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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Vegan lemon poppy seed cake

March 14, 2020 by Ania - 40

comfort food, easy, gluten-free, refined sugar-freego to recipe

go to recipe

vegan lemon poppy seed cake cut

It’s the weekend at last. Even though it’s another DIY weekend for us, I am looking forward to it as we are finally putting the last coat of paint on our living room walls, woop woop. The walls are already looking great even though we did encounter some unsightly issues after the first coat and our hearts sank a little. Some remedial action and another coat has made a big difference and this third and final coat will certainly seal the deal.

Our long awaited sofa is almost ready for delivery so we should be able to finally have a bit of comfort in the next one to two weeks. It’s just as well as, with the coronavirus sweeping across the globe, we are relieved to soon have a spare sleeping arrangement if one of us falls ill. Due to the official health warnings, Duncan is working from home most days next week. Tina will be delighted and I am sure she will install herself on his lap as soon as he sits down at his desk and stay there until he finishes for the day, making his loo or food breaks an apologetic nightmare. She is a mega cuddler in cold winter months and Duncan is certainly her favourite person on Earth. When I mock-sulk about it, he tells me that it’s because I am way more fidgety than he is, but we both know it’s not true. They are so adorable together, gazing into each other’s eyes, that it makes me wanna cry (I am an easy crier, no surprises there!)

From other news, I had my first therapy session yesterday, which was very validating and it took a weight off my shoulders. My therapist has confirmed my assessment of the situation and I am getting a lot of homework before our next session so that I can start working on reorganising my brain as the brain, ladies and gentlemen, has a lot of plasticity which is good news for people who want to work on changing themselves. I already feel a touch lighter by speaking to a qualified professional. I’m focusing on not anticipating things, just putting one foot in front of the other and paying close attention to the quality of my footwork, if that makes sense.

As it’s mid-March I made a very spring-appropriate cake even though yesterday we saw a procession of hail that sounded like an angry mob knocking on our windows and doors all at once and temperatures close to freezing. The cake definitely will not go to waste especially that we are decorating and have a couple of friends popping over on Sunday. It’s based on my old favourite lemon drizzle cake that is quite popular, but I tinkered with the recipe a little to make it even nicer. It’s easy to make, fills your house with a delicious citrusy fragrance and goes really well with a cup of chamomile tea. Enjoy!

PS: If you make my vegan lemon poppy seed cake, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

vegan lemon poppy seed cake wet ingredients

vegan lemon poppy seed cake batter

vegan lemon poppy seed cake icing

5.00 from 11 votes
Print
  • makes: 1 x 900 g / 2 lb loaf
  • prep: 20 min
  • cooking: 50 min

Ingredients

WET INGREDIENTS

  • 80 ml / 1/3 cup mild tasting oil (for example, mild olive oil or melted mild coconut oil)
  • 150 g / ¾ cup caster sugar or coconut sugar
  • 150 ml / ½ cup + 2 tbsp room temperature* plant milk (I used almond)
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup lemon juice
  • zest of 2 lemons

DRY INGREDIENTS

  • 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
  • 4 tsp poppy seeds, plus more to decorate

ICING

  • 50 g / ½ cup icing sugar
  • approx. 3 tsp lemon juice

Method

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 (see NOTES) with a wide strip of baking paper to be able to remove your cake easily.
  2. If using coconut oil, melt it gently over a low heat. Whisk the oil and sugar together with an electric whisk.
  3. Add in the plant milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix with a spoon, otherwise the mixture will splatter everywhere.
  4. Mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl together. I recommend sifting the flour for a lighter crumb, but the recipe works well without that step also.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix gently but thoroughly, making small circles from a small well in the centre of the bowl gradually incorporating more dry ingredients into the wet ones – I find that this method prevents lumps from forming.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking tin.
  7. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is nicely browned.
  8. Once cool, drizzle with icing starting from the middle so that it drips down to the sides creating pretty drizzle marks.

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.

Notes

*if using coconut oil, otherwise not important.

900 g / 2 lb tins vary enormously between brands so I recommend measuring the volume of the tin you intend to use first. For this recipe, I used a tin that holds 750 ml / 3 cups. My other 900 g / 2lb tin holds as much as 1250 ml / 5 cups so it would require more 30% more batter and possibly a touch longer baking time.

Although not traditional for this particular cake, you may want to soak the cake with some lemon syrup (3 tbsp sugar melted in 3 tbsp lemon juice, pierce the cake in several places with a skewer before soaking) as soon as it comes out of the oven. It is an especially good trick if you accidentally overbake it.

