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My vegan lemon cake recipe is light, fluffy, and full of citrusy flavor. It’s made in one bowl and covered in a silky lemon cream cheese frosting!
Need more vegan cake recipes? Try my vegan birthday cake, vegan strawberry cake, or vegan carrot cake next.
I’m always coming up with vegan versions of my family’s favorite recipes, and lately, they’ve been BEGGING me to make a vegan lemon cake.
Well, their wish is my command. For this recipe, I kept the necessary staples to yield a light and fluffy cake–but made a few dairy-free swaps to keep it vegan. The results are, well, a cake that no one would guess is vegan! That’s the goal, right?
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Made in one bowl. So the prep time and clean up is over in seconds.
- No egg substitutes. No flax eggs, no chia eggs, nada. Instead, I use a little vinegar to mix with the baking soda to yield a light and tender crumb.
- Adjust the lemon flavor. If you’re a hardcore lemon head, you can add more than my suggested amount of lemon juice. If you prefer it milder, add less.
- Perfect for any occasion. We always make lemon cake for Mother’s Day and Easter, though is there ever a bad occasion for lemon cake?
Ingredients needed
- All-purpose flour. Sifted to remove any clumps. Use gluten-free flour with xanthan gum mixed in if desired.
- Sugar. Any sugar works. I used white sugar, but brown sugar or coconut sugar could be used. The darker the sugar you use, the darker the cake will be.
- Baking soda. Gives the cake some rise and fluffiness. Don’t use baking powder as it won’t yield the same results.
- Salt. Brings out the sweetness of the cake.
- White vinegar. Acts as a binding and leavening agent. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Oil. I used canola oil, but any neutral-flavored oil works, such as vegetable oil or refined coconut oil.
- Milk or water. I used unsweetened almond milk, but soy milk or water would both yield similar results.
- Fresh lemon juice. Gives the lemon cake the gorgeous tangy lemon flavor. Use fresh lemons so you can add the zest too.
- Lemon extract. Brings out the lemon flavor even more! If you don’t have any lemon extract, you can use vanilla extract.
- Lemon zest. Optional but highly recommended for some extra lemon flavor.
For the lemon cream cheese frosting:
- Vegan butter. Choose a vegan butter from a block, not a spread. Blocks of butter are easier to mix and yield a creamier texture. I like the Miyokos brand as it has the most similar texture to dairy butter.
- Vegan cream cheese. Softened to room temperature. Like the butter, choose the cream cheese from a block if possible.
- Vanilla extract. A must for flavor.
- Lemon juice. For essential lemon flavor.
- Powdered sugar. To thicken the frosting.
How to make a vegan lemon cake
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Prep. Preheat the oven and line a cake pan with parchment paper.
Step 2- Mix. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Whisk in the wet ingredients until smooth.
Step 3- Bake. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack.
Step 4- Make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and lemon juice until creamy. Fold in the powdered sugar until fluffy.
Step 5- Frost. Once the cake has cooled, frost it, slice, and serve.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Make a layer cake. Double or triple the ingredients and cover each of the cake layers with frosting.
- Save time. Use a stand mixer for the batter and/or the frosting.
- Enhance the lemon flavor. Add an extra 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or 1-2 teaspoons of lemon extract to the batter.
Variations
- Add mix-ins. Fold in ¼ cup of fresh berries, shredded coconut, or a few dollops of vegan lemon curd into the batter.
- Make a lemon glaze instead. Combine powdered sugar, almond milk, and lemon juice until smooth and glossy, then drizzle it over your cooled cake.
Storage instructions
To store: Store the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
To freeze: Wrap cake slices in plastic wrap, place them in a freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to 6 months. Let the cake slices thaw overnight in the fridge.
Frequently asked questions
The cake may be crumbly if it was overmixed or if there weren’t enough wet ingredients added. Only stir the cake batter until there are no lumps; if it’s pretty thick, add a splash of milk or water. It should be slightly thicker than pancake batter.
