Tangy Lemon and Fresh Blueberries combine in this delicious and easy Vegan Blueberry Lemon Cake to make a cake that's perfect for serving with a cup of coffee or tea. Soft and fluffy and perfectly moist, this is the perfect vegan cake down to the very last bite.
This easy vegan lemon blueberry cake recipe is great to make year round, you can choose to use fresh and juicy blueberries, or use frozen berries when blueberries are expensive and out of season.
This simple vegan cake is the sister to this Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, so if you like this cake you might want to check it out too. Also, if you're a fan of the combination of lemon and blueberries- try this Simple Vegan Lemon Blueberry Muffins recipe or check out my Vegan Lemon and Blueberry Baked Cheesecake recipe!
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🫐Ingredients
This simple vegan blueberry cake with lemon has easy-to-find ingredients:
- All Purpose/Plain Flour- This cake uses ordinary plain or all purpose flour.
- Sugar- I like to use ordinary white sugar, however you can choose your favorite. For my US readers be sure it's vegan sugar (made without bone char).
- Non-Dairy Milk- Make sure to use an unsweetened non-dairy milk. I prefer Oat milk, however you can use soy milk or almond milk.
- Neutral Oil- I tend to use sunflower seed oil, however any vegetable oil or even olive oil is also good, but be warned, olive oil will add a distinctive flavor to the cake.
- Aquafaba (chickpea juice)- aquafaba is the juice from a tin of chickpeas and helps to bind the cake while keeping it light and fluffy- or see notes for alternatives.
- Blueberries: Choose fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries. Either will taste amazing.
- Vanilla Extract or vanilla paste: Definitely choose the best quality you can afford as it makes a difference to the overall flavor. Vanilla and lemon somehow combine to make a more fragrant and delicious cake.
- Baking Powder- This gives the cake rise and fluffyness.make sure it's fresh and hasn't been hanging around the back of your cupboard for a billion years.
- Lemon Juice- Fresh lemon juice is best- and you should have enough with the zest. You can choose bottled if you wish.
- Lemon Zest- Choose un-waxed lemons and give them a scrub before zesting them. The zest is essential for the bright lemon flavor. If you don't want to use fresh lemons, add lemon extract.
- Salt: balances the sweetness.
For the Glaze
- Powdered Sugar/Icing Sugar: This combines with the lemon juice to make the thick glaze.
- Lemon Juice: Tangy and adds flavor to the icing glaze.
- Optional Blueberries: to decorate the cake.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
First start by gathering up all your ingredients and preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line the baking tin with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, measure out the sugar, then zest your lemon into the sugar, and rub the lemon into the sugar - this releases the zesty lemon oils and makes a more flavorful cake.
- Drain a can of chickpeas and measure the water out. Save the chickpeas to make Lemon Dill Hummus!
3. Mix all the wet ingredients together with the sugar until the mixture is well combined and the sugar has dissolved (check-as per image 3.)
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk so you end up with a lump-free mixture.
5. Dust a little flour over the blueberries to prevent them sinking to the bottom of the cake.
6. Fold the blueberries into the cake batter
7. Line a 30cm x 11cm (12" x 4") loaf pan with parchment paper. Bake for 45 minutes.
The cake is cooked through when a skewer or chopstick comes out clean when inserted.
Hint: If the cake looks like the top of the cake is burning before it's cooked through, put a little lid of aluminum foil on top until the cake cooks through.
🍋Substitutions & Variations
Here are some easy subsitutes you can use for this lemon blueberry cake
- Other Berries: Raspberries or strawberries are both delicious instead of the juicy blueberries.
- Ground Flax 'Egg' - instead of the aquafaba. I prefer aquafaba as it's clear, however you can also hydrate the linseed, then strain it, just using the liquid if you don't want to see any slightly gritty bits in the fluffy cake.
- Gluten-Free Flour- Choose your favourite gluten-free flour. You might want to add an extra tablespoon of aquafaba or linseed to help bind the cake better.
- Lemon Extract or Lemon Oil - Add a teaspoon of these for an extra zesty flavour. If you don't want to use lemon zest from a fresh lemon you will need to use some lemon extract.
- Bottled Lemon Juice- if you choose to use bottled juice, you won't have the zest, so I suggest adding some lemon oil to bump up the flavor.
- Other plant milks: Choose oat milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or really any plant-based milk without a strong flavor that is also unsweetened.
- Other sugars: If you wish you can replace the sugar content with coconut sugar or stevia.
