berries. I did attempt a version of these last summer, thinking that the cake part would be more of an angel food cake consistency, but they didn’t quite work out. After trying a few more times unsuccessfully and putting them on the back burner, the lemon cakes turned out and are perfect as ever this year!
I ended up using a version of this cake for the base of these vegan lemon cakes. It ended up being a perfect combination of sweet, tart, and just fluffy enough. The coconut whipped cream is your standard recipe, topped with whatever summer berries you can find in stores this time of year. I’ve been eating my weight in strawberries and blueberries before summer is over, but I think blackberries or even stone fruit would be perfect on top of these!
In light of recent events over the past weekend, I’ve been struggling with what to write. If you’re looking for good ways to get active, stay involved, and be informed, here are some of the best ways I’ve found over the last few days:
- Pod Save the People did an excellent special episode on Charlottesville, totally worth a listen.
- Pod Save America is always one of the most informative and well done political podcasts.
- Brooklyn Supper wrote a really incredible piece on Charlottesville and what the events meant to her, being present in the city when it all took place.
- 8 Ways to Help After Charlottesville
All in all, let’s love each other, be kind and bake a cake once in a while. I’ll be back next week with one last summery recipe before I start to consider pulling out the fall recipes.
Vegan Lemon Cakes with Coconut Whipped Cream and Berries
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
Description
Vegan lemon cakes with a sweet coconut whipped topping and the summer’s prettiest berries!
Ingredients
For the lemon cake:
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2–3 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
For the coconut whipped cream:
- 1 can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
- 1/3 cup agave nectar
- 1 cup Fresh berries (any variety)
Instructions
- Before starting the cake, be sure that your can of coconut milk is in the fridge or has been refrigerated overnight. This will cause the solids to solidify and make making coconut whipped cream much easier.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond milk, apple cider vinegar, sugar, melted coconut oil, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Whisk together until combined.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined and no flour streaks remain.
- Distribute the batter evenly between all of the muffin cups, filling the cups about half to 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until tops of the cakes spring bake with lightly touched.
- Allow to cool. While cakes are cooling, whisk together the coconut milk and agave. Place in refrigerator until ready to use.
- After cakes have cooled, top cakes with a tablespoon of coconut whipped cream each and top with berries.
Eileen says
Suggestions for substitute for coconut
Thank yo
Heart of a Baker says
Hi Eileen, I haven’t used anything that would stand in for coconut whipped cream but you can use vegan whipped cream, if you can find it!