Vegan lemon drizzle cake

Vegan lemon drizzle cake

vegan lemon drizzle cake cross section

In the last week and a half I transitioned from the Siberian cold that I’ve had to endure during my holiday in Poland, to an almost spring aura over here. I mean there is a bit of a chill in the air still, but the sun is shining and the birds are chirping and it almost feels like Madam Spring herself has finally moved in. I love that transition when everything (people included) wakes up from the sluggishness of winter.

I went running again for the first time in about 3 weeks (an illness and my holidays, which ended up lasting longer than planned, have derailed my training a bit) and even though I was totally out of breath by the end, I loved it! By way of motivating myself to be a bit more consistent with my running, I have (perhaps stupidly) signed up for a 10 km race in mid-May so I’ve got a goal to help keep me focused.

Right now, I’m only at about 4-5 km and I haven’t got heaps of time to reach 10 km comfortably, but I think it’s doable if I put the work in. As I am training, I am being a bit more careful about what I eat and I’m trying to stay off sugar as much as possible. I did have a slice of this cake, but the old me would have had way more than that. I’m trying to catch myself when I do mindless eating, which happens when I’m stressed, frustrated or bored, as it brings me no joy or nutrition.

The key, I found, is to get rid of the offending item as soon as possible. The moment I finished my photoshoot I ran over to my neighbour with a few slices of cake on a plate and packed the rest up for Duncan to take to work tomorrow. That way I get to enjoy feeding other people and I still get to eat one slice (in the name of testing, of course) and not gorge myself silly and feel disgusted with my lack of will power the moment I finish.

Anyways, ‘cos it’s almost spring, I’ve decided to make a cake that for some reason reminds me of spring – a classic lemon drizzle cake. I’m not sure why as it’s not like lemons grow in the UK anyway. Perhaps it’s the colour, like the colour of daffodils, which wink at me from all corners of our garden. The cake is light and moist, tangy yet sweet at the same time. Perfect with a cup of afternoon tea in the Spring sunshine.

vegan lemon drizzle cake icing

vegan lemon drizzle cake

vegan lemon drizzle cake sliced

vegan lemon drizzle cake end piece

vegan lemon drizzle cake sliced side

makes
2 lb / 1 kg
PREP
20 min
COOKING
50 min
makes
2 lb / 1 kg
PREPARATION
20 min
COOKING
50 min
INGREDIENTS
WET INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g / ½ cup neutral oil (for example mild coconut oil)
  • 125 g / ½ cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 180 ml / ¾ cup thin & lukewarm (not from the fridge) plant milk (I used almond)
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup lemon juice (approx. 1 lemon)

DRY INGREDIENTS

  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 180 g / 1½ cups all purpose white flour or GF cake flour mix, sifted
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 100 g / 1 cup almond meal or finely ground almonds*

LEMON AND ROSEMARY SYRUP

  • 70 g / 1/3 cup caster sugar (fine sugar)
  • juice of 1½ lemons (about 90 ml / 6 tbsp juice)
  • 1-2 fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)

ICING (optional)

  • 50-100 g / ½-1 cup icing sugar*
  • juice of ½-1 lemon

METHOD
LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

  1. Heat up the oven to 180° C (or 160° C fan forced) / 355° F (320° F fan forced). Line a 1 kg / 2 lb tin with a wide strip of baking paper to be able to remove your cake easily.
  2. Melt the coconut oil gently over a low heat.
  3. Whisk the coconut oil and sugar together with an electric whisk. Add in the plant milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.
  4. Place a sieve over the bowl with the wet ingredients and sift through all the dry ingredients, except for the almond meal. Fold them in gently, until just combined.
  5. Next, gently fold in the almond meal.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking tin.
  7. Bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is nicely browned.
  8. Once baked, remove the cake from the tin. Pierce the top with a toothpick in several places to allow the syrup to infuse the cake better. Brush the surface of the hot cake (that’s important as otherwise the syrup will stay on the surface) with syrup several times allowing the syrup to soak into the cake between each go.
  9. Once cool, drizzle with icing starting from the middle so that it drips down to the sides creating pretty drizzle marks.

LEMON AND ROSEMARY SYRUP

  1. Place the sugar and lemon juice in a small pot over a low heat. Add sprigs of rosemary if you wish.
  2. Bring the contents of the pot to a gentle simmer and cook until the sugar dissolves completely. Set aside.

