Easy Vegan Lemon Cake (2024)

This one-bowl vegan lemon cake recipe is so easy! You only need 9 ingredients and 40 minutes for this light fluffy vegan cake. Follow my step by step tutorial and soon you'll have a moist, fluffy, zingy layer cake to tuck into. It's not only pretty but tastes so good that nobody would guess that it's a dairy-free and eggless vegan cake.

This vegan lemon layer cake is zingy, fluffy, moist and delicious.

But it's also really easy! You only need 1 bowl, 9 ingredients and 40 minutes for this zesty vegan cake.

Follow my step by step tutorial and soon you'll have a moist, fluffy, zingy layer cake to tuck into.

It's so delicious and nobody will guess that it's a dairy-free and eggless vegan lemon cake.

Reader Testimonials

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Amaaaaazing! So moist, so fluffy, perfect amount of lemon, so easy to make, so perfect! Amazing, amazing, amazing – can’t wait to try other recipes!) It just eats like cake, you would never know its vegan. So wow – Amazing!" - Delilah

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "The first vegan cake I ever made. So delicious!" - Gabrielle

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "What a success this was! Was a definite hit with my colleagues. So nice to find a recipe which gives different timings for different tin sizes – I found this really useful, thanks." - Kate

Vegan cakes that don't suck

Life changed for me a couple of years ago.

After many years of baking, I finally hit on the way to make a vegan cake that didn't suck. See, for a long time, vegan cakes did suck.

They were a bit dry and tasted a bit of sadness. NOT ANY MORE!

It all started with this rich and delicious vegan chocolate cake.

It worked so well and so many readers have loved it, that I started baking more and more vegan cake recipes!

I realised that you don't need flax eggs or any other unusual ingredients.

Sure, those add a bit of extra nutrition, but you can just make a really really awesome vegan cake that just happens to be egg free and dairy free.

And tastes like cake heaven!

This vegan lemon cake is light, fluffy and zingy!

Nobody would ever guess that it's vegan - it just tastes like a typical cake, but it's egg-free and dairy-free.

(I seem to be using a lot of exclamation points here, but the cake merits them, so I'll leave them in. Yay!)

This easy vegan lemon cake is as light as air, with a perfect texture and a great zing from the lemon.

I shared it with family and friends, and even the non-vegans very quickly devoured it and declared it the best lemon cake and that they couldn't tell it was vegan.

It's funny, but there really is a myth that vegan cakes are somehow inferior.

However, I've been proving again and again with my recipes that vegan cakes are every bit as delicious as standard cakes.

Plus, they're egg-free so you can go ahead and taste the batter - win win!

Why is this the best vegan lemon cake recipe?

Light, fluffy and moist

No unusual ingredients (no chia or flax, just store cupboard staples)

One-bowl easy recipe

Great zingy and zesty lemon flavour

A pretty three-layer cake that makes a great vegan birthday cake

A classic flavour perfect year round

Step by step tutorial pictures so you can't go wrong

How to make vegan lemon cake video tutorial

Delicious with lemon frosting, vanilla frosting or even vegan cream cheese frosting.

Step by step tutorial

It's sooo easy to make this one-bowl easy vegan lemon cake.

With just a few simple steps, you'll have these zingy lemony cakes cooling in your kitchen with that zesty scent wafting through the air.

Go on, grab some lemons and get baking.

Check out these pictures for guidance and then scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and instructions.

1: mix lemon juice into the vegan milk and set aside. This will create a dairy free vegan 'buttermilk'.

2: Melt the butter and syrup together. You can do it in a pan on the stovetop or in a microwave.

3: Sift the dry ingredients together

4: Mix the wet and dry ingredients together gently. Make sure you can't see any flour, but don't overbeat it if you want a light and fluffy vegan lemon cake.

5: pour into the tins and bake. Meanwhile, make the frosting!

Scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Cook's Tips

• Don’t over-mix the batter when adding the dry ingredients. Combine well, but don’t beat.
• Substitute orange zest and juice for a totally different flavour.
• Freezable: you can freeze the un-frosted cakes for up to 1 month.
• Decorate the cake with edible flowers to make it extra special. I used edible borage flowers.

Different Sizes

• Turn this into vegan lemon cupcakes by filling the cups of a lined muffin pan and bake for 15-20 mins.
• I used 3 x 6" baking pans that I found on Amazon (affiliate link). I like that I can make a cute little cake with three layers without it being huge.
• You can make this cake in two layers by using 2 x 20cm / 8 inchround baking pans and baking for 30 minutes.
• Increase the ingredients by 50% to make this cake in 3 x 20cm / 8 inch baking pans.

More Vegan Cake Recipes

You must also try my vegan Victoria sponge, vegan vanilla cake, vegan chocolate cupcakes and even vegan kale orange cake!

They're all really moist, light and decadent.

Or even my vegan carrot cake and vegan banana bread. Looking for something different?

Try vegan red velvet cupcakes or vegan vanilla cupcakes.

Recipe

Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out for you!
Leave a comment and star rating below and share a picture with the hashtag #veggiedesserts. I love seeing your recreations of my vegetarian and vegan recipes and cakes.

Thanks for checking out my recipe! I love hearing from my readers. You all allow me to do what I love and write this food blog, sharing vegetarian and vegan recipes.
Kate x

📖 Recipe