This is the easiest BEST Vegan Lemon Cake you will ever make! It is only 6 ingredients and takes just 10 minutes prep time. It is incredibly light, fluffy, moist and amazingly, delicious! Oil-free, no oil or vegan butter!
EASY VEGAN LEMON CAKE
This vegan lemon cake is seriously one of the yummiest cakes I’ve EVER TASTED in my life! And bonus, it also happens to be the easiest. My husband practically inhaled this cake. Lemon is his favorite dessert flavor, but I’ve shared before how he doesn’t like cake. Well, he couldn’t keep his hands off of this one! This cake is for those who want a back-to-basics straight forward cake with no-fuss, odd ingredients or any difficulty.
Due to several of you writing me asking for extremely simple and basic ingredients in a cake, I created the easiest cake I’ve ever created. It took me 3 trials to get the texture just right, but friends, it is SO light, so fluffy and amazingly, delicious! And talk about easy, only 6 ingredients and it’s also oil-free, but doesn’t taste oil-free I promise. It’s moist, buttery and fantastic! With the glaze, it’s only 8 ingredients total! How is that for an easy vegan lemon cake??
This vegan lemon cake is for those who don’t mind using regular white flour and white sugar. I totally get it if you don’t! I rarely use those either, as most of you know. 90% of the recipes I write, I use gluten-free or healthier flours and healthier sweeteners, but this is not one of those times. My Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes use white flour and white sugar and are one of my most popular desserts, so there’s still enough of you all who love the super simple ingredients.
SO in other words, this is not the cake to want to try to make healthier, there are too many of those options already on my blog, so if you don’t mind a little white flour or white sugar on a special occasion, then make it as is and enjoy how delicious it is! For those wanting a healthier lemon cake, try my Healthy Vegan Lemon Cake instead! And for those of you who DO need gluten-free, make my Vegan Gluten-free Lemon Cake instead!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
- Regular white all-purpose flour
- Fine regular granulated white sugar: Do not sub this with another sweetener or coconut sugar, it will not taste like a lemon cake then or have the right texture! If it’s super important to you, make sure the sugar you buy is vegan, as not all are vegan. Wholesome sweeteners is a vegan brand.
- Baking powder
- Full-fat coconut milk: THIS cannot be subbed, it replaces all oil/butter and is what makes the cake light and moist, it leaves NO coconut taste whatsoever. If you are allergic to coconut, you will just have to skip this recipe, as it will not work without the milk.
- Fresh lemon juice and zest
- Vanilla extract
- For the glaze: Additionally, powdered sugar and yogurt
HOW TO MAKE EASY VEGAN LEMON CAKE
Step 1: Now this step is VERY important to the cake end result. First, make sure you are using a fresh can of room temperature, NOT COLD, full-fat coconut milk. With full-fat coconut milk, the coconut cream will separate from the water in the can. You MUST scrape out all of the water and cream from the can into a blender or another bowl and either blend it until smooth or whisk very well until completely smooth and mixed. If you do not do this first, you run the high risk of either getting too much cream or too much water and not the right mixed combo of each, will be really affect the cake’s texture. After it’s mixed and smooth, then measure the correct amount of milk needed for the cake.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk until mixed.
Step 3: Add the coconut milk, lemon juice, zest and vanilla to a separate bowl and mix.
Step 4: Pour the liquids over the dry and gently whisk or stir with a large spoon until moistened and mixed, being very careful not to overmix. The batter will be quite thick, do not be tempted to add more milk! Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth out.
Step 5: Bake for 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are golden brown and have pulled away from the dish.
Step 6: Glaze and add extra lemon zest for presentation. Let the glaze firm up a bit and then cut and serve!
HOW TO STORE THIS CAKE
This vegan lemon cake is best stored at room temperature covered with foil. I just keep the slices in the same dish it was baked in. It stays fresh and moist for the first 2 days (although best the day made), but by the 3rd day, it starts to dry out some.
MORE VEGAN CAKE RECIPES
- Easy Vegan Vanilla Cake (7 Ingredients!)