My recipe is based on my earlier Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Jo-Ann says

    March 14, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    I love ANYTHING lemon and poppy seed, can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 14, 2020 at 8:00 pm

      Glad to hear, Jo-Ann. I hope you’ll enjoy it if you decide to make it! x Ania

      Reply
  2. Andrea says

    March 14, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    This looks amazing! I don’t have almonds, can I use more flour?!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 14, 2020 at 11:25 pm

      I have not tried, but I am pretty sure it would work. You may want to use 3/4 cup rather than a whole cup though. Good luck! x Ania

      Reply
  3. Susan Kelley says

    March 17, 2020 at 6:27 am

    Just made this (without the icing) and love the flavor. I used coconut oil, plain, unsweetened soy milk, and granulated sugar (didn’t have caster). I added about 1 tsp of vanilla, and 1/2 tsp salt. Mine only needed 40 minutes in the oven, but it’s a gas oven from 1947 so the flames make for a different heat. Sadly, I didn’t wait quite long enough for it to cool off before I tipped it out of the loaf pan, so it stuck and cracked. Still delicious! The subtly almond and coconut flavors, not too sweet, are delightful.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 17, 2020 at 5:31 pm

      So happy to hear that you enjoyed this cake, Susan. Shame about it breaking – funnily enough, similar thing happened to me first time I tried to take photos. The cake was still warm and I was trying to transfer it between two plates with just one small spatula and half of it broke off. I was gutted. x Ania

      Reply
  4. Supriya Kutty says

    March 17, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Thank you for sharing these amazing recipe with us, I cannot wait to prepare thjis amazing recipe and taste it myself and see how well it tasted and cooked also sharing it with my friends and family as well for their future reference.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 17, 2020 at 5:28 pm

      My pleasure. x Ania

      Reply
  5. Jasmine S Metcalf says

    March 18, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    I made this recipe yesterday! I didn’t have poppy seeds, so instead I used toasted black sesame seeds as an alternative! It worked out very nicely, and gave it a different character, while still providing the crunch, and earthiness you’d like from the poppy seeds! It had a slight savory flavor that actually complimented the cake nicely!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 18, 2020 at 7:11 pm

      Great to hear, Jasmine. Thanks for commenting! x Ania

      Reply
  6. Shirley says

    March 21, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    This was great! Easy to make and delicious.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 21, 2020 at 11:46 pm

      Thanks Shirley, I am delighted to hear that! Ania

      Reply
  7. Julie Hall says

    March 28, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    This cake sounds amazing! Do you think I could substitute coconut flour, buckwheat flour or rice flour? Not sure my local shop does GF flour and things a bit tricky to travel further at present…. 😉
    Thanks
    Jules

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 28, 2020 at 2:42 pm

      Hi Jules,

      Sure, I completely understand, let’s flesh it out. Buckwheat flour, which I love, has quite a distinct flavour, which lemon won’t be able conceal. Coconut flour is very tasty and compatible with lemon flavour, but it is very very absorbent so will make your cake dry. Rice flour won’t hold up on its own, I dont think, so I would use 1/2 cup of each and maybe add a flax/chia egg (1 tbsp ground flax or chia seeds + 3 tbsp water, set aside for 15 mins) just in case as GF flour mixes usually have some starches that stop the cakes from falling apart. I would also add a bit more (maybe 1/4 cup of plant milk) to make sure the cake stays moist as coconut flour will impact the moistness for sure. I hope that helps and that the cake will come out well! Ania

      Reply
  8. LiLo says

    March 29, 2020 at 1:32 am

    I made this recipe into muffins and they are absolutely delicious. Moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you very much….

    Reply
    • Ania says

      March 29, 2020 at 4:54 pm

      I’m delighted to hear that, LiLo! And thank you for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed them so much. Stay well. X Ania

      Reply
  9. Rony says

    April 16, 2020 at 9:15 am

    This is the best vegan cake I have ever made! And I made a whole lot of them.
    Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 16, 2020 at 5:14 pm

      Thank you for your kind words, Rony! I am delighted to hear that! x Ania

      Reply
  10. Nicole says

    May 4, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    I had some cute Star Wars Muffin liners and wanted to surprise my boyfriend with May the 4th-Star Wars muffins during the lock-down. I never baked with poppy seeds before but bought them last week for another recipe (what are the chances). The ingredients are so simple and staples in our house. I used half the recipe and got 5 muffins out of it (baked at roughly 18 minutes). I like muffins as you can freeze them easily as well. Haven’t tried them yet but my bf loved them! Thanks for a easy recipe that doesn’t require a ton of washing up

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 4, 2020 at 1:39 pm

      I’m so happy to hear that, Nicole. What a lovely surprise for your partner – I am chuffed to hear that they went down well. x Ania

