This vegan lemon cake with velvety lemon buttercream frosting is moist and fluffy and will make all your lemon cake dreams come true!
This vegan lemon cake is pure lemony perfection!
Jaye was saying it’s exactly like the lemon cake his grandmother used to make! Which is high praise considering his grandmother was quite the chef.
The recipe is based on our vegan vanilla cake, with lots of lemon flavor added in via lemon zest and lemon extract and of course, a delicious lemon buttercream frosting and lots of lemon zest as decoration.
It’s super easy, and will happily fulfil all your lemon cake dreams!
When looking around the web at lemon cakes in general, I saw a lot of lemon loaf cakes.
But that isn’t what comes to my mind when I think of a lemon cake, to me a lemon cake is a lemon layer cake, and a lemon loaf cake or a lemon pound cake is the loaf cake. Anyway, just saying because I hope you didn’t come to this page hoping for a loaf cake.
If you did, well don’t worry, we also have a gorgeous vegan lemon pound cake.
I went with two 8-inch cake pans for this cake. The layers are really fat and beautiful. This cake also works perfectly in 9-inch cake pans.
Egg replacement?
I didn’t use a flax egg in this cake, which I also don’t use in my vanilla cake recipe that I based this recipe on. I don’t find I need it in this recipe and I don’t want it to affect the color.
In light colored cakes, a flax egg can affect the color leading it to look a bit spotty, so in this case it’s best to leave it out.
So there isn’t any specific egg replacer in this recipe, unless you count the baking soda/vinegar combination, which definitely acts together to create some crucial baking science that causes the cake to rise beautifully. It all just works.
Recipe Q&A
You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour in this recipe. If it comes out a bit dry (gluten-free flours can absorb more moisture) then increase the oil a little.
Yes you can. This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Or for a perfect 12 cupcakes see our vegan lemon cupcakes recipe.
Sure you can, but the lemon flavor will be lessened quite a bit. I do recommend getting some lemon extract if you possibly can.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it stored in an airtight container at room temperature where it will stay gorgeous for a 3-4 days or keep it covered in the fridge where it will last for up to a week.
The cake is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. You can freeze it either frosted or unfrosted. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Gorgeous Vegan Cakes
- Our vegan white cake is a classic 8-inch beauty which is pretty much a vanilla cake, just with attempts to make it even whiter in color.
- Our recipe for the best vegan chocolate cake can be made in either 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans and our easy vegan chocolate cake adapts well to multiple different cake pans.
- Our vegan banana cake can be made as a 9×13 sheet cake or a 2-layer 8-inch cake. It’s also topped with a delicious lemon frosting.
- Our vegan coffee cake isn’t just a cake to eat with your coffee, it’s actually a coffee flavored cake! Topped with a kahlua frosting it’s a real treat.
- Our vegan red velvet cake has a beautiful vibrant color and it’s perfect for special occasions and our vegan carrot cake is always very popular.
- Want to have an English tea? Make this delicious vegan Victoria sponge cake!
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Cake
Ingredients
For the Vegan Lemon Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¾ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ cups Soy Milk (360ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 tsp Lemon Extract
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (540g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 3 ½ Tbsp Lemon Juice
For Decoration:
- Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 8-inch* cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Then add the soy milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest. Whisk with a hand whisk briefly until nicely combined and no big lumps remain. Don't overmix, tiny lumps are okay.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the pans and place onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by placing the powdered sugar, vegan butter and lemon extract and lemon juice* into the bowl of an electric mixer. Start off at slow speed, gradually increasing speed until thick and smooth.
- Frost the cooled cakes and decorate with lemon zest.
Video
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method or by weighing it on a food scale. For the spoon and level method, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
- You can switch the canola oil for another vegetable oil if you prefer. We have made this with various oils including a light olive oil and it has come out great.
- 2 Tbsp of lemon zest is from about 2 lemons, but it does depend on the size of the lemons, if it’s a large lemon you might get 2 Tbsp worth of zest from 1 lemon.
- You might not need all the lemon juice in the frosting. I used all of it, but how much you need will largely depend on the brand of vegan butter you use. If you use a firmer type of vegan butter (lower water content) you will need more lemon juice, whereas if it’s more of a soft spread (higher water content) you may need less. So this will require a little flexibility.
- This cake recipe can also be made in 9-inch cake pans with no other changes. The layers will be slightly thinner, but perfect! The cooking time will be 25 minutes.
I love this cake and so does everyone who tries it! How many cupcakes would this recipe make?
This recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes. Or for a perfect 12 cupcakes see our vegan lemon cupcakes recipe.
Perfect. Thank you. I wasn’t sure whether the 180°C was for fan or normal oven. I used fan and it was great.
Thanks for sharing and for your great review Peter!
I made this for a colleagues birthday. It was tried by lots of people and the loopcompliments came flooding in;
I added a vegan lemon curd to the filling. I made a 4 layer cake using 6 inch pans and adjusted the ingredients by 25%. This made for a lovely tall cake.
Perfect recipe, thanks so much.
Thanks for your amazing review Sarah! 🙂
We love this recipe! I made it last year for my daughter’s birthday and turned the 2 8 inch cakes into a snake shaped!
This year she wants it again, but shaped like roller skates. Do you think this recipe would work in a 9 x 13 pan?
It should work in a 9 x 13 inch pan Alanna – the baking time would be longer though as it is a bigger size pan.
THE BEST vegan lemon cake recipe there is!! I cut down on the lemon extract and added more zest to mine. Delicious 😋
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and for your great review Jade! 🙂
what brand butter and soy milk did you use ? And if i use vegetable oil is that okay ?
You can use any brand of vegan butter and unsweetened soy milk in this recipe. And vegetable oil will work perfectly fine! 🙂
Easy recipe and very delicious!! Made them as cupcakes.
That’s great Kathrynn! Thank you so much for your review!!
Hello! I only have a 10″ spring form cake tin. Should I double the recipe for 2 similarly thick layers like yours? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi!
I wanted to make this as 3 tiers:
What size tins would you recommend ? I was thinking 7inch but I could be wayyyy off!
Delicious but way too sweet! I ended up scraping off the icing. It’s very tasty without all the extra sugar.
This is the best cake recipe I’ve ever made. I have been making vegan cakes for almost 30 years. This one comes out fluffy and moist and delicious. I have a huge supply of Meyer lemons every winter and make this cake far too often during this time of lemon abundance.
I do up my lemon flavor considerably though because I want it REALLY lemony and it works great. I use 3/4 cup fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice, 3/4 cup almond milk, omit the vinegar and extracts. A tip if doing it this way–do not mix dry and wet until the oven is preheated and the pan(s) are prepped. The batter will activate quickly with all that lemon juice and be very frothy.
I usually do not use a traditional frosting so this rating is for the cake only.
Thanks for sharing Jill and thank you so much for your review!
Can the cake be split in half to make four layers?
Yes it can!
This is not only the best vegan lemon cake, it is the best vegan cake I’ve ever made, in fact the best CAKE I’ve ever made. Absolutely loved by everyone who has tasted it! I love the tangy frosting but I personally make less and don’t cover the sides but that’s just to save calories really 😂
Thank you so much for the amazing review Sally! Soooo happy you love the cake! 🙂
Amazing !!! Just as moist when subbing the apple sauce for the oil.
How long would it take to bake this recipe as cupcakes?
About 20 minutes.