ICING

  1. Whisk the icing sugar and lemon juice in a medium size bowl until fully combined. Add the lemon juice gradually to avoid lumps in your icing. Alternatively, you could also sift your icing sugar before combining it with the lemon juice.

NOTES
*NUT-FREE OPTION: if you cannot tolerate nuts, try this vegan lemon cake recipe instead. It’s a nut-free vegan lemon cake that I created based on this recipe.

*Given that the cake is already covered in sugar syrup, I recommend making a smaller amount of icing (50 g / ½ cup icing sugar and juice from ½ lemon) and drizzling the cake with it for decoration. The larger quantity given above allows you to cover the cake in icing completely.

I used a 2 lb / 900 g cake tin of the following dimensions: 18.5cm x 8cm x 6cm (like this). It holds 8 cups / 2000 ml liquid (to the brim), but the batter should fill no more than 2/3 – 3/4 of the 2lb cake tin or else the cake may not raise.

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NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
312
16%
sugars
25 g
28%
fats
15 g
22%
saturates
9 g
45%
proteins
4 g
8%
carbs
42 g
16%
*per serving
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4.9
50 reviews, 130 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
Maddie:
This cake is sooo good.
My 4 yrs old and hubby are fond of it.
Can't count how many times I made it !!
Thank you very much for sharing.
    Ania
    Ania:
    I am so pleased to hear that, Maddie! Thank you for your kind words! x Ania
Caroline Rein:
Such a delicious recipe, made it three times within a couple of days and all were totally blown away (and they are all not vegans). Thank you so much! Since I still have a lot of lemons at home I am wondering if I can bake the cake and then freeze, have you ever tried?
Best wishes from Switzerland
Caroline
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Caroline! I am delighted to hear that you and your loved ones loved this case so much! I have not tried freezing it (I have a small freezer and I tend to just give leftovers away), but I don't see why it would not work. x Ania
Priti:
Follow on to my comment earlier: I tried this cake using wholemeal self raiding flour (from Waitrose) and it turned out just as delicious.
Priti:
This is my go to cake. It turns out perfect fluffy soft and delicious every time. I made it for my 7 girlfriends and they were blown away and asked for the recipe which I sent them. I especially love the lemon and rosemary syrup and would never have considered the lovely flavour that rosemary adds. Love it. Can’t wait to try out your other cake recipes starting with coffee walnut. When I was a veggie my cakes never turned out nice but now with your recipe I can turn out delicious vegan cakes every time. Thank you.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks Priti! That's really lovely to hear! x Ania
Kirsty Wyatt:
I just wanted to say thank you for your beautiful recipe. I followed it completely but omitted the rosemary because I am a bit of a lemon fiend and as a lactose intolerant person, hasn't had a lemon cake in such a LONG time. It is light, moist and so gorgeous!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm delighted to hear that, Kirsty!! Thank you for taking the time to let me know - much appreciated! x Ania
Avian:
Such a great recipe. It tastes so light and like it could be store bought. Compared to other vegan cakes that I find are very heavy and dense this is so amazing. Well done and thank you! 😊
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks so much, Avian! I am delighted to hear that! Ania
hi, I'm really enjoying your recipes and already picked a weekly menu out of them and thank you for those DELICIOUS recipes.
I was excited to try the vegan lemon cake and to be honest, it's my first time going out of the ready cake mix. As a first try, it came out shocking though its ingredients were exactly as same as measured above !!! :( but I'm considering it as a great move to the vegan lifestyle. I forgot to add baking soda tho it was placed right in between the ingredients, eventually, it didn't rise while baking!
I want to bake again because I know it tastes different than the other familiar flavors but I don't want to repeat the same mistakes, any thoughts in mind?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Ru,
    The trouble is baking soda is absolutely crucial in this recipe. Together with lemon juice it leavens the cake making it light and fluffy. Better luck next time! Ania
Sunjit Chana:
Hi. I don't like coconut oil. Can you suggest what I can use instead?. By the way all you recipes are amazing. Everything I have tried from your blog has turned out amaz ing and a hit with my family. Thanks.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks, Sunjit! That's lovely to hear! Instead of coconut oil, you can simply use another (neutral tasting would be best) oil. I often use mild olive oil. Hope that helps! Ania
Ania Filipiak:
Czesc Aniu!
I substituted the almond flour with normal + rice flour (because I didn't have almond meal :) ) and it's the nicest, tallest and best tasting vegan cake I've ever made before!!! :D It's super tall, light and fluffy! I'll definitely try all of your recipes!!
