Can the words sweet and sour describe a cake? I think so! This gluten-free vegan lemon cake recipe has just enough tang to make your cheeks pucker, and the right amount of sweetness to be pleasant but not overwhelming. If you're looking for a gluten-free vegan cake that has great texture, does not feel dense or dry, you're in the right place!
The biggest challenge in gluten-free vegan cakes is building structure, which is typically the role of eggs and gluten. This recipe is built on an understanding of how ingredients interact with each other chemically and will teach you how to solve some of the greatest challenges in gluten-free vegan baking: dense cake, dry crumbly cake, cake that does not rise, etc... And then you'll be left with a gorgeous gluten-free vegan cake to decorate!
This recipe was inspired by my gluten-free vegan strawberry cupcakes and follows closely some of the ingredient ratio. If you're not looking for a vegan cake, you can take a look at my gluten-free raspberry cake instead, or my gluten-free red velvet cake.
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Ingredients
As mentioned above, the greatest challenge in gluten-free vegan baking is structural loss. These ingredients have been selected specifically with structure in mind, the two most important being corn starch and flaxseed meal.
Corn starch has one of the highest amylose content out of all the gluten-free flours (check out my flour guide for more information). All starches gelatinize upon heating, which is what builds structure in the crumb, whether that's bread or cake. However, when starches cool, they undergo retrogradation, which is a fancy word for structural loss. Starches high in amylose content are more resistant to retrogradation. That's because their chemical structure allows them to coil in water. The bottom line for us: corn starch is great for adding structure to our gluten-free vegan cakes!
Our next friend, flaxseed meal, contains a gum categorized as a hydrocolloid. In this peer-reviewed article, the authors state that the gum in flaxseed meal imparts better stability to baked goods than xanthan gum. No wonder "flax eggs" are often used in vegan baking.
Thanks for sticking with me on the science portion of these ingredient choices. Now let's dig in the rest!
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour - please click through for my DIY mix and commercial recommendations, this is the most important ingredient!
- Corn starch
- Sugar
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Canol oil - or other neutral tasting oil
- Vegan milk - I chose to work with rice milk, to reduce the allergens in the recipe
- Carbonated water - gives an extra boost for the cake to rise, providing an airy crumb
- Flaxseed meal
- Lemon - zested and juiced
- Lemon extract
- Candied lemon - totally optional, but they make a fancy garnish! I used this recipe from the Bake it With Love blog.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Making the Batter
I like separating my ingredients into categories, so here I'll talk about dry ingredients, liquid ingredients, and the flax egg ingredients. Making the batter is pretty quick and easy, it all goes into one bowl, mix, and into the prepared cake pans straight in the oven! We want to work quickly because letting the batter sit means that the carbonated water might fizzle out of its magic.
First, prepare the flax egg. It needs to sit a few minutes to absorb water and will be ready to go when the other steps are completed! Sift the dry ingredients together. You can see how important it is on my picture here with clumps of baking soda. Yikes! Then, juice and zest the lemon.
Once all the ingredients have been measured, add the carbonated water to the liquid ingredients and put everything in the stand mixer. Mix until well combined, but don't overmix or the gums are negatively affected, which yields a goopy cake.
Baking the Cake
Pour the batter evenly into two 8-inch pans. I like to smooth out the batter top with wet fingers. Bake immediately in the already pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Completely cool on a rack. You can see I sliced the top to reveal the inside crumb, what a beauty! This step is optional, but trimming the uneven top will yield a smoother cake to frost.
Making the Buttercream
I followed the recipe for my crusting buttercream, using lemon extract. I chose soy-based vegan butter sticks from Earth Balance.
Decorating the Cake
I chose to frost this gluten-free vegan lemon cake in a semi-naked fashion, which is when you add a layer of frosting to the outside of the cake and scrape off most of it. It makes it look more rustic, which I love. I then used a 1M tip to pipe a border and rosettes and added the optional candied lemon decorations.
Hint: I know many recipes call for letting the batter rest to absorb moisture, in fact many of my own recipes do! BUT not this one. This is because we want the excess CO2 in the carbonated water to fizzle while in the oven. In fact, adding the carbonated water should be the last step before mixing and pouring the cakes into the pans.
Substitutions
With the recipe written as is, there are no allergens in the cake batter (yay!) There is soy in the vegan butter I chose.
- Soy-free - use your plant butter of choice for the buttercream. I like coconut-based butters, like Miyoko's.
I used rice milk in the batter, but you can certainly use any other plant-based milk, like almond. If you're looking for a completely allergen-free cake (including the frosting), check out my birthday chocolate cake recipe!
Variations
I would NOT omit the lemon in this cake and try to make a vanilla cake. I'm working on a recipe for that, but this isn't the one to modify as the lemons add acidity needed for reacting with baking soda to create an airy crumb. However, there are so many other possibilities with this cake!
