Vegan lemon drizzle loaf cake is one of those cakes nearly everyone has tried, and most people I know love it. It's a safe bet that if you make it for an event or your birthday at work, it will get demolished quite quickly. I'm not sure if it's the tangy, sticky, lemon-flavored sponge or the crunchy, sugary lemon glaze that makes it so popular, but it is always a crowd-pleaser.
I like to make it as a cake, in a square tin, but I also love a vegan lemon drizzle loaf cake, and I think it's such a nice gift to give someone, wrapped up in some brown paper. Loaf cakes also seem to last for ages in an airtight container too.
To make a vegan lemon drizzle cake, you need to replace the egg and butter elements. I use a powdered egg replacer (such as Orgran or Bobs Red Mill) here because I don't want a stodgy, potentially wet sponge. The lemon drizzle will keep the loaf moist.
Instead of butter, I have used vegetable oil. I have had mixed results with making vegan creamed sponges, but oil generally gives you consistently reliable results. The beauty of this cake is that it uses simple ingredients that we all have in our cupboards or fridge.
Ingredients
- Non-Dairy Milk, I use soy milk but you could use oat milk, coconut milk, or any vegan milk of your choice.
- White Granulated Sugar. You can use brown sugar if you prefer. Make sure that you use white granulated sugar for the drizzle though, otherwise, you won't get that crunchy topping.
- Vegetable Oil. You could use sunflower oil, melted coconut oil, or olive oil.
- Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice. Of course, use fresh lemon juice from large lemons if you can find them: you'll be needing the zest of fresh lemons anyway, and you want to ensure you have enough lemon juice for the syrup too. If you want to boost the lemon flavour, feel free to add a couple of drops of lemon extract too.
- Vanilla Extract
- Plain Flour (all-purpose flour)
- Cornflour
- Baking Powder. This is one of your raising agents, along with the egg replacer.
Method
- Preheat oven to 170c.
- Line a 2lb loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a blender (I use a smoothie blender), whizz up the milk, sugar, egg replacer, water, oil, 2 tablespoon lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour this into a large mixing bowl.
- Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cornflour, salt) over the top of the wet ingredients, along with the lemon zest.
- Whisk until you have a smooth cake batter.
- Pour the cake mixture into your prepared loaf tin.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it springs back to the touch.
- Just before the cake is baked, make the lemon syrup drizzle: whisk the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
- Remove your cake from the oven and place on a cooling rack, still in the tin.
- Using a cocktail stick, prick all over, before pouring the prepared drizzle over the top of the cake.
- Leave to cool completely before unmolding from the tin.
Try my other delicious vegan cakes
- The Best Vegan Banana Bread
- Rhubarb Cake
- Easy Spiced Pumpkin Squares
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
- Old-Fashioned Ginger Cake
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Old-Fashioned Rock Cakes
- Lamingtons
📋 Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup (1 cup) Soy Milk or plant-based milk of your choice
- 1 cup (1 cup) White Sugar
- ¼ cup Oil I use vegetable or sunflower
- 1 tablespoon Egg Replacer I like to use Orgran
- 1 tablespoon Water
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1½ cups Plain Flour
- ¼ cup Cornflour
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 Zest of 1 Lemon
- pinch Salt
Icing
- ½ cup (1½ cups) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Lemon juice only
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170c.
- In a blender, whizz together the sugar, oil, water, lemon juice, egg replacer, milk and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour this mixture into a mixing bowl.
- Sift together the flour, cornflour, salt, lemon zest and baking powder over the top of the wet ingredients.
- Using a whisk, mix together until there are no lumps.
- Pour into your prepared cake tin. The batter will be quite thin.
- Bake for between 25-30 minutes or until light golden and springs back to the touch.
- Pour the lemon drizzle over the top of the loaf whilst still hot.
- Leave to cool, in the tin, on a cooling rack.
To make the lemon drizzle
- Whisk together the lemon juice and caster sugar in a small bowl.
- Store in a tin for up to a week.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!