Dairy Free Lemon Cake: Simply so good

Update: This recipe is updated Mar 7, 2021

Lemon cake is a refreshing dessert and snack to have, while  I usually make this dairy free lemon cake with unbleached all-purpose flour I decided to change a portion of all-purpose flour to whole wheat flour. You will surely like this dairy free lemon cake because it’s dairy free and vegan.

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For the milk, I use unsweetened almond milk. Sometimes I would also use unsweetened soy milk or oat milk. I also use natural brown cane sugar instead of white. I added 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar to enhance the flavor of the cake. You can also use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

If you do not want to add rice vinegar, white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar use 2 tsp baking powder instead of baking soda.

The color of this dairy free lemon cake is a bit dark because of the brown sugar but I like it better. I’ve been using natural brown cane sugar in my baking instead of white it’s still sugar tho but at least better than white. 

This lemon cake is not only dairy free but also vegan since it does not contain any eggs. But I also did not use flax egg for this recipe. 

You can skip flax egg if you do not want the color to be affected, especially if you are using white sugar and I have tried it without flax egg and it works.

Instead of spreading a glaze, I use lemon buttercream frosting. You can still top it off with a glaze if you prefer. I spread it not covering enough to make it look more naked and since its already sweet I do not want to put too much frosting as well.

To finish it add some more lemon zest on top of the cake before serving. I live in a hot country so I decided to put my cake in the fridge for an hour.

There are no fancy ingredients in this dairy free lemon cake almost still the same as last time except that I increased the amount of flour used and added rice vinegar. You can use a loaf pan or cake pan for this recipe.

Benefits of Lemon

Lemon is good for the body and adding a few slices of lemon to your water is very refreshing.

• It can enhance the flavor of the water
• According to research lemons can aid to weight loss
• It is a good source of vitamin C

For more information about lemons check this article from Healthline.

Dairy Free Lemon Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup dairy free milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil or butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp lemon zest + 1 tbsp (extra)
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• For frosting
• 4 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1/2 cup vegan butter
• 1/4 cup shortening (optional)
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

• Prepare the lemons, wash thoroughly. Grate the lemon skins for the zest and prepare the lemon juice.
• Preheat oven to 350℉ or 180℃.
• In a medium size bowl mix dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour baking soda and salt.
• In a separate bowl add wet ingredients with sugar and lemon zest. Almond milk,  melted butter, rice vinegar, vanilla, and lemon juice.
• Make a well and slowly pour liquid ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix well until there are no visible dry ingredients.
• Prepare your baking cake pan. I use my 8” cake pan. You can grease your pan or use a cake parchment paper and pour the batter.

• Bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool first before transferring in a wire cooling rack and to complete the process for frosting.

Frosting

• Combine butter and vegetable shortening. Beat together with an electric mixer or whisk by hand.
• After mixing add sifted powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla.
• Mix together until becomes well combined and thick for about 10 minutes. It should look spreadable.
• Spread through the cake.
• Top with lemon zest, serve and enjoy.

Notes

• You can use 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and skip changing a portion to whole wheat flour. I do not suggest using whole wheat flour alone.
• You can use any non-dairy free milk and use white sugar of your choice.
• If you do not want to add frosting you can skip the process or add a glaze instead. I have tried it and it’s still delicious.
• Using shortening is optional just check the ingredients if you want the cake vegan to make sure it has no animal fat.
• My goal is to create a naked dairy free lemon cake so I did not fully cover it with the frosting.
• Optional glaze to replace frosting: 1 tsp lemon juice + 1/2 cup icing sugar

Nutrition

This recipe can yield up to 18 servings with 184 calories per serving and 289 calories with frosting. | Total Fat 9.5g | Saturated Fat 3.3g | Cholesterol 0mg | Sodium 141mg | Total Carbohydrate 22.6g | Dietary Fiber 1.6g | Total Sugars 6.6g |  Protein 2.7g | Vitamin D 0mcg | Calcium 10mg | Iron 1mg | Potassium 62mg

Nutrition calculation is based using an online calculator (verywellfit) and for reference use only.

Other sweet dairy free treats

• Zucchini dairy free cake
• Vegan carrot brownies
• Chocolate marbled banana bread