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.
This is a wonderful recipe. The cake always turns out great. I often make this one as a sheet cake with great results -exact same measurements.
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for the awesome review.
Love this cake! I’m making it again for my hubby’s birthday tomorrow. Just wondering if it would work with melted vegan butter instead of canola oil? Thanks!
Hi Chanelle, I think it would work, but it won’t be as moist. The best ingredient for moist cakes is actually oil. 🙂
Hi Alison! I plan to make this cake for a birthday. The idea is to have a 2-tier, 3-layered ensemble. What batch size would you recommend? Based on the previous comments, my thought was x3.
So is it 6 layers in total and all 8-inch round? In that case yes definitely 3 times. All the best! 🙂
It was (3), 6″ layers and (3), 8″ layers! And that batch size worked wonderfully! I’m also here to note that it tasted absolutely magical alongside a raspberry buttercream (:
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting us know!
I made this in two 9 inch pans. The cake was soft and delicious. I used slightly less granulated sugar and a little extra milk to get the batter the same consistency as in the video. I made half the quantity of frosting and this covered the top and the middle generously. I also added a little oat milk to the frosting to make it smoother. My 9 year old grandson rated it 10/10. Thank you!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!
Delicious and easy, thank you for sharing this!!
Thanks Chris!
So good. One little question. It was not a fluffy as I had hoped and I think it was because I used coconut oil instead of canola – do you think that could be it? I also over-baked a couple minutes (oops). Even still – was delicious and everyone loved it. Thanks for the great recipe.
Coconut oil usually does result in a slightly denser texture, but it could also be over-mixing or using too much flour.
Thanks. I will try again.
Wonderful ! I am not a vegan and not used to cook this way, but we have some friends who are. I made this cake as a birthday cake and it was a great success. Thank you for exact and good explanations. I used only half of the sugar coating mixture. A succulent lemon cake.
Thanks so much for the great review Daphna!
Hello, I’d like to make this cake for the top layer of my sisters wedding cake. Do you have any suggestions for sizing it down to a 4 tier 6″ cake? Also, what do you think about lemon curd and lemon buttercream filling? I’d like it so when you cut into it you have pattern. Thank you! Olivia
Hi Olivia, I would start with testing the recipe as it is for a 4 layer 6-inch cake, it may not need any adjusting, though the bake time would reduce to around 20 minutes. I haven’t tried lemon curd as a filling, only buttercream, but it sounds like a great idea!
I made this last night after a day of strawberry picking. Added a thick layer of thinly sliced strawberries to the bottom of one of the pans so that the end result was caramelized strawberries on top of the cake. Halved the icing and used it only between the 2 layers. Folded more strawberries into the batter, which I’d followed almost exactly except I cut the sugar down to 1 cup and the lemon extract to 1 tsp. It was a huge hit with my family and guests. Will definitely make this again.
So happy everyone enjoyed it Megan! Thanks for sharing!
I made the cake for a christening where 2 guests were vegan, it was very well received, not just by vegans. I am making it tonight for my nephew from America and a family get together.
Wonderful! Thanks for the great review Jayne!
Came together so fast and my parents who usually eat half a slice to be polite reached in for seconds! Loved it:)
Yay! So glad to hear that!
I love your recipes. Can i make this as a bundt cake?
Thanks Marsha, yes I think it would work as a bundt cake, but the baking time would be longer, probably in the region of 50+ minutes.
Thanks, Allison. I’ll try it this weekend for a birthday party and let you know.
This looks delectable! I don’t have lemon extract… will it be okay to skip it or do you think I should add more zest to the cake/juice to the icing?
You can use lemon juice instead, but the flavor will be much more subtle. Still delicious though.
Okay thank you 🙂
Great recipe. Always turns out moist and incredibly delicious. Even my non -vegan friends and family love it.
Thanks Pamela!
Hello, I really love this recipe, the lemon really shines and the texture is beautiful. I’d like to use this for an upcoming event and am hoping I can freeze the cake for a few weeks in advance? What’s the best way to store it in the freezer, any tips? I’ll frost it on the day of the event.
Many thanks!
Hi Karen, so happy you love the recipe! Yes you can freeze it in advance. Let it cool completely and then ideally wrap each layer in saran wrap and then foil and then place in a freezer safe container, or double wrap it each layer in foil if you don’t have a container. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and then bring to room temperature on the counter and frost.