Thank you
Also Ania :-)
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's awesome to hear, Ania :) Thanks for trusting my recipe and I too hope you'll try more of them out! Pozdrawiam serdecznie! Ania
Myrthe:
I've made this cake today and it turned out great! My cakes usually turn out dry but this one didn't (probably helps that I followed the instructions, measured the ingredients out ahead, and actually kept an eye on it while it was in the oven - took 5 minutes off the baking time). I used soy milk and extra vierge coconut oil, both lime and lemon juice for the syrup, and lime-lemon zest and juice in the icing. Delicious and very refreshing!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm delighted to hear that, Myrthe! And thank you for taking the time to come back and me feedback! Much appreciated! Ania
Merijn:
Very nice moist cake with a good amount of tanginess. I'll probably make some slight changes to suit my personal preference, but I'll definitely be making this more often. Thanks so for the recipe!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Merijn! I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed it! Ania
jaquie:
How long does these keep for? And how should it be stored?
thanks.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Not sure as it never lasts very long in my house, plus I tend to give away surplus cakes. It will definitely keep for a day or two. I would keep it in an air-tight container at room temperature (unless it's hot, then fridge is probably better). Ania
Laura:
I love lemon drizzle cake! I was wondering, after seeing your coconut lime loaf can use maple syrup, if I could do the same with this? How much would you suggest?
Your blog is one of my favourites! Thank you for sharing such delicious recipes.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks Laura, that's lovely to hear that you enjoy cooking with me :) Yes, absolutely, but I would say that it's best to simply taste the syrup and adjust the sweetness / sharpness to your taste. Ania
Hayley:
I don't normally bother to comment on recipes, but I came across this one and made it for my boyfriend's birthday as he loves lemon drizzle and (surprise) he's vegan. I have to say, firstly it was so simple to follow and not the stressful experience I normally find baking to be, but more importantly it was delicious!! I literally can't get over how good this is! I've made it 6 times now and everyone who tries it can't believe it's vegan and most say it's the best lemon drizzle they've ever had! Thank you for such an awesome recipe!!!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm so pleased to hear that, Hayley! And thank you for taking the time to let us know that you've enjoyed it so much! Ania
Lorraine:
This was the best vegan cake I have ever made. No its not healthy, its sweet, delicious fattening cake.
My only problem with this cake was that I didn't make 2!!!!
Thanks for a delicious recipe x
    Ania
    Ania:
    Ha ha, no, not healthy at all, but sometimes you gotta let your hair down, right? Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you've enjoyed it so much, I am super delighted to hear that! Ania
Helen:
Delicious! Added finely sliced rhubarb to the mix, reduced zest to one lemon and used rhubarb syrup to make it into a rhubarb and lemon cake instead. I chose to use one of your recipes as a base to adapt as they always work so well! Next time would probably omit lemon juice as rhubarb gave off enough juice during cooking.
Thanks!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Glad to hear it worked well, Helen, and rhubarb does sound like a great alternative to lemons! Ania
cheryl a hess:
Makng this cake was quite a journey! I substituted the white flour for almond flour and used layer cake pans as it is a birthday cake. Well the first batch not only didn't rise, but came out more like a cookie. The taste was good though, so I figured we would use those "cookies" in some way with the cake. Turned to the white flour after vegan neice gave the go ahead and made two more layers. Meanwhile, made a blueberry sauce and then layered all five together using the blueberry sauce in between the cake and cookie layers! Also used the drizzle in between layers. The cake looks beautiful and hopefully will taste amazing as well. Mine too did not rise though even using the white flour, however when using the almond flour, I got some amazing bubbling action, but then it turned into a cookie once baked.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi,
    I'm glad to hear that it all ended up well in the end (almond flour is vastly different from regular flour btw and so a straight swap rarely works). As for raising, it is one of these cakes (partly due to the fact that it uses almond flour, which is heavy) that does not raise an awful lot, as you can probably see in my photo the loaf is fairly flat and low, but the cake should be light inside. I hope it will taste nicely. Ania
María:
AMAZING!! This cake was so good and I can't wait to make it again! I followed the recipe with these small changes:
• Caster sugar :: I pulsed white granulated sugar in the food processor to create "caster sugar".
