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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
More vegan cake recipes on Heart of a Baker:
- Vegan Mint Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Italian Cream Cake
- Easy Vegan Pound Cake
- Vegan Swedish Coffee Cake
- Vegan Apple Spice Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting
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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!
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
- 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.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, olive oil, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice/zest.
- 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.
- Transfer batter to the greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
- 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.
- Serve. Store in a covered container for up to 5 days.
Keywords: vegan lemon cake, olive oil cake
what an amazing cake! the olive oil is interesting but I imagine the lemon and sweetness balances out the strong flavour (:
I like the olive oil/lemon combo! And that fun fact about how much you sucked on lemons as a kid is hilarious. I would say that might have something to do with your lemon dessert obsession 😉 Send me a slice? xo
Haha, I bet that does have something to do with it! 🙂 Coming right up!
Unsweetened almond milk or original?
Unsweetened!
Thank you for the recipe! This cake turned out amazing.
I’m so happy to hear that!
Definitely have to go with the flow sometimes! A good reminder so that I don’t get too frustrated. 😉 Your hard work paid off – this cake is a beauty!! <3
Thanks, friend!
I have never Lemon cake at home. This is in my to do list. Thanks for sharing my friend. 🙂
Hope you enjoy! xo
I’m not much of a baker myself, but this cake looks so delicious that I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for posting!
I promise it’s the one thing you will want to try!
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 🙂
That’s great advice, thank you!
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.
Hi Jill! It should be baked by now! I’m wondering if your oven runs cooler than mine or there are other variables. Keep it going for a bit longer and let me know how it turns out!
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!
Gotta love a good Lemon Cake, I’m sure the Olive Oil brings a super interesting consistency to this classic!
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!!! 😜
Oh no! I never had this issue, so I’m sorry it didn’t work for you!
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!
That makes me SO happy! Love those ideas!
I made this cake and it was rubbery, bland, and extremely flat. Wish I knew what went wrong!
Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that! If it was rubbery it might be from overmixing. I wish I knew what went wrong too!
Hello! Sounds delicious! Can I sub the all purpose flour for almond or coconut flour to make the cake gluten free? Thank you!
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!
Do you have the nutritional information for this cake?
Hi Louanne, I don’t! I don’t usually calculate nutrition information for desserts, since they are a treat.
Are you using extra virgin olive oil? Or is that too strong of a taste?
Extra virgin would work just fine!
This is a keeper and a repeater, I also put a little lemon juice in the glaze, love love!
Yum, that sounds perfect!
Made this last night and there is only one slice left. It’s amazing!
So happy to hear that!
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 .
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?
2-3 tablespoons of lemon zest with the juice from that lemon!
if i doubled this reciepe would it bake in a 13×9 alright?
Hi Errol,
It should be fine!
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!
Hi Beth, I increased the baking time after testing the recipe again, so 30-40 minutes is the correct time! You are correct on the lemon juice/zest as well!
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
Ohh that’s SO perfect! Happy to hear you loved it!
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!!!!! 🙂
So happy to hear that!
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.
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.