🔪Equipment
This cake is made in a loaf tin. I use quite a long one that is 30cm x 11cm (12" x 4"). which provides 12 generous slices. Halve the recipe for a smaller loaf pan. Alternatively you could also make this as a layer cake in a 20 cm round cake pans, which would be delicious filled with blueberry jam and this Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting. You will also need a large mixing bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon or spatula.
🫙Storage
This cake keeps well in a cool place wrapped up in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, or in an airtight container or cake tin for up to 5 days If you wish you can freeze the cake for up to 3 months (un-iced)
Top tip
Let the cake cool on a wire rack completely before icing it! Otherwise the lemon glaze will melt into the cake making it overly gooey.
❓FAQ
This usually happens when the cake isn't fully cooked through. Make sure that your oven is at the correct temperature, and check to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer or chopstick to test. If it comes out dry, the cake is ready, if it comes out gooey, the cake needs more time in the oven.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cake- Dairy Free, Egg Free.
Equipment
- 1 Loaf tin 30cm x 11cm / 12" x 4"
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake
- 380 g (3 cups) plain or all purpose flour
- 18 g (4 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) sugar
- 250 ml (1 cups) plant milk
- 200 ml (6/7 cups) sunflower oil
- 45 ml (3 tablespoon) aquafaba (chickpea juice) (or linseed egg 45 mil total)
- 50 ml (⅕ cups) lemon juice
- 150 g (1 cups) blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- Zest of 2 lemons or 3 teaspoon lemon extract / essence
Lemon syrup topping (optional for extra moisture)
- 150 g (1 ⅕ cups) powdered sugar/icing sugar
- 50 ml (⅕ cups) lemon juice
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 190℃/375℉/Gas Mark 5. Grease and line a 30cm loaf cake tin
- Zest the lemons, making sure not to get any of the white pith.Zest of 2 lemons or 3 teaspoon lemon extract / essence
- In a large bowl, rub the zest into the sugar to release the lovely lemon oils.250 g sugar
- Now add in the oil, plant milk, vanilla, lemon juice and aquafaba to the bowl and whisk very well until the sugar dissolves and the liquid emulsifies (comes together rather than being separate)250 ml plant milk, 200 ml sunflower oil, 50 ml lemon juice, 45 ml aquafaba (chickpea juice)
- Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder into the liquid making sure it's well incorporated and there are no flour lumps.380 g plain or all purpose flour, 18 g baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Dust the blueberries with a teaspoon of flour to prevent them sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking.
- Mix in the blueberries into to the cake batter.150 g blueberries
- Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer emerges clean from the cake.
- Once cooked, allow cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes or up to an hour, then put on a cooling rack.
- You can choose to serve the cake without the icing.
- Or to ice the cake, mix lemon juice into the powdered sugar bit by bit until you have a thick, glossy white paste.150 g powdered sugar/icing sugar, 50 ml lemon juice
- Smooth the icing over the now cooled cake and sprinkle with extra blueberriesAllow the icing to set before cutting.
Video
Notes
🍊Substitutions & Variations
Hint: Make sure when whisking up the liquid with the sugar that the sugar is really dissolved and the mixture is emulsified (thickened up a little and well whisked) This ensures the cake ends up with a tender and moist fluffy crumb.-
- Ground Linseed 'Egg' - instead of the aquafaba. I prefer aquafaba as it's clear, however you can also hydrate the linseed, then strain it, just using the liquid if you don't want to see any slightly gritty bits in the fluffy cake.
-
- Gluten-Free- Choose your favourite gluten-free flour. You might want to add an extra tablespoon of aquafaba or linseed to help bind the cake better.
-
- Lemon Extract or Lemon Oil - Add a teaspoon of these for an extra zesty flavour.
-
- Bottled Lemon Juice- if you choose to use bottled juice, you won't have the zest, so I suggest adding some lemon oil to bump up the flavor.
-
- Other plant milks: Choose coconut milk, oat milk, soy milk or really any plant-based milk without a strong flavor.
- Other Berries: Raspberries or strawberries are particularly great!
Deb Z says
Hi Louise-Claire! Is the aquafaba in this recipe equal to one flax seed "egg?"
This looks DEEEElish! Thank you!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Hi Deb- Oh yes it is. So if you use 1 tbsp flax and 3 tbsp water it works out the same as the aquafaba specified.
If I don't want to bust open a can of chickpeas, but I want a cake to be speckle free (for photos or to be fancy) I sometimes make up flax egg and push it through a fine sieve/tea strainer to remove the flax bits- then measure the resulting gooey water to be sure it ends up the right volume.