All-purpose or cake flour can be used, but I wouldn’t recommend other alternative flours as they would require the other ingredients to be altered.
If the cake batter is too dry and thick, add a splash of milk or water. If the cake has already been baked, the best you can do is cover it in frosting…or use it to make my cake pops!
More vegan lemon desserts
Read my ‘Arman’s tips’ section on each recipe for how to make them vegan!
Vegan Lemon Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar * See notes
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 5 tablespoons oil vegetable, canola, safflower etc.
- 3/4 cup water ** See notes
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract can use vanilla extract
Frosting
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese
- 1/2 cup vegan butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line an 8-inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt and mix well. Once mixed, add your vinegar, oil, water, lemon juice, lemon extract and mix well.
- Transfer your lemon cake batter to the square pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out just clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan completely. Once cool, frost if desired.
- To make the frosting, beat together the vegan cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and lemon juice until smooth. Slowly add in the confectioners sugar until fluffy.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally updated May 2023, updated and republished November 2024
eggs add a richness in flavor, improve texture, and can help with leavening, all of which are desirable in baking. This recipe may be good without eggs but if you could use eggs to make it even better, why not if there is no sensitivity or allergy? I was just looking for a dairy free recipe due to an allergy but I mostly find vegan recipes.
Reminder to speak kindly to people even if it’s from behind a keyboard.
Why on earth would you want to add eggs to an egg-less cake recipe??? The cake is delicious as is… It doesn’t need eggs! 🤦🏼♀️
How would I alter this if I wanted to use eggs in the recipe?
Not sure- haven’t tried it with eggs.
This was seriously the best lemon cake I ever had! I can’t believe no eggs needed to be harmed in the making of such a delicious cake! And the kicker is I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour. I made the cake in my bundt pan, then while it cooled, I poked holes in it with a chopstick and poured a glaze of remaining lemon juice mixed with sugar. After it cooled, I turned it out of the pan and served as is. Everyone loved it. Thanks for this amazing recipe.
Hello, can’t wait to try this recipe! How would you adjust the ingredients if you wanted it to be oil free as well? Would applesauce work? Or if the cake really needs oil, could I swap out coconut oil instead?
You can try applesauce- any other oil works.
Hello, can’t wait to try this recipe! How would you adjust the ingredients if you wanted it to be oil free as well? Would applesauce work?
That works
Very happy with this recipe. Love gluten free vegan cake!
This is by far the best lemon cake I’ve ever had. Taste and texture are perfect! I put 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of water and I folded some blueberries in as you suggested and did a vegan buttercream icing. It was AWESOME!Super easy and quick to make. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
Hi there, does a sugar substitute work, such as allulose? Thanks
Will this work as a bundt cake? I’d love to try this with a simple glaze but not sure if it would hold up well.
I don’t see why not
Does this work with juice of lemon in the jar from the grocery store or do you recommend fresh from the fruit?
Either works 🙂
I cannot believe how easy this was to make! This might be the moistest cake I’ve ever made. Super delicious
Dear Arman.
Hope you are keeping well.
I note that you made this Vegan Lemon Cake recipe and baked it in a flat square tin, as a single layer cake.
Do you think it would be okay to make the cake into a multi-layer, 6” or 8” cake, rather than just a single layer cake?
If so, would you recommend baking the cake layers in separate tins, rather than in one tin, and ‘slicing’ into layers?
Thanks kindly, and best wishes, Dean.
Just updated it as a layer cake 🙂
This recipe is much simpler than other vegan GF cake recipes, and it comes out better than any others I’ve tried. I used Trader Joe’s GF flour blend, reduced the sugar by a quarter, and did half juice and half water. The batter was really liquidy so I was worried, but I baked it as it was, and it came out perfectly. I also doubled the recipe so I could make a layer cake with vanilla frosting. It came out great. Thank you – this is my go to lemon cake now.
Baked in a loaf pan for 35 minutes – perfection!
Thank you