• Thin plant milk :: I used 1/2 cup oat milk and 1/4 cup water to thin it out.
• Almond meal :: I used fine almond flour.
• Optionals :: I left out the optional rosemary and icing.
• Parchment paper :: I didn't want to use parchment paper (to reduce waste), so I greased the pan with a bit of coconut oil, and it worked perfectly! :)
Thank you! <3
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks, María! I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed it! Ania
Johanna Veth:
This recipe worked brilliantly. Very simple to make. The batter was heavier than I expected, so I was a bit worried, but the end result is beautifully light and gorgeously tart.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Johanna! I'm delighted to hear that it came out well and that you enjoyed it! Ania
Jenes:
Hi good day want to try the recipe ,my mom make coconut oil can I use that or do I need to use the specific brand you recommend??
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Jenes,
    Yes, of course! It should work just fine. The only thing you should be aware of is that I used mild (deodorised) coconut oil so that the cake doesn't taste of coconut, if your mum's oil is extra virgin, the cake will a have coconutty taste. Hope that helps! Ania
Josie Shiff:
I just made this cake and it was incredible! Vegans and non-vegans alike loved it and requested seconds! Super moist and delicious with great lemon flavor!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm delighted to hear that, Josie! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice feedback! Ania
Hobe:
Actually we are vegan, but I have tried a few different cakes from other blogs and this is one that really measures up! I am looking forward to trying some of your other cakes now. This is a great website and we have made some of your savoury recipes before but this is the first of your cake recipes I have tried.
    Ania
    Ania:
    So sorry, I must have misread your previous comment. So chuffed to hear that you are enjoying my blog! Ania
lillian:
This looks so good and I can't wait to make it. Why is a thin milk required? I failed in my attempt to make lemon curd with canned coconut milk and was hoping I could swap it for the milk, lemon juice, and zest. Do you think that would be okay?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Lillian,
    The reason I say 'thin' milk is because I used almond milk and so I am sure that any other thin plant milk (like soya, coconut or rice etc.) will work well too. As for using thick coconut milk, it should be okay too, but as it contains more fat, I would perhaps sub some of the oil required in this recipe for it (for example 240 ml / 1 cup thick coconut milk and 60 ml / 1/4 cup oil). Hope that helps! Ania
Hobe:
Made it yesterday. Delicious - one of the few vegan cakes I've tried that has a lot of flavour, great texture and is not dry. This recipe will definitely be on my repeat playlist!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm delighted to hear that, thank you! There is no bigger compliment than when non-vegans enjoy your vegan food. Ania
Gabriella:
Hi Ania, I'll try the recipe and let you know. Thanks and have a great weekend!!! ☺ ☀️
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, you too! Fingers crossed it works better this time round :) Ania
Kristin:
wow! this looks so good! lemon is one of those flavors that i don't typically crave (i always go for chocolate), but once i eat a lemon dessert, i'm reminded how good it actually is. this recipe is making me crave lemon!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Kristin. I'm exactly the same, chocolate girl at heart, but a occasionally lemon cake simply hits the spot ;) Ania
Gabriella:
Hi Ania, thanks for your reply! ☺
So... I'm sure the baking soda was good since today I used it also for other cakes and they raised.
I used a 23cm round pan and I measured it with 1l of water and it seemed to be good in comparison with the loaf pan.
I used a hand wisk instead of an electric one to mix first coconut oil and caster sugar and then all the ingredients. Can it be the problem? After making the batter I had to wait about 45min before baking it because the oven was busy... 🤔
Maybe this waiting time was too bad for the raising process? Sometimes it happens also with other cakes but they raise the same...
Anyway, the taste of this cake is delicious and I definitely will try it again!! ☺ But first I'd like to be sure that it will raise as the one in you pic! 😜
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Gabriella,
    So having read your most recent comment, I think it is two things that are at play here. Yes, the first one is probably the fact that the batter was sitting around for a while before being baked. And the second is that your pan is a bit too big, which is not a problem per se but this is why the cake doesn't appear to have risen. I've just made another cake from almost twice as much flour (300 g flour + 150 g ground nuts) in a 21 cm round tin and it feels like the tin is still a touch too big for the amount of batter I had so I can imagine that 180 g flour + 100 g will give you a very flat cake in 23 cm tin. 16-18 cm tin feels more appropriate. Hope that helps! Ania
Gabriella:
It came out totally flat! 😖
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm sorry to hear that, Gabriella, but in order to be able to help you establish what went wrong I need more information. What makes this cake rise is a combustive reaction between acid (lemon juice in this case) and baking soda so is it possible that your baking soda was out of date? If that's not the case, let me know what size tin you ended up using and talk me through the steps and I may be able to help you trouble shoot. Ania
Gabriella:
Hi! Do you think it is okay if I use a round pan? If so, how big do you think it has to be? Thanks!! ☺
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Gabiella,
    Sure, I think that a round pan should be absolutely fine, but I am unsure as to which size off the top of my head. You would need to calculate volume of both tins and make sure they are roughly the same. Ania
Anna:
Witaj Aniu
Dziękuje za Twojego bloga i te wszystkie wspaniałe przepisy. .. robiłam już brownis i wyszły. Przepyszne !
Chciała bym upiec. Ten cytrynoeiec ale nie mam mielonych migdałów ani maki migdałowe c.. czym mogę zastąpić ..?
Dziękuje Kochaba.
Pozdrwaim Serdecznie
Ps.im also a cats lover 😊
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aniu,
    Cieszę się niezmiernie, że blog Ci służy :) Co do cytynowca to myślę, że wiórki kokosowe zmielone na drobno w malakserze lub młynku do kawy też się ładnie spiszą. A jak nie masz to może po prostu dodaj ciut więcej mąki (tak na oko jakieś 50-75 g więcej chociaż z góry zaznaczam, że nie probowałam z samą mąką więc trochę zgaduję). Powodzenia i daj znać jak wyszło! Ania
Laura:
This is in my oven right now! Fingers crossed it works. The syrup smellls amazing!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hope it came out great and you are enjoying it! :) Ania
Fernanda:
Hi!! this cake is so delicious, i'm from Veracruz,México & i've a small business of vegan desserts and your site has been so helpful and inspiring. Where I live there aren't many workshops of vegan food business, so thank you so much for sharing your recipes so can other vegan/not vegan people can get inspire and try them :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks for your kind words, Fernanda! I'm pleased to hear that my site has been helpful to you and that you are sharing vegan goodness with others! Ania
Cecília:
Hello! I baked this cake with some frozen raspberries and it was delicious. But, comparing with your photo, it had a denser crumb and a more wet look. Could it have been because of the water in the raspberries? Thanks!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Cecília,
    Yes, the thawing raspberries added unwanted moisture changing the dry to wet ingredients ratio and resulting in a wet cake. Ania
Deen Dondersteen:
Haai,
It's in the oven now but it was all lumpy because of the folding part. I hope it comes out delicious 😋
Greetings deniz
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Deen,
    I hope it came out well. Not sure why you are saying it was lumpy, it shouldn't be. Hope it's nice to eat! Ania
Shannon:
I made some small changes so don't want to pollute your star ratings, but nonetheless, thanks for the recipe, we really enjoyed it.
I don't have caster sugar here so I took granulated sugar and blitzed it in the food processor a few times, and then measured it by weight according to the recipe. For the drizzle, I didn't bother blitzing it since I was measuring by weight and it gets dissolved anyway.
Omitted the rosemary. Used bottled lemon juice and skipped the lemon zest.
Skipped the icing.
Otherwise followed the recipe to a T with all measurements by weight.
I don't know if this is related to my use of the 'homemade caster sugar', but the cake didn't rise very well. It rose a little bit but then completely sank back down in the middle. After baking the edges were higher than the middle. Made it difficult to apply the drizzle evenly. Baked for 45 minutes, at which point a toothpick came out clean. I did not even open the oven until 40 minutes. When we ate it, it was very dense, I presume due to the sinking.
It was not clear when to remove the cake from the pan. Sometime after the drizzle but before the icing I presume? Mine lifted quite easily out of the pan after applying the drizzle and then letting it cool for an hour or so.
It also wasn't clear the methodology for mixing the dry ingredients into the wet. I get that they are sifted into the bowl but then you proceed straight from there to folding in the almond flour. Would love to know how long to mix, what to look for, etc. Should it still be using the electric whisk?
The flavor of the lemon drizzle was absolutely incredible. The flavor and texture of the cake itself were 3.5/5 stars. I don't want to blame the recipe since I didn't have caster sugar. But I did think the batter desperately needs salt added to it to bring out the flavors. Thankfully the drizzle just took everything over the top and mitigated any issues with the cake, in my opinion.
All of those things being said, the cake was really great. Even with the flaws, which were possibly introduced by me, it was hard not to gobble it up, and pretty amazing that it's gluten-free. I will definitely make it again, but it would help me a lot if you'd provide the clarifications I requested!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Shannon,