- Orange - you could swap the lemon for oranges and have a yummy different flavor citrus cake. Maybe add a dark chocolate drip... oh my!
- Fresh berries - add fresh berries to the top of the cake. I think blackberries would pair fantastic here.
- Berry frosting: you can use freeze-dried blueberry powder instead of lemon extract in the frosting to mix up flavors.
Speaking of frosting, just look at those layers.
Equipment
You'll need the usual kitchen staples.
- Two 8-inch cake pans
- A sifter
- A stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or large mixing bowl and some elbow grease!
Storage
The gluten-free vegan lemon cake is shelf-stable and can be stored for up to 3 days at room temperature. Any leftovers should be wrapped in plastic and frozen in an airtight container.
When ready to eat, simply thaw to room temperature.
Top tip
The cake is ready when your finger does not leave an indentation in the middle. The sides of the cake bake faster than the middle of the cake, so just be patient waiting for the middle to be fully baked. You don't want to end up with a soggy middle. I know many bakers who use cake strips to help cakes bake evenly (non-affiliate link).
FAQ
This question is personal and will depend on your definition of what is healthy. Vegan cakes contain less proteins (no eggs, no milk) but they also typically contain less saturated fats. The bottom line is... cake is cake: a mixture of sugar, carbs and oils! Indulge in moderation.
Eggs have such an important role in baking, especially in gluten-free baking! They bind ingredients, they help batter retain moisture, and they provide structure to support the rise. But don't worry, this gluten-free vegan lemon cake recipe made appropriate adjustments!
Related
Looking for other gluten-free vegan recipes? Try these!
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cake
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
- 1 sifter
- two 8 inch cake pans
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 308 grams gluten-free flour please click through for appropriate blends
- 50 grams corn starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 200 grams sugar
Flax Egg
- 13 grams flaxseed meal
- 72 grams carbonated water
Liquid Ingredients
- 2 lemons juiced and zested
- 240 grams rice milk or other vegan milk
- 70 grams canola oil or other neutral tasting oil
- 120 grams carbonated water
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
Frosting Ingredients
- 180 grams vegan butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon hot water as needed, to thin
- 360 grams powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 candied lemon, sliced optional
Instructions
Baking the Cake
- Grease and line two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper, and preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- Sift all the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Create the flax egg by mixing water and flaxseed meal. Let stand on the counter 5 minutes.
- Grate and juice the lemons. Add them to the rice milk to slightly curdle. This is vegan buttermilk.
- Into the stand mixer bowl that contains the dry ingredients, add the flax egg and all the liquid ingredients, with the carbonated water being the last added ingredient.
- Mix on low for 1-2 minutes. Scrape the bottom with a spatula to make sure you evenly mixed everything. Don't overmix.
- Evenly divide the batter into the two 8 inch cake pans (about 535 grams of batter each).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes and rotate the pans.
- Bake an additional 8-11 minutes. The cake is done when your finger does not leave a fingerprint in the middle.
- Cool fully on a rack before frosting.
Making the Frosting and Decorating
- Cream the vegan butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. This should take 2-3 minutes of mixing. If your house is cold, you may need to add a bit of hot water, just 1 teaspoon at a time.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar, and mix for 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon extract, and more hot water to thin the frosting if needed (in the instruction section of this post, there is a link to my frosting recipe which includes a video)
- Frost and decorate the cake to your liking!
- Add optional candied lemon to garnish.
- Slice and enjoy!
Holly
Moist, lemony, and so delicious! I can't believe this is a gluten-free recipe. I will make this again really soon.
Dina and Bruce
Gluten free? Wow! This was so tasty! All our family loved!
MacKenzie
This gluten free vegan lemon cake turned out AMAZING. We had it last Sunday and everyone in my family loved it
Sara Welch
This was everything a gourmet dessert should be and then some! Turned out fluffy, moist and delicious; my whole family loved it!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
Awesome! So glad it was enjoyed! <3
Harriet Young
This vegan cake was delicious! Full of lemon flavour, light and sweet. Loved it, thank you!
Sophie
Hi! Can you clarify adding the flax egg and carbonated water? The recipe says to mix the water and flax meal and set aside. Then to add the flax egg to the dry ingredients with the other liquid ingredients, but to add the carbonated water last. I’m assuming based on the recipe the flax egg is made with carbonated water but the method leaves me stumped because it says to add the flax egg and liquids but carbonated water last. Thank you for clarifying :)
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
Hi! Yep the flax egg is made with carbonated water. But there's also an additional 120 grams of carbonated water in the liquid ingredients, which I add last. I've made this cake with regular water before, but the carbonated water just helps get even more lift. We add it last to preserve the fizz.