- Vegan Gluten-free Funfetti Birthday Cake
- Vegan White Wedding Cake
- Vegan Gluten-free and Grain-free Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Almond Butter Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cake
- Vegan Pumpkin Cake
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Easy Vegan Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (224g) regular white all-purpose flour (this flour is crucial to this cake) SEE NOTES BELOW for GF
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (170g) fine granulated white sugar (SEE NOTES)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (210g) ROOM TEMPERATURE full-fat coconut milk (THIS cannot be subbed, it replaces all oil/butter and is what makes the cake light and moist, it leaves NO coconut taste) I like Thai Kitchen and Taste of Thai brands, both work great here. DO NOT use the Polar brand, it is all stabilizers and additives and not pure coconut milk.
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37g) fresh lemon juice PLUS the zest of a lemon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
LEMON GLAZE
- 1 cup (152g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15g) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (15g) non-dairy yogurt (plain or vanilla) This gives a nice tang, but if you don't have it, add 1/2 tablespoon of any creamy milk instead.
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
NOTE
- I always recommend to use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed, since we all measure differently. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessons room for error. You never need cups or to compare them to the weights, just use the scale and bowl and make sure to zero out in between each ingredient. My recipes are 100% tested specifically using my exact weights and your results will turn out as mine are pictured this way. SEE NOTES at bottom if you don't have a scale.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Now this step is VERY important to the cake end result. First, make sure you are using a fresh can of room temperature, NOT COLD, full-fat coconut milk. With full-fat coconut milk, the coconut cream will separate from the water in the can. You need to scrape out all of the water and cream from the can into a blender or another bowl and either blend it until smooth or whisk very well until completely smooth and mixed (see post pics). If you do not do this first, you run the high risk of either getting too much cream or too much water and not the right mixed combo of each, will be really affect the cake's texture. Please do not skip doing this! Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and lightly grease an 8x8 square stone baking dish. Wipe off any excess runny oil. Stone is best for a soft cake around the edges, but if you don't have one, use glass or metal, just keep an eye, as the edges will cook a bit more in these types of pans.
- To a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk well until mixed. Set aside.
- After you have premixed the coconut milk (from step 1), add the 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (210 grams) to a separate bowl (weighing for best results), then add the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Whisk to mix and pour over the dry ingredients.
- Mix the batter with a large spoon and fold in the flour, gently, from the edges of the bowl into the batter. Don't overmix. Mix until just moistened and no flour is visible. The batter will be THICK. It will seem too dry at first, but as you mix and it gets moistened, it will loosen up a bit into more of a softer batter, however, the batter will be thick. DO NOT be tempted to add more liquid or you will not get the correct, light and fluffy texture you see in the pics (or the video I shared of me making it on social media). If you weighed/measured everything correctly, your cake batter will be thick and that is correct.
- Scrape all of the cake batter into the greased dish and spread out evenly and flat with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out completely clean. The edges should be golden and slightly pulled away from the edges. Set to cool for 45 minutes or more before adding the glaze. The cake should be cool before glazing.
- This cake is SO good on it's own, but the glaze does add another layer of moisture and the lemon flavor is MUCH more pronounced with the glaze! BUT to save on the sugar, you can do just half the glaze and drizzle it over the top instead, if desired. Add the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk for a few minutes until it's completely smooth and no lumps remain.
- Pour all of the glaze over the center of the cooled cake. Use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula and spread it out evenly all over the cake. Zest some more lemon over the top for presentation and extra zing of flavor. Let the glaze firm up a bit (15 minutes or so) and then slice and serve.
Notes
- MEASURING FLOUR: As you know, I always recommend a scale for the best results, following my weights listed, but if you don't have a scale or really do not want to get one, make sure to measure your flour this way: Place the cup on the counter and spoon the flour from the bag into the cup, filling it all up, overflowing a bit and then take a butter knife and level it off. Measure the 1 cup this way and the 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup (for the 1 3/4 cup total) but since you won't be using a scale, by measuring with this spoon method, you will need 1 additional tablespoon of flour to equal the 224 grams. I tested this spooning method myself and this was exactly how I arrived to 224 grams that you need for the recipe.
