This Healthy Vegan Lemon Cake with a gluten-free option is made with healthy wholesome ingredients. This cake is so fresh and lemony and a wonderful texture. It is fluffy, low-fat and made with only 8 ingredients! It is also oil-free!
HEALTHY VEGAN LEMON CAKE
Nothing says Spring more than lemon cake, am I right? I originally had a savory recipe planned for this week but then it hit me that Easter is this Sunday, so I knew I needed to get this Vegan Lemon Cake posted just in time for Easter!
This cake was a reader request from 2 different readers. When a reader requests cake, you don’t need to tell me twice. Thank you both for your patience, I know it’s been awhile.
OIL-FREE LEMON CAKE
Unlike traditional lemon cakes that are filled with butter and white flour, this one is made with whole wheat pastry flour (my favorite flour ever) and brown rice flour for a healthier whole grain cake. I used a natural sweetener like maple syrup (except the glaze) and applesauce and fresh lemon juice instead of oil. Don’t worry though, it is still every bit as delicious.
Another bonus? This cake is not only incredibly delicious, bright and lemony, it is also low-fat! Whatttt. Yup, just like my Gingerbread Cake. That one has so many 5 star reviews and has become my most popular cake on the blog and it’s low-fat guys. Not even 1 gram of fat per slice, the hefty slices too, based on 9 slices. Not those miniature 16 slices. Well, here is another one for you. I’m telling you, fat is not always needed for incredible dessert and these cakes prove it. My focus is not to make them low-fat, it is just what it is.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN LEMON CAKE
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients, including the glaze (+salt):
- whole wheat pastry flour
- brown rice flour
- cornstarch
- baking soda
- pure maple syrup
- unsweetened applesauce
- fresh lemon juice
- powdered sugar (glaze)
This cake is fluffy, soft, springy, spongy and perfectly moist. The glaze on top soaks into part of the cake and just makes it magically moist and a perfect slice of lemon heaven. Oh boy, my mouth is watering thinking of another piece.
MORE VEGAN CAKE RECIPES TO TRY
- My BEST Vegan Lemon Cake Ever! (using regular white flour)
- Vegan Gluten-Free Lemon Cake
- Vanilla White Wedding Cake
- Vegan Almond Butter Cake
- Cinnamon Caramel Bundt Cake
- Vegan Funfetti Birthday Cake
- Gluten-free Vanilla Cake
- Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake
- Gluten-free Vegan Cranberry Bundt Cake
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If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Healthy Vegan Lemon Cake (Gluten-free Option)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (176g) whole wheat pastry flour, not plain whole wheat (SEE NOTE at bottom for GF)
- 9 tablespoons (90g) brown rice flour
- 1 tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (200g) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (120g) fresh lemon juice and zest of one large lemon (about a tsp)
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsweetened applesauce
GLAZE
- 3/4 cup (114g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15g) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (15g) water or milk
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following my gram weights listed, it will make a difference, especially since we all measure differently with cups. You will not need cups, just the scale and bowl, as you do not need to compare cups to weights. Make sure to hit zero in before adding each ingredient and for teaspoon amounts, just use the spoons.
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- Since this cake is so low-fat, the glaze on top is CRUCIAL to the cake, moisture and overall texture and result, so don't leave it off. It also balances the flavor since the cake is quite tart and not real sweet.
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F (177°C) and spray an 8x8 square baking dish with nonstick spray and place a square piece of parchment paper on the bottom. Have your pan ready BEFORE you make the batter because you will want to put it in the oven right away because it is a bubbly batter and the baking soda starts working immediately once the liquids hit the dry.
- To a large bowl, add the pastry flour, brown rice flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and whisk very well.
- To a medium bowl, combine the maple syrup, lemon juice and zest and applesauce and stir until mixed.
- Make a well at the bottom of the dry ingredients and pour the liquids into the large bowl. Now, gently and slowly, use a large spoon to mix the ingredients around the bowl and from the bottom, being very careful to be gentle and mix just until it is mixed and smooth. Do not over-mix or worry if it's slightly lumpy, as long as the flour is mixed in. You will notice how light and fizzy the batter gets from the baking soda and lemon juice working. This is what yields a fluffy cake. If you over-mix it, it can make the cake more tough/chewy and the middle sink, especially since it is a low-fat cake.
- Pour the batter gently into the dish and lightly spread out the top. Pick it up and jiggle it a bit to smooth it out. Immediately put in the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick is clean from the center. Mine was perfection at 24 minutes.
- I know it's hard, but allow the cake to cool 45 minutes. This will allow it to finish cooking and cool before adding the glaze.
- Once the cake has cooled, make the glaze by adding the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk very well until smooth. If your sugar is really lumpy, use a strainer to break up the lumps. Pour the glaze over the middle of the cake and smooth it out over the top. I like to pick up the pan and gently tilt it side to side until the glaze naturally covers the whole surface. Allow it to soak into the cake for about 10 minutes or so, this will help add more moisture, which we need and want since it is low-fat. Then you can place it into the fridge to speed up the firming of the glaze for a few minutes. Slice and top with pretty lemon slices if desired for presentation!
