Vegan Lemon Cake

This vegan lemon cake is sweet, moist, and gluten-free with a lemon glaze that takes less than 1 minute to make. Perfect in time for Easter or whenever you're craving something "lemony" and sweet!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Gluten Free, Vegan

Keyword gluten free lemon cake, vegan lemon cake

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1

Servings slices

Calories 284kcal

Author Gina Marie

Equipment

Loaf Pan
Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

"Flaxseed Egg" Ingredients

2 tablespoon ground flaxseed note 1
6 tablespoons aquafaba (the liquid from can chickpeas) note 2

Dry Ingredients

2 teaspoon lemon zest (zest from 2 Meyer Lemons) note 4
1 ½ cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (Trader Joe's or Bob's Red Mill brand) note 5
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup organic cane sugar
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients

½ cup plant-based milk (any non-dairy milk of your choice)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2-3 tablespoons squeeze lemon juice (from the 2 Meyer Lemons zested earlier) note 4
½ cup melted vegan butter (the sticks work best for baking...½ would be one stick)
½ teaspoon lemon extract optional
2 Flaxseed Eggs (made earlier)

Lemon Glaze Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar
2 ½ tablespoons squeeze lemon juice (preferably from 2 additional Meyer lemons) note 4

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make Your Flaxseed "Egg"

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grab a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and lightly grease it additional vegan butter. This helps the cake pop out easily once done.
Grab a can of chickpeas and drain the liquid from beans into a medium plastic container.
Measure out 6 tablespoons in a separate small bowl and add your ground flaxseed. Whisk together until fully combine and set aside. Mixture will thicken to an "egg" like consistency as it sits.
Store the remainder of your aquafaba in the refrigerator or freezer for later use or you can discard it.

Assemble Your Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl add ALL your dry ingredients; all purpose gluten free flour, salt, organic cane sugar, and baking powder.
Grab 2 Meyer lemons and grate over bowl of dry ingredients. ONLY zest the outer yellow skin part NOT the white pith to prevent bitterness added to your dessert. Lightly stiff together all ingredients.

Assemble Your Wet Ingredients

From the 2 zested Meyer Lemons, squeeze lemon juice into a measuring cup making sure to remove any seeds. (Use a manual citrus squeezer for convenience.)
In a separate large bowl add all your wet ingredients; plant based milk, apple cider vinegar, squeeze lemon juice, melted vegan butter, flaxseed "egg", and lemon extract (optional). Whisk together until fully combined.

Putting it all Together

Pour the wet batter into the dry batter (in that order).
Stir until fully combined making sure NOT to over mix to prevent having a dense cake.
Pour batter into greased pan 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and baked for 40 minutes until fully cooked through. You will know it's done when you stick a toothpick through the cake and it comes up clean.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 mins. Then remove and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool fully for 10 additional minutes before adding the icing.

Lemon Glaze Icing

Grab a medium size bowl and add in powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Whisked together until smooth and creamy. If you add to much lemon juice, the glaze will be too runny so 2 ½ tablespoons should be enough.
Spread over pound cake and allow to set for a few minutes before cutting. Serve and enjoy!
This cake will store at room temperature 24 hours, in the refrigerator for 5 - 7 days, and in the freezer for 2 months. Always reheat once refrigerated before serving for best taste.

Video

Notes

FLAXSEED EGG. You can use a store bought egg replacer instead of ground flaxseed.
AQUAFABA. Do not omit this ingredient. Aquafaba helps make vegan baked goods moist and fluffy (especially in gluten free vegan baking).
ADDITIONS & SUBSITITIONS. This could work with orange if you are not a fan of lemon. Also feel free to add blueberries or raspberries to your lemon cake to jazz it up!
MEYER LEMONS. Meyer Lemons are juicer and sweeter than your every day lemons but if you can't access them, just use whatever lemons you can find.
GLUTEN FREE FLOUR. Trader Joes (The one I personally use for this recipe) or Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour is the ONLY ones I recommend for this recipe. If you are not gluten free, whole wheat flour or spelt flour will work for this

Nutrition