- Keep in mind, that even with measuring cups, they themselves can vary. This is also why some readers will have variances in weights when they try to compare, so just follow my weights listed.
- SIMPLE CAKE: This cake is for those who just want a very simple cake with very basic, regular ingredients. It is not meant to be one of my standard healthier flours and sweeteners I usually use in recipes. This isn't the cake to change all the ingredients. I have plenty of other healthy recipes on the blog if you want a healthier cake! Try this Healthy Vegan Lemon Cake if you don't want to use white flour or sugar. It is low-fat and whole grain.
- SUGAR: This amount was JUST enough of the perfect sweetness to counteract sourness, it is lightly sweetened. I advise against subbing this with coconut sugar or another sugar, it will overpower the lemon flavor that way and change the cake.
- GLUTEN-FREE: Here is the gluten-free version of this cake!
Thanks for the great simple recipe! It solved all the problems for the non vegan crowd,,, moist, fluffy, just like a cake, lol.
I actually turned it into a three layer birthday cake and the glaze I made thicker with blend of Kite Hill cream cheese and their yogurt, delish!! Decorated with candied lemon wheels.
Sidenote: the baking time is 10 to 15 minutes longer with a springform pan.
So glad I stumbled across your recipe, thanks again!!
Wow! So awesome! Thank you so much for sharing all of this!
Hi!
Can we use fresh coconut milk? If yes,the same quantity?
Also,can we use gluten free flour like whole wheat?
I’ve never used fresh coconut milk so that’s really hard to day because if it’s not the same thickness as canned, it will completely throw off the texture. And whole wheat is not gluten-free, so I’m not sure what you mean. If you need gluten-free, click the link in in the post for the gluten-free lemon cake!
I have never used coconut milk in baking before. I’m completely sold now. I used up a whole can to make two cakes. I doubled the recipe. While I admire your exact measurements, I was a bit slap-dash and it still came out wonderful. Moist, sweet, and delicious. My whole family loved it. Glad I made two so I could share with Vegan friends and my parents who thought it was a perfect cake to have with tea. Thanks!
Sounds amazing! Can you freeze this? Minus the icing of course.
Thank you! I have never tried freezing it personally, but suspect it should be fine wrapped really tightly.
Kid just decided she doesn’t want lemon for her birthday cake (been planning on this recipe for weeks! She loves lemon!). What can I use, liquid-wise, in place of the lemon juice and keep all the other ingredients? More blended coconut milk? Water? More vanilla extract? A combination of two or more of those? Other?
Thank you!
Hi, haha kids are always full of surprises! Yes, just replace the lemon with fresh orange juice. You don’t want to add more milk because that’s adding a lot more fat, that is not needed. The citrus is the same texture and helps with reacting to the baking powder. And it’s a small enough amount that it will not taste like orange, it’ll just give a little extra sweetness.
I used this cake recipe for my daughter’s birthday and will definitely be making it again! In fact, it was ordered already for another family birthday soon. Very soft and moist, and easy to make. Another big plus -it is allergy friendly so we could all share it. Great recipe! A keeper, for sure.
Wondering how many days in advance one can bake the cake before eating it? I read one comment about making it the day before and your reply to keep it foiled covered and not in the fridge. If I bake it two days out, should I put the lemon glaze on as soon as the cake cools, or would it be better to put it on the day I deliver it? Thank you for your time and any advice/ recommendations you provide!
So sorry I missed this! 2 days might be ok, although it’s always best the day of or after for any cake to taste it’s best. I would wait to add the glaze before serving, as it will make the cake too wet leaving it on too long.
Made this for a vegan friend and they loved it! I just made it again for next week and hoped it was freezable. Please let me know if I freeze this cake if it will be just as yummy next week when I thaw it.
Thanks!
Hi Patti! So glad to hear that! I’m not sure because I’ve never tried freezing it, personally. It has a lot of fat in it, so hopefully.
Absolutely delicious! I’ve baked a lot of cakes and this one is on point!