- Keep the cake covered and stored at room temperature to retain it's moisture best, but it does ok in the fridge.
Notes
- GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: To make this gluten-free, sub the pastry flour with superfine oat flour, but with 1 1/2 cups (192g), 6 tablespoons (60g) brown rice flour and add an additional 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (so, 3 tbsp total, 24 grams) and all the rest of the ingredients are the same. Please note that this version is not as light or fluffy and a bit more dense, but still really delicious! Also, spelt flour works well in place of the pastry flour also, just use the same weight amount. Just make sure the center toothpick is fully clean and let it cool a full hour, as oat cakes are a better texture the longer they cool. Only use this version if you are allergic to gluten, since the above version is best.
- My BEST Vegan Lemon Cake (using regular white flour and only 6 ingredients!)
- My Best Gluten-free Vegan Lemon Cake (soft, fluffy and a reader favorite)
Hi Brandi: I am excited to bake this cake for my beloved, who suffers from celiac. However, please don’t recommend spelt flour as GF alternative. Spelt is not gluten-free; it is a variety of wheat. According to the “Beyond Celiac” website: “Spelt is a gluten-containing grain closely related to wheat, so it is unsafe for anyone with celiac disease. Spelt (sometimes called hulled wheat or dinkel wheat) is actually a hybrid of two species of wheat. It has a HIGHER GLUTEN CONTENT than traditional wheat.” (Emphasis mine.) I hope you remove that suggestion as those who don’t know this might try to bake something nice for a friend who suffers from celiac, and it could harm the recipient! I only know because my beloved tried a bread from a natural-foods baker who claimed that people with celiac could eat it with no harm, and we found out the hard way how wrong this assertion was. Thanks!
Hi Bess, I am not sure what you mean. I don’t recommend using spelt anywhere on this post or recipe card. In fact, I specifically state next to the wheat pastry flour to “SEE NOTE at bottom for GF” for gluten-free and when you scroll down to the notes, I recommend oat flour….which states “To make this gluten-free, sub the pastry flour with superfine oat flour, but with 1 1/2 cups (192g), 6 tablespoons (60g) brown rice flour and add an additional 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (so, 3 tbsp total, 24 grams)”. I am very aware spelt has gluten, as I use it often for my pancakes, so I would never recommend spelt if somebody needs gluten-free.
Is there an alternative recipe for the glaze to sub out the powdered sugar? I don’t like to cook with refined sugars. I like to stick with things like dates or maple syrup for sweeteners.
Hi Elisa, I would suggest trying this instead and adjust as desired for sweetness, tartness or thickness:
2 tablespoons (40g) pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons (64g) raw cashew butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Excited to try this! I’m not usually a fan of oil free xakes because dry, but I am gonna give this one a whirl!
I was looking for a vegan lemon cake recipe that I could power with amaranth flour. I gave a shot at subbing the flours suggested here with amaranth flour and it was a disaster :'( it didn’t rise and was still gooey and uncooked after 45 mins in the oven. I tried it a second time adding baking powder additional to the baking soda, covering it with foil after the first 25 mins, and then back to the oven for 35 mins. It still came out gooey and uncooked :'( but the outside was getting hard as a rock. Any tips on how to make an amaranth-flour-based lemon cake/bread?
Hi May, yes, anytime you change the flours in a baked recipe, especially a cake, that is a huge risk. Baking is very scientific so you can’t just sub gluten-free flours with others. 9 out of 10 times it won’t work since they are so fickle and each performs so differently. I specifically test my recipes being very selective which flours I use. I have never used amaranth flour before so I can’t give any advice on that. I can only vouch for the recipe as written, I’m sorry!
This is delicious! I subbed a banana for the applesauce so I’m sure it’s sweeter and different texture because of it. And I used organic all-purpose flour. And, I used Arrowroot starch instead of Cornstarch. Haha…sorry to mess up your recipe but I used what I had available. AND, it’s incredibly moist, springy, and tasty. Thank you for this recipe. I will make it again!
I’m so happy to hear you loved it so much Mary, thank you for sharing!
I made this yesterday and due to the current Covid-19 situation decided against going to get the 2 ingredients I was missing. So I subbed chickpea flour for the brown rice flour, and used 2 Tbsp tapioca flour instead of cornstarch. The cake turned out delicious and moist and had a nice lemony yellow color!
Love it !! Perfect texture .. perfect dessert! I’m only baking from your recipes lately and I think from now on
Wonderful Anna, I’m so glad to hear that!!
Hi Brandi, your website looks amazing and your food looks delicious.
