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Vegan Lemon Cake

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A perfectly sweet and tart vegan lemon cake made with olive oil and frosted with a powdered sugar glaze. This is bound to be your new favorite dessert!

vegan lemon cake on a wire rack

Well, the obsession with lemon desserts continues! Like I’ve mentioned before, I am HERE for everything chocolate, boozy, and sweet, but there is just something about lemon desserts that always keeps me coming back for another slice.

Maybe it’s a mix of a sweet treat mixed with that tart tang of lemon, making me feel like I’m eating something refreshing and healthy-ish, even when it’s vegan lemon cake. 

Whatever it is, I’m not stopping anything soon, and if you are a lemon lover like me, you shouldn’t either. Fun fact: I used to suck on lemons as a child, so maybe that’s where my weird love for lemon comes from? Who knows!

slices of vegan lemon cake on plates

This vegan lemon cake has been about 6 months in the making and I just happened to try it one more time this past weekend.

Back before Thanksgiving, I spent a whole Saturday trying to nail down the recipe for this lemon cake, each time getting slightly closer, but not quite there. One cake turned out like a big pan of lemon curd, another was flat as a pancake, and the last one overflowed, thanks to my overzealous measuring of the baking soda.

Lesson learned, sometimes you just need to let it be and come back to a recipe!

I think sometimes I have such a stranglehold on making a recipe that I end up trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole at a certain point.

For example, I tried for these doughnuts three times in one weekend, each time getting even further away from what I wanted them to be.

I eventually gave up, came back to them 2 weeks later, and they turned out perfectly on the first try. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow when it comes to baking!

slice of vegan lemon cake on a plate

How to make vegan lemon cake

This vegan lemon cake looks absolutely gorgeous thanks to the glaze that’s poured on top, but it’s secretly one of the easiest cakes to make!

To make the olive oil cake batter, you just have to whisk together some almond milk (or non-dairy milk of your choice), olive oil, vanilla, sugar, and the lemon juice and zest. Then add in the dry ingredients and stir to combine, making sure not to overwork the batter.

Bake your vegan lemon cake in a 350ºF oven until the top begins turning a light golden brown.

You can also test the doneness of your cake by pressing your finger gently into the center of it—if the cake immediately springs back, it’s ready to be taken out!

You must wait to glaze the cake until it’s fully cooled. I know waiting sucks, but if you try to glaze the cake while it’s still warm, the glaze will run everywhere and your cake will probably turn to mush.

vegan lemon cake with vanilla glaze

Tips for making this vegan lemon cake

I would watch your baking time on this vegan lemon olive oil cake very closely! I think I overbaked the last batch and it turned out slightly dry and crumbly.

I kept mine right around 25 minutes and it was perfect, but check it at 20 minutes and go from there, your oven might run hotter than mine.

Also, I think you could totally swap out the lemon for orange or grapefruit, whatever citrus tickles your fancy. I can’t attest to this, but I think a grapefruit version would be perfect for the winter!

slice of vegan lemon cake

More vegan cake recipes on Heart of a Baker:

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A perfectly sweet and tart vegan lemon olive oil cake! Frosted with a powdered sugar glaze, this cake is bound to be your new favorite lemon dessert.

Vegan Lemon Cake

★★★★ 3.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Abby Bayatpour
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Italian
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Description

A perfectly sweet and tart vegan lemon cake made with olive oil and frosted with a powdered sugar glaze. This is bound to be your new favorite dessert!

Scale

Ingredients

For the lemon cake:

  • 3/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2–3 tablespoons lemon zest and juice (I used 1 large lemon, but this would equate to 2 small lemons too)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the powdered sugar glaze:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3–4 tablespoons almond milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan. Trace a parchment paper circle and line the bottom of the pan. Grease the parchment paper as well.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, olive oil, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice/zest.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Transfer the flour mixture to the bowl with the almond milk mixture and whisk until batter is combined.
  4. Transfer batter to the greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
  5. While cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar and almond milk in a small bowl. After cake has fully cooled (don’t do this while it’s still warm!), pour the glaze over the top of the cake.
  6. Serve. Store in a covered container for up to 5 days.

Keywords: vegan lemon cake, olive oil cake

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Comments

  8. Hi Abby
    This recipe looks delicious! I can’t wait to bake this delicacy. What kind of almond milk have you used here?
    Also I read about your struggle with the oven. I suggest you to check out some pretty cool oven with better technologies to prevent that from happening again.
    Can’t wait to tell you how it turned out!