Thank you so much Dana!
I made this with the low fat coconut milk and it turned out great! Love the glaze, too.
I followed the directions and weighed the ingredients as suggested. The cake turned out great. I’ll be baking another this week! Thank you!
This cake is fantastic! You’re non-vegan friends and family won’t know it’s vegan. It’s super moist, lemony, and the perfect springtime treat. Ten stars 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
So happy you loved it!!
Haven’t made it yet but how would I adjust the baking times if I’m using 4 in round mini pans? Making for my mother’s bday!
Hi Lauren! I’m not entirely sure since I’ve only tested it whole as the 8 square cake. But 4 inch is super small, so maybe check at 10-15 minutes, maybe more?? Look for a clean toothpick.
It’s really so good 😻 Also, it’s very easy to prepare and the result is amazing! The full-fat coconut cream/milk gives a very nice taste together with vainilla!!
Mine came out gummy
Sorry to hear that. It should be very light and fluffy, so I’ll try to help troubleshoot. First, did you weigh the ingredients? Change any ingredient? What brand of coconut milk did you use? All of these will weigh heavily on the outcome.
No I did not weigh I used measuring cups. I did use powdered sugar instead of granulated. Maybe that’s it. My cake came out pretty dense almost like a bread pudding
Well that would definitely be why. Powdered sugar has starch in it and is MUCH finer than regular flour, therefore it’s like adding flour to the actual cake and will make it much more dense/chewy. Baking is very scientific, changing a main ingredient, or really any ingredient can totally mess up the result. Weighing ingredients makes a huge difference, and following the recipe you’ll get the intended results like in the photos and what all the other readers have that posted reviews above. If you don’t want to weigh, follow the NOTES section on the recipe card on how to properly measure with cups, although the powdered sugar definitely sounds like the biggest issue of why your cake didn’t turn out correct.
I’m making it right now and damned if I can see the recommended temperature to set my oven at????? Read it several times🙄
Essential information in every recipe….maybe I’ve missed it?
It’s right on step 2. “ Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and lightly grease an 8×8 square stone baking dish.”
Hi there! This recipe sounds wonderful! I plan on making it tomorrow. Do you know how coconut cream would work instead of coconut milk?
Hi! No it can’t be cream, that’s way too thick. It needs to be the consistency of the full fat coconut milk, which is crucial to the fluffy texture.
Thanks for letting me know, I did end up using coconut milk and the cake turned out delicious.
Couple things: the batter was very dry as you stated and I resisted the urge to add liquid. Felt like I wasn’t able to smooth out the top as pictured in your recipe – the top was kind of bumpy, because it was more doughy than batter-y so it was harder to work with.
Because of this I don’t think it was even and didn’t bake the same throughout the cake. The outer part was more like a cake, and the inner part was a bit more like a bar, more chewy.
The only thing I substituted was the lemon juice for lemon extract but i think next time I’ll try fresh lemon. I also baked it on the middle rack.
Any suggestions? Otherwise it was delicious and half of it is already gone 🙂
Now that I think more about it, I believe because it wasn’t smoothed out evenly, the middle was not as thick as the outer corners – the glaze pooled up a bit more in the middle because of this, and maybe that’s why it seemed a bit more moist in the middle than the rest?
Hi Rasha! The reason your batter was too thick and doughy is because you omitted the lemon juice, that’s 2 1/2 tablespoons of liquid. That is a significant amount to omit even if it doesn’t sound like much. Additionally, the acidity of the lemon juice reacts with the baking powder which helps the cake to rise and be fluffy. By not using it, it changes the recipe texture and rise. You definitely need to use the fresh lemon juice as listed for it to turn out as in the photos!
Hi Brandi,
Thank you so much for your great recipe!
I actually used this as a base to make a lemon sultana cake.
I used 1.5 cups of organic sultanas steamed until soft with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and about 4 tablespoons of water..just enough to stop them sticking/burning to the saucepan.
They were soft but no extra liquid when transferred to the cake mix.
I still added the lemon juice as per original recipe.
This was delicious, but very sweet, so no icing required.
