Vegan Lemon Loaf
on Sep 27, 2021, Updated Aug 17, 2024
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Light, moist and zesty, this easy vegan lemon loaf is sure to be a new favourite!
Packed with zesty, lemon flavour with the most delicious, soft texture, this easy lemon cake is seriously addictive.
The recipe falls somewhere between a Starbucks lemon loaf and lemon pound cake, yet it’s made without eggs and dairy. For the perfect sweet treat, you can also top it with the simple lemon glaze to make it a lemon drizzle cake!
Though it’s perfect for Spring, Summer and special occasions like Easter and Mother’s Day, it’s lovely year round too. Brunch, breakfast, morning coffee or afternoon tea, enjoy a slice any time of day for a sweet treat or snack.
For more lemony goodness, don’t miss these Vegan Lemon Shortbread Cookies and Vegan Lemon Bars.
Recipe Features
- Great base for flavour variations like lemon blueberry, lemon cranberry, lime drizzle or orange.
- Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free) and nut-free.
- Easy to make with 6 simple ingredients.
- Perfect balance of sweet and tart lemon flavour with a soft, moist texture.
Ingredient Notes
- Flour: The recipe was developed using all-purpose flour and has not been tested with anything else. For best results, use a kitchen scale and follow the gram amounts listed in the recipe.
- Sugar: I used organic cane sugar but you should be able to substitute light brown sugar or white sugar. For a sugar-free recipe, you can use monk fruit sweetener and skip the lemon glaze.
- Oil: You can use melted coconut oil, olive oil or canola oil. Note if you’re using coconut oil, the milk and lemon juice need to be at room temperature to prevent the oil from hardening.
- Lemon: You’ll need 1/3 cup so depending on how juicy your lemons are, you may need 2-3 whole lemons. You can use store-bought lemon juice if you prefer.
- Plant-Based Milk: Unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk is suggested.
- Lemon Zest: If you don’ t have a citrus planer, you can use a grater or slice a few chunks of peel off and mince them with a sharp knife.
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
Variations
From lemon poppy seed loaf to lemon cranberry loaf, here are a few ways to switch it up:
- Blueberry and Lemon Loaf: Fold in up to 1 cup fresh blueberries with the wet ingredients.
- Lemon Cranberry Loaf: Fold in up to 1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries with the wet ingredients.
- Lemon Zucchini Loaf: Fold in 1/2 cup drained, finely grated fresh zucchini with the wet ingredients.
- Raspberry Lemon Loaf: Fold in up to 1 cup fresh raspberries with the wet ingredients.
- Lime Drizzle Cake: Use lime juice and zest instead of lemon.
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake: Mix in 2 tbsp poppy seeds with the dry ingredients.
- Orange Loaf: Use orange juice and zest instead of lemon. Try this with cranberries for a lovely Christmas recipe.
Step-by-Step Photos
Before You Begin: Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a standard-size loaf pan with parchment paper so it sticks out over at least 2 of the sides.
Step 1: Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Be sure to mix well so the baking powder and salt are well distributed.
Step 2: Add the oil, milk, lemon juice and zest and vanilla and gently fold everything together until all of the ingredients have been wetted and the batter is smooth. Avoid over-mixing which could result in a dense cake. Gently fold just until the flour is incorporated, then stop.
Quick Note: If you’re using coconut oil, make sure the lemon juice and milk are at room temperature to prevent the oil from solidifying. If the liquids came straight from the fridge, warm them briefly in the microwave until they come to room temperature.
Step 3: Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth with a spatula.
Bake the loaf for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Step 4 (Optional): If you’d like to add the lemon glaze, mix the powdered sugar, milk and lemon juice together in a small bowl until completely smooth.
Once the loaf has fully cooled, pour the mixture over the loaf.
Recipe FAQs
No, this particular recipe needs the oil and has not been tested with an oil-free baking substitue like applesauce or banana.
For oil-free baking, try my carrot cake banana bread, easy banana bread or blueberry muffins.
Sure. Both fresh lemon juice or store-bought lemon juice work fine but you’ll need whole lemons to make the zest (unless you use lemon extract but lemon zest is superior, in my opinion!).
Baking Tips
- I highly recommend using a digital scale to measure your ingredients. This recipe depends on precise ratios for success and it can be very easy to over or under measure flour especially.
- Oven temperatures can vary, so the toothpick trick is helpful to make sure the loaf is baked through. Poke it into the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean, it’s ready!
- Avoid opening the oven until you’re ready to check if the loaf is done. I would wait at least 30 minutes before checking.
- To make the cake easy to lift out of the pan, line with parchment so it hangs over at least two sides.
- Make sure you wait until the cake has fully cooled before adding the glaze.