    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  9. Hi, Abby!

    I’m baking this cake right now. 🙂 It smells amazing, but it’s been in 25 minutes and is still pretty liquid-y. When you say 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice and zest, is there a proportion that should be juice vs zest? I’m concerned I may have too much liquid in my mix.

    Reply

  10. This is amazing! I used vanilla soy milk, canola oil, 3 T lemon juice, added in 1/2 t lemon extract, and only used half the glaze. I baked mine in a 9″ pan, but there was too much batter, so I made a small microwave cake too. 🙂 I did mine in my toaster oven and it was done in 18 minutes. This is such a lovely lemon cake and definitely a keeper. Thank you!

    Reply

  12. Hey there. Right now I am baking my second attempt. I have baked cakes using olive oil before so I am familiar with it. My first attempt the batter seemed to be extremely loose and filled the pan completely…. it overflowed during baking and 35 mins later it never fully baked. This time the batter was thicker but still filled the pan completely…15 mins left in baking time….fingers crossed! I really want a piece of lemon cake!!! 😜

    Reply

  13. I’ve made this cake several times, and it’s never failed me. I’ve added blueberries and rosemary, and folks gobbled it up. Thanks for the great recipe!

    Reply

  15. Hello! Sounds delicious! Can I sub the all purpose flour for almond or coconut flour to make the cake gluten free? Thank you!

    Reply

    • Hi Amanda! I don’t know, as I haven’t tested it this way. It might be best to use a GF flour blend, but I can’t guarantee that it will work, since I only tested with AP flour. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  20. I may have made it a second time a few days later . I did end up using 3/4 cup of honey in place of the sugar the second time .

    Reply

  21. Not clear on one of the ingredient measurements listed. For 2-3 tablespoons lemon zest and juice (I used 1 large lemon, but this would equate to 2 small lemons too) are you saying we should use 2-3 T lemon zest and all of the juice from that lemon? Or, is it a total of 2-3 T of zest and juice combined?

    Reply

  23. Hi There!
    Happy Easter!
    I’m planning on baking this lovely cake for tomorrow’s Easter celebration. My new daughter-in-law is Vegan, so I’m super excited to bake something new!
    In your story, you mentioned bake time 20-25 min, but in the recipe directions, it mentions 30-40 min. So I’m a bit confused..
    I think I’m understanding the lemon-lemon zest portion, after reading the responses. So, juice of 1 large lemon along with 2-3 tablespoons of zest…. correct?
    I love to bake, and so excited to give this new recipe a try! Thank you!

    Reply

  24. Made this cake for a Game of Thrones party (Sansa loves lemon cake) Substituted canola oil for olive oil and threw blueberries on top of the glaze, served with some vegan mixed berry sorbet. It was a huge hit! Definitely making again for my vegan pals

    Reply

  25. I loved this cake! Easy to make and delicious!!!! Aaaaand vegan!!! What a treat! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I simple loved this cake. I will certainly make it again! For sure!!!!! 🙂

    Reply

      • I have a dinner tomorrow night, and just found out that I won’t be the only vegan! I was so excited that I decided to make an extra dessert for the dinner. I made this into brownie-like bars using a pan made for making individual brownies. It worked perfectly! They smell and taste so good! Thank you!

        ★★★★★

  26. Made the cake today for my sons girlfriend birthday who is staying with us. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a bundt pan. It was perfect. Poured the icing over it and looked beautiful. We are not a vegan family but everyone loved it. Will definitely make it again.

    Reply

  27. Based on what other people said about longer than expected cooking time, and more batter than the pan can handle, I’ll try it in my Bundt pan.

    Reply

  29. I’ve made this twice now and both times were just not good. I have it frozen in slices hoping someone will choose to eat it someday instead of it just going to waste. When the kids don’t like it you know it’s no good.

    ★

    Reply

    • Hi Bree! I’m so sorry to hear this didn’t turn out. Can you tell me what about it wasn’t good? I’ve made it multiple times and always had success, but I want to make sure yours turns out too!

      Reply

  30. This cake was so easy and delicious! I topped it with fresh strawberry slices and some more lemon zest. Delicious! Will make again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Abby and I love all things sweet, with a vegan twist! If you have a craving for rich chocolate cake or love a flaky croissant as much as I do, you're in the right place.

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