Perhaps omitting a few tablespoons of sugar would be ok without interferring with the baking measurements? The sweetness of the sultanas over powered the lemon-y-ness.
This would no doubt be incredible with blueberries!
That is so wonderful to hear and sounds really amazing!
This isn’t vegan. Vegans don’t eat white sugar nor white flour.
This is the most ridiculous comment. First off, yes, vegans eat white flour and white sugar every day. Vegan doesn’t mean healthy. It means they don’t want to use animal products. If you don’t want to eat them, that’s your choice, but it has nothing to do with what thousands of vegans do. Secondly, there is vegan white sugar that isn’t processed with bone char. Lastly, I removed your 1 star because I don’t accept low ratings on my recipes just for opinions, that have nothing to do with somebody actually making the recipe.
This was so amazing last time I made it. Just wondered if I can use self raising flour instead and if so would I still need to use some baking powered and how much please?
I’m so glad you love this recipe Sandi!! I’ve never tried it with self-raising flour, so that’s hard to say. Self-raising flour typically works for recipes that use eggs. So, there isn’t enough baking powder in it to work here. It would probably be dense. It’s hard to say how much extra baking powder you’d need without ever trying it. Probably an extra teaspoon or two, not sure, you’d have to experiment!
Hi, sounds delish. thank you for working out calories, but I have no idea how big your slice is – do you mean a square like the photo? Did you weigh the slice? Thanks!
Hi! It’s based on 16 slices. (Listed under yields on the recipe card).
Hi Brandi,
So I have a confession to make and I’m not sure if you’re gonna like reading it. My mom suffers from kidney disease so that means she can’t take coconut milk.
I really wanna try this recipe as I fell in love with those pale cubed cut of cakes pictured above so I did what you advised against — I SUBBED THE COCONUT MILK with 3/4 cup of soymilk + 2 tbsp oil!
I crossed my fingers and baked these into cupcakes. They turned out wonderfully baked and taste testers all agreed they were scrumptious (I couldn’t taste them as I am gluten sensitive). So for anyone wanting to try subbing out coconut milk, I’ve experimented it out for you guys. Thank you Brandi for the lovely recipe.
Hi Sha! That is awesome to hear it worked out well! Soy can make things quite chewy, so adding the oil (extra fat) would definitely help to counteract that! Fat is what makes things fluffy and light. Also, baking them into cupcakes is a lot more forgiving than doing an actual whole cake, so great call on that. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never used coconut milk in a cake before, I love the results! So soft, light and moist.
Really wonderful to hear that Richard!!
Even though recommended, I did not follow the recipe 1:1 and it still turned out very (!) fluffy and delicious 😊
I used spelt four, partially whole grain, only 2/3 of the sugar which was coconut blossom sugar and since I didn’t have enough coconut milk I added some coconut oil and water which I mixed well as instructed.
So this recipe is hard to fail, at least when you’ve baked before and know the general rules such as not over mixing 🙂
I was looking for a quick and easy cake recipe for my vegan daughter-in-law’s birthday. This cake is wonderful. It is so easy to make, and I had all the ingredients on hand. I followed the recipe as written. The only change I would make is to double up on the glaze-that’s just my own preference. I will definitely be making this again and again. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
So happy to hear that Natalie!!
Hello Brandi,
This looks and sounds amazing! I have friends who recently made a lemon sponge roll with a mascarpone filling. I want to try and replicate the recipe as plant-based as possible, I have found a mascarpone recipe to try & this cake seems as though it may be a good sub for the sponge cake… what do you think? Any suggestions?
I’ve never tried that before. The cake is really light and fluffy as long as you follow the written recipe. It’s super soft though not sure how it’d hold up as a roll cake, but could work. Definitely do a trial run and let me know!
Hi! Thank you so much for this recipe; I plan to make it for my daughter’s first birthday. I was wondering the bake time and temperature if I wanted to do this as a traditional two layer round (9”) cake
Same temperature. Should be similar bake time, just look for a clean toothpick.
Hi. What did you use to grease pan with.
Nonstick baking spray