- Want more icing? You can as much as double the sugar (keep the lemon juice and milk amounts the same or increase slightly if needed).
Storing
- To Store: Let the loaf cool completely then store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 weeks.
- To Freeze: Let cool completely then wrap in foil and store in a freeze-safe bag or continuer or slice beforehand and freeze individual slices in a freezer bag.
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to comment section below to leave your star rating and review.
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Vegan Lemon Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, 270 g
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 120 g
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 10 g
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil or canola oil, 70 g
- 1/3 cup lemon juice, 55 g
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons plant-based milk, 210 ml
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 50 g
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp plant-based milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) and line a standard-sized loaf pan with parchment paper so it sticks out over at least 2 sides of the pan. This will make it easier to lift the loaf out once baked.
- Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl until well combined and the baking power is thoroughly distributed.
- Add the oil, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and gently fold everything together just until all of the dry ingredients have been wetted. Avoid over-mixing. Note that if you're using coconut oil, be sure the lemon juice and milk are at room temperature to prevent the oil from hardening. If your milk is cold, you can briefly warm in the microwave until it's at room temperature.
- Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Avoid opening the open door to check the loaf before 30 minutes.
- Let the loaf cool in the pan for 15 minutes then lift it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Do not slice before cooling completely.
- If you’d like to add the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar, milk and lemon juice until completely smooth. Once the loaf has fully cooled, pour the glaze over the cake and allow to set for a few minutes. Slice and enjoy!
Always my first go to Any of Deryn’s recipes, but this one is a fav, as our soon to be 10 year old is a huge lemon cake fan.. lemon anything actually. 5*****
Thank you, Holly! Really appreciate the review and love!
Cake was still wet after 35 minutes so I gave it another 10 minutes, by which point the toothpick came out clean and the top was starting to brown nicely. I took it out and let it cool completely, but it collapsed and was very dense when cut into. I’m wondering if you think it might have been an issue of over-mixing? I folded until there were no lumps, but wondering if I should have stopped sooner to prevent too much air. The only difference in recipe ingredients I made was using oat milk instead of the almond/cashew that you mentioned; I did use a scale for my measuring.
Going to give it another shot tomorrow with less mixing, crossing my fingers it works!
I’m not exactly sure what’s happening with this recipe. It’s mostly been made with success and great reviews but a few people have had issues with it not cooking through. I haven’t had a chance to retest it yet. Over-mixing could result in a dense cake that collapses so it should be gently mixed just until the flour is all wetted, even err on the side of some flour left unmixed. Sorry you had that issue!
Can I substitute for whole wheat flour?
Possibly, but I haven’t tested it so I can’t say for sure. It may be grainy and crumbly with whole wheat and I’d probably use a bit less whole wheat than all-purpose. Let me know if try it.
I hate to be the person to list a few changes I made buuuuut I used olive oil and split the cake between two 6 inch cake pans. I followed the glaze recipe and added some chopped pistachios to the top. Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
No problem. Glad you liked it!
We loved this cake, really nice texture and not too-too sweet. I think you definitely need the icing to make it lemony enough. Next time I might try adding even more lemon zest to the cake mix, or even adding a little lemon extract as well. Looking forward to making it again.
If i wanted to make this into cupcakes instead what would you recommend for baking time/temperature?
I’m not sure but I would think the same temperature and a bit less baking time. I haven’t tried it, sorry! Let me know if you do.
I haven’t tasted it yet, however, I preheated my oven to 350 F and baked the loaf for 35 minutes after opening the oven I didn’t even need a toothpick to see if it was done because there was a pool of batter in the center, super raw in the middle and the edges where already starting to crisp up, so i out back in for another 10 minutes … don’t know if I have a bad oven but it’s never given me any issue, kinda disappointed I’ll try the recipe again and I hope it taste good and isn’t too dry now.
Update! It was delicious, super good and not dry. I guess I’ll just adjust the bake time to 50 minutes next time!
Thanks for letting me know. I’m glad it worked out!
Thank you for this comment, I had the same issue and 50 minutes was the perfect time.
Wow! This is the best lemon loaf I’ve EVER had. I cannot wait to make this again, next time I will substitue the glaze for a vegan blueberry and lemon mascarpone! Used all 35 minutes, and it came out perfectly crispy on the bottom and light and fluffy on the inside.
So easy to make and super yummy! I brought it to a gathering of animal rights activists and it was gone in about half an hour!
That’s awesome! So glad it was a hit.
Followed instructions to the letter but the cake was heavy dense and lacked flavour. So disappointed as the ingredients are costly.
I’m sorry to hear that! You’re sure you didn’t make any changes and you measured accurately? I’ve tested this recipe with success numerous times and it’s been well-reviewed so I’m not sure what went wrong for you. Sorry.