Light, tender, and oh-so-lemony, this vegan lemon cake is impressive yet easy – and will surely become a new oil-free dessert favorite. Make it more celebratory for Mother’s Day or Easter drizzled with Almond-Maple Sauce or Sweet Potato Caramel.
As much as I love this cake recipe (and also this cake and this cake)… I am absolutely smitten with this luscious lemon cake. It is such a fragrant and moist vegan cake, it’s hard to believe that it’s dairy-free, egg-free, and oil-free.
This recipe is from my Sweets Edition of the Let Them Eat OIL-FREE Vegan ebooks. If you aren’t familiar with these ebooks, you can read about them here.
I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes from the sweets collection. If you’re going to pick up either ebook, you can enjoy a discount of 20% off using code DREENA20 at checkout on my books page.
And this vegan lemon cake is one of my favorites!
How To Make this Vegan Lemon Cake
What makes this recipe special is the process. It’s not just lemon juice or lemon zest in the cake. Rather, the full lemons are boiled and then blended into the wet ingredients.
Yet it’s still a simple process and recipe. Prepare pan and the dry ingredients while boiling the lemons. Once the lemons are ready, allow to cool enough to slice and remove any seeds (plus trim tough ends) and then blend with the other wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and bake. While cooling, prepare either the Almond-Maple Sauce (recipe follows) or, the Sweet Potato Caramel sauce (also in the Let Them Eat Oil-free Vegan Sweets ebook).
The result? Zesty full lemon flavor in a tender cake with a moist crumb.
Toppings: Almond-Maple Sauce or Sweet Potato Caramel Sauce
I offer two toppings for this cake. The first is the ‘original’ topping that I had in LTEV (however, as with all the recipes in my LTEV oil-free ebooks, I have revised them.) It’s an almond-maple sauce made with nut milk, adding some light sweetness and fragrant seasoning.
The second topping is a NEW sweet potato caramel sauce. As with most of my sweet potato recipes, this sauce uses leftover batch-cooked sweet potatoes, blended with a few ingredients to create a luscious, healthy caramel sauce.
Of course you will find many other ways to enjoy this caramel sauce beyond this oil-free vegan lemon cake. Try it on non-dairy ice cream, or drizzled on vegan yogurt or oatmeal, or as a dipping sauce for sliced apples.
Many of you have already picked up a copy of the LTEV oil-free ebooks, so you can find this sweet potato caramel in the “sweets” edition. If you want to purchase these ebooks, link through here and use code DREENA20 for a full 20% discount.
What’s next? The recipe! Let’s get to this deliciously moist, fabulously tasty oil-free vegan lemon cake. I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Please share in the comments how you served this cake, which sauce you used, and how you enjoyed it. x Dreena
Lemony Luscious Almond Cake with Almond-Maple Sauce
I forgot just how good this cake was until I revisited to retest the oil-free version. So let me just say that this cake is really good. Now that I’ve rediscovered it, it’s a cake that I’m putting in my ‘top’ cake recipes. You must try this one, and either pair it with the original almond-maple sauce, or my new favorite – the Sweet Potato Caramel Sauce!
Instructions
Cake
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First place the lemon(s) whole (do not cut, prick, or peel) in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes. Remove lemon(s) and let cool enough to handle.
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While preparing the lemons, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9” springform pan (works best for this cake).with strips of parchment. It is also helpful to wipe a smidgen of oil on the bottom and sides of the pan, but if you do not want to do this, line with strips of parchment.
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Add dry ingredients (flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) to a mixing bowl.
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In a blender, add the nut butter, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. Then, holding the lemons over a small bowl (to catch any juices), cut the lemons in half. Remove any seeds from the lemon and discard, and trim any stem off the lemon(s). Add the whole lemon (and any juices that came out when slicing) to your blender. Puree mixture until very smooth.
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Add this blended mixture to the dry, and stir through until just well combined.
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Transfer mixture to prepared springform pan and place in preheated oven. Bake for 30-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack.
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Prepare Almond-Maple Sauce (recipe follows) or the Sweet Potato Caramel Sauce (recipe in Let Them Eat Oil-Free Vegan ebook).
Almond-Maple Sauce (makes about 1 1/2 cups) (see note)
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In a small saucepan, add all ingredients except nutmeg and whisk through. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, let boil just briefly.
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Remove from heat, and let sauce cool to room temperature or you can fully chill. The sauce will thicken with cooling.
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Drizzle sauce over cake and serve.
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See note for Sweet Potato CARAMEL Sauce topping.
Notes
Nut Butter Note: Macadamia nut butter works best in this recipe. It isn’t as dense/thick as other nut butters.
Sweet Potato Caramel Sauce: If you want to try the Sweet Potato Caramel, link through to pick up my LTEV sweets ebook. Use code DREENA20 for a full 20% discount!
