Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake

Slice of cake on a board with fork cutting through it.

4.86 from 7 votes

This Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake is my egg-free & dairy-free take on an old classic. Light, zesty & beautifully moist you won't be able to tell the difference.

Course Cake

Cuisine British

Keyword vegan lemon drizzle cake

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 10

Servings servings

Calories 360kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

Lemon Drizzle Cake

225 g self-raising flour (sieved) see notes
200 g caster or golden caster sugar
140 ml neutral oil/ light olive oil
50 g ground almonds (almond meal)
2 tablespoon cornflour/ cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
150 ml soya milk see notes
zest of 2 lemons use organic, unwaxed lemons if possible
25-30 ml lemon juice (approx. half a lemon)

Lemon Sugar Syrup

2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon caster or granulated sugar

Lemon Icing (Optional)

65 g icing sugar
1-2 tablespoon lemon juice

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 160C/320F (fan oven) and prepare the loaf tin by greasing it and lining with some baking paper overlapping on the sides.
Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and give them a whisk. Alternatively, sift them through a sieve.
Grate in zest of two lemons and mix them into the dry ingredients.
In a jug combine all the wet ingredients - soya milk, lemon juice, oil and give everything a good mix.
Pour the cake batter onto prepared loaf tin and bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until nice and golden and skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
Whilst your cake is baking prepare lemon sugar syrup by mixing together caster sugar and lemon juice, set aside.
Once cake is out of the oven poke it quite a few times with a wooden skewer and gently spoon or brush lemon sugar syrup all over it.
Leave your lemon drizzle cake to cool completely in the tin.
Once the cake has cooled down, take it out of the tin and prepare lemon icing (optional) by simply mixing icing sugar with lemon juice until you reach desired consistency.
Let the icing set, decorate with extra lemon zest, slice and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per slice of cake based on 10 servings and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
If you don't have self-raising flour simply use plain (all-purpose) flour and 3 teaspoon baking powder.
Soya milk can be substituted with another neutral tasing plant milk like oat.
You will need 2 lemons for this recipe + zest from the third one if you'd like to decorate top of your cake with it.
Feel free to double the recipe for the icing (if using) if you like it quite thick and dripping onto the sides as I was quite conservative with mine.
Store in the airtight container for up to 4 days.
Freezer friendly for up to 2 months.
If your cake sunk in the middle see troubleshooting in FAQs.

TIPS:

Don't overmix the batter!
Put your cake in the oven as soon as possible to take advantage of chemical reaction.
Recommended baking time might differ depending on your oven.
Pour lemon sugar syrup over your cake whilst still warm for maximum absorption.
Feel free to skip the icing if you want or if you like a lot of it double the recipe as I was quite conservative with mine.
Decorate your loaf cake with some extra zest or fresh thyme leaves or both to make it look pretty.

Update Notes: This recipe has been originally published in February 2020 using vegan butter and creaming method rather than oil. I have since re-tested the recipe numerous times and although the first one worked just fine I find this simplified version that doesn't require any special equipment much better.

Nutrition