      Reply
  11. Kseniya says

    May 11, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    This came out yummy. I used earth balance butter instead of coconut oil. It was a very delicious pound cake – very rich and moist. The glaze was a perfect addition. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 11, 2020 at 10:02 pm

      Great to hear that, Kseniya! Thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed it. x Ania

      Reply
  12. Elizabeth Wilson says

    May 26, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    I love this recipe and have made it 3 times only problem is mine sinks in the middle every time. Still great but wonder if you have any tips to help?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 26, 2020 at 5:08 pm

      Hi Elizabeth,

      I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed this cake so much that you made it 3 times, but sorry about the sinking issue – I know how disappointing that is. There are a lot of reasons why a cake may sink in the middle, for example: incorrect (too big or too small) size baking tin, too much baking agents (I know, that one does seem counterintuitive), hot/cold spots in your oven, opening the oven door too soon, insufficiently pre-heated oven, allowing the batter to sit around for too long before baking. These are only just a few ideas – let me know if any of these are a possible and we will try to pin this issue down. Hope that helps! Ania

      Reply
  13. Mary says

    June 4, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    Sooo delicious!! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      June 4, 2020 at 10:09 pm

      Thank you, Mary! I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed it! x Ania

      Reply
  14. Jess says

    August 24, 2020 at 3:00 pm

    I’ve already made this muliple times for my in-laws and it’s the only thing they ask for now. I’ve even been tasked with making this at Christmas time. It’s a gorgeous bake, thank you so much for sharing it. I honestly just come straight to you for everything baking now as I always can rely on the fact it’s always going to be super tasty. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      August 24, 2020 at 3:46 pm

      Thanks so much for your kind words, Jess. I’m delighted to that you like my cakes as I love coming up with them! Thank you for taking the time to let me and my other readers know that this cake was such a hit with you and your family. Ania

      Reply
  15. Mayke says

    September 11, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    I already made this cake twice and it is delicious. The second time I used 100gr of sugar instead of 150gr, which i personally prefer. Sadly my cakes were pretty crumbly. Do you have any tips to make the cake less crumbly?
    Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 12, 2020 at 3:28 pm

      Hi Mayke,

      I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed the taste of this cake. I’m sorry to hear about the crumbliness – what flour did you use? My guess is that it has dried out too much in the oven. I’ve never had any issues with cutting a neat slice myself. Let me know – I’ll be happy to get to the bottom of the issue with you, but I need more information. Ania

      Reply
  16. Emilia Scheffler says

    September 20, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    I made your cake and it is absolutely DELICIOUS! So fluffy yet a bit moist, perfect balance of sweet and sour and the crunch from the poppy seeds and blended almonds, oh, simply beautiful! Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe! 🙂

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 20, 2020 at 7:14 pm

      Aw, thank so much for your kind words, Emilia! I am absolutely delighted to hear that you enjoyed my cake so much. And thanks so much for taking the time to let me and my other readers know – much appreciated! Ania

      Reply
  17. Nadine says

    September 29, 2020 at 8:33 pm

    Wow – seriously the best thing I have baked in quite some time. The addition of the almond flour makes this so unique. Thank you for this gorgeous recipe.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:45 pm

      Aw, thank so much, Nadine. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it so much and thanks for taking the time to let me know that you did. Ania

      Reply
  18. Kelsie says

    November 6, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    I made this loaf for a family get together and it was delicious! I added the lemon syrup after baking but I think it made it a bit too sticky (I only added half but next time I’d only add a quarter).
    Mine sunk in the middle a smidge like others have said but I didn’t mind, it tasted delicious! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 7, 2020 at 12:13 am

      I’m delighted you enjoyed it, Kelsie! And thanks so much for letting me know – much appreciated. Ania

      Reply
  19. Mine says

    November 20, 2020 at 8:10 am

    Hello,
    I def try this recipe however I’ve a question for you. My icings always become so grainy and you can feel the sugar granules when you are eating it. How should I prevent this problem? Many thanks!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      November 20, 2020 at 1:21 pm

      Hi,

      Great, hope you’ll enjoy it. It may be down to the sugar you’ve used – what you want is powdered (icing) sugar – if you do use that, it may need to be sifted first as it tends to clump up from airborne moisture. Hope this helps! Ania

      Reply
  20. Christie-Leigh says

    April 11, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    This cake is so delicious! I made it for my dad’s birthday and it was a winner! Your recipes work so well and are a great way to introduce people to really good, tasty vegan food.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      April 12, 2021 at 12:54 pm

      Thank you so much for your kind words, Christie-Leigh! I’m so happy to hear that this cake went down so well, especially that it was made for such a big occasion. I’m really happy to hear that you enjoy my recipes in general – thank you for supporting my tiny corner of the Internet. x Ania

      Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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