Lemon cake looks so scrumptious and do you think it would work if I tried to make it a layer cake? Lemon cake with blueberry/strawberry buttercream
Thank you in advance
Hi! Yes, it will work. I’ve made a tiny 6 inch cake before. I’m not sure what sizes you would need for this same recipe though. I believe 2 8 inch cakes should work great. Just make sure there is a clean toothpick of course in the centers of each and bake at the same times side by side. Make sure to double the glaze maybe and add some of the glaze in between each layer, as this glaze is important to add additional moisture to the cake, since it’s very low-fat!
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe! I’m a baker at heart and I’ve been experimenting for years with sugar free (no sugar added), as-low-carb-as-possible baking and am wondering if you have any suggestions for reducing the sugar in the glaze? Thanks in advance!
Hi Kathryn! You can reduce it but it will make the glaze much thinner and runnier since the amount of sugar is what helps it to thicken. OR, you can try replacing some of the sugar with a sugar-free sweetener like monk fruit or xylitol if you’ve tried those before.
I want to make this for my husband’s BD Thursday but have a busy week and not sure if I can make it the same day. How would it be making the cake a day or so in advance and just putting the glaze on it the day of his BD?
Hi Linda! You could make it the day before, but I wouldn’t really recommend making it more than a day in advance, so it doesn’t dry out. You can add the glaze the day of and just let it soak into the cake for a bit before serving, as this helps the moisture level as well since it is an oil-free cake. It’s a really easy and quick recipe to throw together, just make sure to weigh the ingredients. Enjoy!
hi! would this cake freeze ok?
Hi! Would this cake freeze okay? and if so, for how long?
Hi Brandi,
A relative of mine has an intolerance to apples 🍎 What can I replace the applesauce with in this recipe, that won’t change the flavour too much? Pineapple purée maybe?
Thanks Brandi 😊
Hi Brandi, a relative of mine is intolerant to apples 🍎 what can I replace the applesauce with in this recipe? One that hopefully doesn’t change the flavour too much.
Thank you 😊
Hey There,
Would spelt flour work in place of the WW pastry flour?
Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Laura! Yes, there is a spelt tested version listed under Recipe Notes.
Wow. Just wow. I normally never leave comments on recipe blogs but damn this cake was incredible.
I was pretty wary because I have tried a couple of oil-free recipes before and they always turned out kinda gummy or dry but the texture looked so perfect on the pics that I had to give it a chance. It was quite the ordeal to find brown rice flour in my town + it was pretty expensive but it was SO worth it. The cake turned out moist but still fluffy and indistinguishable from a cake with oil. I will definitely be making this again and I’m excited to try more of your recipes 🙂
Wow Kitty, your review really made my day! Thank you so so much for this amazing feedback! SO happy you loved it so much and I know what you mean about oil-free recipes tasting gummy or dry and bad, that is why I love creating oil-free cakes for people so they can see just how delicious they truly are and can be! Thank you again 🙂 As far as the rice flour, if you have a strong blender like a vitamix, a few readers have had success just grinding up dry brown rice into a fine flour and then measuring 🙂
My cholesterol needs to come down you don’t list amount of cholesterol in this recipe but with no egg or oil I assume this is ok for me I have been searching for vegan recipes and yours sound like they will help me thank you for the work that you put into this and for them being free . God bless.
Hi Barbara! There is no cholesterol listed because there is no cholesterol in the recipes. None of my recipes have cholesterol in them because they are plant-based. Only animal products have cholesterol in them. That doesn’t mean your body can’t have high cholesterol on a vegan diet from high fat foods or saturated fats from oils which can raise the cholesterol levels in your body, which is why I do my best to avoid them, but the recipes themselves do not in fact contain cholesterol naturally. Meats and cheeses have high cholesterol in them, so it’s best to avoid them for better health. This cake is one of the healthiest you can find since it is so low fat and no oils. It of course does have sweetener though, so not a “health food” but definitely healthier than most cakes, but still incredibly delicious. Just make sure to weigh the ingredients.
I recently moved to a higher altitude so I’m having to learn to bake differently– I decided to make baked donuts instead of a cake with this recipe, hoping the smaller area of baking would help with the altitude effect. THEY ARE SO GOOD!!! I love this recipe so much I made it 3 times within 2 weeks. Let me mention: I live alone. ha ha! I’m about to bake more right now- they’re so yummy and easy! Thanks, Brandi!
Thank you so much Liz for this amazing review! I’m so happy to hear how much you love the cake, yay!
I made this today. My family loved it. The texture is amazing. Im curious about subbing something for the maple syrup. Yum. Thank you!
So glad your family loved it Jenna! The syrup is the sweetener and needed as a liquid so there isn’t really a sub. You could try agave but there is no other liquid sub that would work that well.
I would like to make the cake a little larger to take to a barbecue. Can I double it for a 9 x 13 pan? I should think that would work. Any other adjustments you can think of? Thank you so much for taking time to answer this and all the other questions your followers have.
Hi Angela, yes, I think that should work. It will I believe make the cake taller so should take longer to cook. Just make sure the toothpick is clean from the center.