    Thanks for your detailed feedback! What makes this cake rise is a combustive reaction between baking soda and acid (in this case lemon juice) so unless you skipped either of those, which sounds like you didn't, it should rise just fine. I'm pretty sure that that's the reason why the cake turned out dense as I have had it tested by several people (neighbours, friends and Duncan's co-workers) and all of them commented on how light and airy the cake was - you can even see that in the cross-section photo. So I think all the issues you describe stem from the same thing. Is it possible that your baking soda was out of date and therefore lost its fizz? If that's not the case, I am really not sure what to suggest - I really don't think your sugar hack was to blame. I have had lots of people make this cake already and send me pictures across Facebook and Instagram and none of them reported any issues so I'm puzzled. As for the instructions not being detailed enough, my apologies, I might have made too many assumptions here - will edit them now. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that it wasn't inedible and that you enjoyed it after all. Ania
I used granulated sugar and it worked great! Powdered sugar usually has cornstarch added as an anti caking agent, so that might affect the cake texture/flavor.
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's great to know, CM! Thanks! Ania
Paulina:
Hi the Lemon drizzle cake looks great and I'm going to try it, can you tell me what can I use instead of almond meal i found out I'm allergic to almonds
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Paulina! I'm pleased to hear that you are thinking of giving it a go. I would say desiccated coconut ground up finely in a coffee meal should work well too. Or increase the about of flour by say 50 g, but unfortunately that's just my gut feeling as I haven't tested either of these substitutions. Hope it turns out well! Ania
Jayna:
Hi there! So I am about to make this recipe, but I don't have any caster sugar. Can I substitute for either granulated or powdered sugar instead?
Thanks so much!
Jayna
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Jayna,
    Sorry for the delay, but I'm on the European time zone! I've never used granulated sugar, but it seems like it would work better than powdered. Also, brown sugar/ demerara should work well too. Ania
My first success at vegan cake baking! Thank you for the recipe. :-) It has the texture of cake! and tastes good too (assuming you like lemons of course)!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Glad to hear, thanks! Ania
Franziska:
I went into the kitchen to make some burgers, but somehow I ended up trying this recipe ... it was just to tempting. And I LOVE it! I guess I like it better without satiating the warm cake with syrup because this cake in itself is so fluffy! Really, it's magical. Many recipes still end up being moist and nice and everything, but never light and fluffy. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Oh, and I was lazy and simply pureed 180ml of water with 100g of almonds, that works just fine - the consistency is a bit like a batch for soft meringue. I guess folding in the almond meal is supposed to create a similar effect?
Sorry if I
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's great to hear, Franziska and I love your trick of using fresh almond milk and almond meal in one simple go! Genius!! Ania
Jess @choosingchia:
The cake looks so moist and delicious! Love the idea of adding rosemary to the lemon glaze too!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Jess! Ania
Kathryn Khoury:
Hi, I love your recipes, and I made this one tonight. When I did step #3, it became chunky. So, I whisked it some more. The cake turned out beautiful and yummy! I know that because I didn’t line the pan w parchment paper, so some of the cake stuck to the pan. I’m assuming this will be a super moist type of cake due to the glaze. Is that right?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Kathryn,
    Glad the cake turned out well in the end:) Not sure what you mean when you say 'it became chunky' - I assume you used melted coconut oil, not solid? The cake is supposed to be fairly moist and then the syrup makes it even more so, but it shouldn't be so wet that it's falling apart. I took mine out of the pan very easily thanks to the strip of paper I had at the bottom of the pan. I hope this helps! Ania
Claire:
Can I sub the almond meal for something else? Thanks!!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Claire,
    You could sub it for desiccated coconut, ground up finely in a food processor or coffee grinder or simply use more flour. I'm guessing (as I haven't tried making it without almond meal) that 50 g of extra flour will do as flour is more absorbent than almond meal. Hope that helps! Ania
Caroline:
I have just made this cake and it is delicious; full of flavour and moist with a lovely sticky syrup on top. Mine sank slightly in the middle but I think my tin is a bit deeper than yours which might account for the slight dip. I will definitely make this again but I will try a longer, shallower tin. Thanks for the recipe.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you for lovely feedback, Caroline! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When you say 'sank', I presume it didn't rise in the middle as well as on the sides? It could be the tin, like you say, or could it be that your oven isn't distributing heat evenly - mine does that, it gets hotter on the right hand side and consequently all my cakes rise with an asymmetrical crack on the right. Perhaps lowering your oven's temperature by 20° C and putting fan on might remedy this. Ania
Wanda:
What happened to my earlier comment? obviously wasn't accepted,
Beautiful recipe but too much refined sugar. to make it healthy and refined sugar free can sub it with Xylitol, Sukrin or Natvia
Love your recipes
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Wanda,
    With regards to your previous comment, apologies for the delay in replying but we were sleeping! We are on European time zone, as you probably know. I'm glad to hear that you like my recipes.
    As for the sugar, while I am trying to keep my recipes healthy if/when I can, veganism isn't a diet, it's simply an avoidance of animal-derived products so this is my key focus when creating recipes. I am not a fan of sweeteners myself and they do produce very different results when used in baking so that's why I don't include them in my recipes. As for alternative sugars, I am fairly convinced that the so called 'healthy' sugars are not treated by our body any differently, they are all metabolised in the same way (Dr Greger has done a video recently explaining that there are marginal benefits to swapping regular sugar for sugars which are often considered as healthier, like coconut sugar, for example).
    My approach is to have sugar occasionally and in moderate quantity and so baking a cake is an occasion that calls for sugar, in my opinion. You are, of course, welcome to substitute it with whatever serves you better. All the best! Ania
      Wanda:
      Thanks for your reply Ania (dziekuje)
      As for white refined sugar, which is sweet poison it does make a difference to ones metabolism, and health. my friend is diabetic, natural sweeteners do not affect her insulin. Artificial sweeteners are even worse. The world is plagued with obesity and diabetes etc, processed foods are laden with refined sugars, and people are not aware of the damage refined sugar will do if used in excess.
      But it's okay i do understand you're vegan I actually love vegan foods, so healthy, so I may as well keep it healthy and not use refined sugars, even though I'm not vegan. I just wanted to mention the damage refined sugars can do.
      I made the Lemon Cake with a healthy natural sweetener it was so yummy, thank you so much for the recipe. Love your blog.
Mari:
So.. I don't have an electric whisk and I dislike caster sugar so instead I used normal coconut sugar.. (oh and I'm pretty bad at baking cause my inner rebel doesn't like to be told what to do a.k.a follow recipes!!) It fell apart a little bit and is obviously browner than yours in the pictures but it tastes amazing! The rosemary lemon syrup is so yum! Thanks for sharing your recipes :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Ha ha, Mari! I'm glad to hear that the cake didn't turn out too badly despite your inner rebel's dislike for following recipes! Plus, I like your honesty, it's refreshing!! Ania
Hi Ania!
I want to make the lemon drizzle cake, but want to know the nutritional summary before I make it. What are the sugar and carb numbers/
Thanks for offering these wonderful healthy alternatives!

    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Ro,
    We've looked into that, but unfortunately there is no plugin that provides reliable nutritional value calculations, and so the only way to provide them is to research every single item and do the calculations manually. Given that I have over 300 recipes on my blog calculating it and updating all by hand is a massive job, as you can probably imagine, and I simply don't have the time to do that at this moment. Thanks for your understanding! Ania
Pratiksha:
Hi! Thankyou for your recipes and posts, I really enjoy seeing them when they come up. So real and simple and clear.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks so much, Pratiksha! I'm delighted to hear that!! Ania
Gosia:
But if it's going to be a LEMON AND ROSEMARY SYRUP, how can the rosemary be optional? :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Busted!! Oh well, if you like rosemary, add it, if you don't, don't. Hope that clarifies matters ;) Ania
Lauren @ Inspire Create Educate:
It's not very often I come across a recipe and have almost all the ingredients in my cupboards already. I'm going to bake it this weekend!
Lemon drizzle cake is my favourite. It's especially lovely with poppy seeds through it! I can't wait to try this. What flowers do you have on top?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Lauren! I'm glad to hear that! I think these are snowdrops! Ania
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