Moist Vegan Lemon Pound Cake with Vanilla Glaze (2024)

This soft and fluffy vegan lemon pound cake is “buttery,” sweet, tender, and dense- and made in just one bowl within 5 minutes! Topped with a deliciously sweet vanilla bean glaze that makes this lemon pound cake better than any Starbucks pound cake!

Pound cake is my favorite excuse to have cake for breakfast, and adding a bit of bright lemon juice and lemon zest just makes this the ultimate slice of sunshine on a plate (with a delicious cup of coffee!).

This vegan lemon pound cake is so jaw droopingly tender, sweet, buttery and soft, you won’t believe there isn’t any eggs nor dairy in this pound cake. And it’s topped with a vanilla bean glaze that complements the zesty brightness of the loaf so beautifully. AND it’s made in just one bowl and ready to be baked within 5 minutes.

I mean, how much easier could it get?! Do I need to go on??

You’re not going to want to make any other pound cake recipe after this, vegan or not (okay, okay maybe my classic vegan vanilla pound cake or vegan chocolate chip loaf cake!).

What ingredients do you need for a vegan lemon pound cake?

What I love most about this vegan lemon pound cake recipe is how simple in ingredients it is. Here’s all that you need:

• Flour: I recommend using all purpose flour. In countries outside the U.S., this might be called plain flour. You can see my notes below for making this a gluten free lemon pound cake!
• Cornstarch: To create a soft and super tender crumb.
• Baking powder: For leavening.
• Sea salt: To balance the sweetness.
• Sugar: Make sure that you’re using an organic vegan sugar, such as Florida Crystals Sugar. Not all sugar is vegan!
• Vegan butter: You can also swap in coconut oil, but using vegan butter (unsalted butter is best) will give this vegan lemon pound cake really lovely notes of buttery sweetness. I recommend Miyokos!
• Dairy free yogurt: This is the secret to a good pound cake. We just need a tablespoon here to help create a tight yet soft and plush crumb texture. I wouldn’t even consider this amount a full on vegan egg substitute because we’re using so little! This pound cake actually doesn’t need any vegan egg replacements!
• Dairy free milk: Any will do- oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, etc. work wonderfully.
• Lemon juice and lemon zest: I used the juice and zest from just 2 lemons.
• Vanilla extract: I also like to use a bit of vanilla paste as well!

This is how easy it is to make this pound cake:

When I tell you that this is the easiest vegan pound cake recipe you’ll ever make, I truly mean it.

You only need one bowl, a whisk, and a loaf pan. How approachable is that?!

For such a classic recipe, this is a great baking recipe for beginners. Even if you’re not vegan!

To start, simply whisk together all of the wet ingredients: vegan butter, vanilla extract and paste, lemon juice, dairy free milk, dairy free yogurt, and sugar.

Then add in the remaining dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and sea salt. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the vegan lemon pound cake batter into your loaf pan, and bake!

The key to the best vanilla glaze:

My favorite part of this recipe is pouring the vanilla glaze on top of our cooled vegan pound cake. The trick to a delicious vanilla glaze is adding in the vanilla paste.

It’s seriously next level delicious. Plus you get the flecks of vanilla bean seeds throughout the glaze!

Simply whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla paste, and dairy free milk. Then pour onto your loaf cake, and serve!

Alternate lemon pound cake topping:

Because of the zesty sweetness in this vegan lemon pound cake, I actually love the pairing with a vegan cream cheese frosting instead.

The only note here is that you really need to make sure that your lemon pound cake is fully cool and not the least bit warm! Or else your frosting will melt right off!

Can I make this vegan lemon pound cake gluten free?

Absolutely! To make this vegan pound cake gluten free as well, I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure flour.

If you prefer to use oat flour, then you might want to check out my easy vegan lemon loaf cake or my vegan lemon coconut loaf cake, both made entirely with oat flour!

Can I make this lemon cake into cupcakes or a layer cake?

You can, but I actually recommend using my vegan lemon cake recipe for that instead!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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