Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. No added refined sugar in this soft and Delicious Lemon Cake! Makethe batter into cupcakes, loaf or a sheet pan cake. Vegan Soyfree Recipe, Can be nut-free, glutenfree Jump to Recipe    

This Cake is Zesty, lemony, Soft, Moist, Sumerry and everything I want in a Lemon Cake. A super easy Cake with loads of lemon juice and zest covered with 4 ingredient vegan cream cheese frosting. I use kite cream cheese or a cashew based home made cream cheese. A simple glaze with a few tsp lemon juice and half cup powdered sugar will work wonderfully as well. 

It takes just a few minutes to put together and then it is the excruciating wait time to bake, cool and frost! All maple syrup, no refined sugar in the cake or the frosting. The batter can be baked into cupcakes, baked donuts or a loaf like my Cinnamon Swirl Loaf which is getting made every day on Instagram! 

Soft, Spongy, Fresh and so Lemony! Perfect to have some around at all times. 

More Cakes from the blog

• Cinnamon Swirl Cake. Super popular!
• Eggnog Pound Cake
• 1 Bowl Banana Apple Bread. Can be made into muffins
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
• Lemon blueberry pound cake
• 1 Bowl Oil free Turmeric Coconut Loaf

Gluten-free options

• GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake. 
• Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll Bread yeast-free. 
• GF Carrot Banana Bread – Also grain-free.
• Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF

Tips to make a great Vegan Lemon Cake

• Adjust the batter based on the ingredients used. Different flours and differences in amounts(measurement errors), means the mixture will absorb moisture differently. You want a flowy batter, but not too thin (will make gummy cake with high moisture content), and not too stiff(will make a dryer cake).
• Add more zest if using less  lemon juice. 
• Once mixed, bake the batter immediately. Because of the higher acidity, the reaction with the leavening agents will already start on mixing. If the batter sits for too long, it will tend to rise less on baking.
• This recipe makes a moist cake with higher moisture content. It can easily end up gummy, see point 1 to ensure fluffy cake.

Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

4.86 from 27 votes

By: Vegan Richa

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 35 minutes mins

Total: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 9

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Vegan

SaveSaved Pin Print

Vegan Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. No added refined sugar in those soft and Delicious Lemon Cake! Make into cupcakes, loaf or a sheet pan cake. Vegan Soyfree Recipe, Can be nut-free.  GF option

Save this recipe!

Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Save Recipe

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

Wet:

• ▢ 1/2 cup maple syrup, (add 1 tbsp sugar for sweeter)
• ▢ 1/3 cup lemon juice, ( 1 tbsp more if using whole grain flours)
• ▢ 1/4 cup oil
• ▢ 1/4 cup water,  or non dairy milk
• ▢ 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, optional

Dry:

• ▢ 1 1/2 cup flour , (I use all purpose or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat pastry/white whole wheat flour, 1 :1 or 2:1 ratio)
• ▢ 2 tbsp almond flour or meal, , or use more flour to make it nutfree
• ▢ 1.5 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1/4 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1/3 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/8 tsp turmeric, for color, optional
• ▢ zest of 1/2 to 1 lemon depending on the size of the lemon and your preference of lemonyness

Frosting:

• ▢ 6 oz vegan cream cheese, (I use kite hill plain almond cream cheese, see notes to make your own cashew cream cheese)
• ▢ 1/4 cup maple syrup
• ▢ 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ▢ a pinch of salt
• ▢ 1 - 2 tbsp powdered sugar and 2 drops of vanilla if needed

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
• Add the 1 1/4 cup flour and the rest of the dry ingredients and whisk well to make a smooth batter. Add rest of the flour 1 tbsp at a time to make a smooth flowy batter, but not overly watery or overly stiff. You might not need all of the flour if using whole grain flour.
• Pour the batter into a lined or greased pan. Even it out using a spatula. 
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes if using a square baking dish or brownie pan. If the dish is stoneware, add a few more mins to the baking time. If baking a Loaf: 40 to 50 minutes, Cupcakes: 20 to 25 minutes for cupcakes. Test with a toothpick from the center. It should come out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 mins, then remove and let it cool completely before frosting.
• Whisk the ingredients under frosting until smooth. Add 1-2 tbsp powdered sugar for sweeter frosting. Adjust the tang with lemon zest if needed. Add a drop or so vanilla extract or almond extract for flavor (optional). Chill the frosting for 15 mins if too flowy.
• Spread the frosting on the cake evenly. Slice and serve. Store refrigerated for upto 4 days. The lemon flavor gets stronger on storing

Video

Notes

Cashew Cream Cheese: Blend 1/2 cup cashews (that have been soaked for an hour then drained), 1 teaspoon or more lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt with a few tbsp of water until creamy. 

 

Nut-free: Omit almond flour from the cake and use a nutfree cream cheese for frosting or use a simple glaze with powdered sugar and lemon juice. 

 

Gluten-free: To make this gluten-free, Mix 1/2 cup oat flour, 3/4 cup almond flour, 1/4 cup potato starch. Use 1 1/4 cup of the flour and add more as needed to make a batter, and bake into brownie pan or cupcakes.  

 

Oil-free: Use 3 tbsp applesauce. 

 

Nutrition is 1 of 9 serves (1 piece)

Nutrition

Calories: 275kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 164mg, Potassium: 176mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin C: 4.1mg, Calcium: 84mg, Iron: 1.3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this recipe? Rate and comment below!