This easy vegan lemon loaf cake is lightly sweet and topped with a lemon drizzle glaze. It makes the perfect accompaniment to your breakfast or dessert after dinner with coffee.
Chocolate is great and all, but lemon desserts are the real MVP. Think lemon cake with lemon buttercream, lemon poppyseed muffins, lemon meringue pie, and lemon bars. It's like sunshine in a pastry!
But if you're craving a lemon dessert that's not too sweet and that you could pass off as breakfast, I present to you this vegan lemon loaf cake. It's a dense poundcake made just right with a lemon drizzle glaze on top. It's super easy to make and if you have lemons, you likely have all the remaining ingredients laying around in your cupboards. The hardest part is waiting a whole hour for it to bake.
This lemon loaf is perfect for a light dessert with a cup of coffee or wrap a piece in a napkin on your way out the door in the morning for a quick breakfast. You can skip the Starbucks run because this lemon loaf is just like a certain lemon loaf at the coffee chain (that one isn't vegan anyway)!
🍋 Ingredients
See, I told you that you have all these ingredients already! Make sure you use FRESH lemons because lemons are the star of the show. The zest adds a ton of flavor to the loaf and the lemon juice makes a wonderful lemon glaze for the loaf.
- Sugar
- Vegetable Oil
- Lemon Zest
- Lemon Juice
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
🍽 Equipment
I highly recommend using a Microplane grater for zesting the lemons. You can undress a lemon in 1 minute flat! The blades are sharp which makes it safer to use than a dull cheese grater, just like a sharp chef's knife is safer than a dull one.
You can also use a Microplane for grating ginger (so much easier than chopping it in tiny little pieces) and all kinds of citrus. The graters come in 21 colors (yes, really) so you can choose the one that matches your style.
🔪 Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Brush an 8x4-inch loaf pan with vegetable oil or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Add the lemon juice to the non-dairy milk, then add to the mixing bowl.
Stir all ingredients to combine.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until just combined.
Pour the batter in the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 55 mins to an hour, or when a toothpick comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and stir until it’s a smooth, pourable consistency.
Once the lemon loaf is cool, drizzle the glaze on the loaf. Let the glaze set, then slice when ready to eat.
💭 Tips
- Don't skip the lemon zest or fresh lemon juice! They add a ton of flavor to the recipe.
- This is a vegan copycat recipe for the Starbucks lemon loaf!
📋 Variation
Lemon and blueberry are two peas in a pod. If you'd like to add a little somethin' to this vegan lemon loaf, try adding ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter before baking.
🍋 More Lemon Recipes
Lemons are so versatile! You can use them to brighten up savory recipes, make a delicious dessert, or add them to a cocktail. If you bought a big bag of lemons for this recipe and now you're thinking, "what am I going to do with all these lemons?" Well first you're going to display them in a bowl on your counter for a week and feel super classy, then you're going to make these recipes...
Ugh, these potatoes are perfection. If you've never had Greek potatoes, you're in for a treat. They're roasted, but creamy and coated in the most delicious lemon and olive oil sauce with a sprinkle of oregano.
Switch up your basic olive oil and garlic pasta with lemon pepper pasta! It's just as simple to prepare and makes a quick weeknight dinner with a little something extra.
I would never forget to include a cocktail! Move aside G&T—this gin fizz makes use of summer flavors with fresh thyme simple syrup and lemon juice.
📖 Recipe
Easy Vegan Lemon Loaf Cake
This easy vegan lemon loaf cake is lightly sweet and topped with a lemon drizzle glaze. It makes the perfect accompaniment to your breakfast or dessert after dinner with coffee.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Brush an 8x4-inch loaf pan with vegetable oil or line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
- Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.
- Add the lemon juice to the non-dairy milk, then add to the mixing bowl. Stir all ingredients to combine.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter in the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 55 mins to an hour, or when a toothpick comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and stir until it’s a smooth, pourable consistency.
- Once the lemon loaf is cool, drizzle the glaze on the loaf. Let the glaze set, then slice when ready to eat.
Notes
- Don't skip the lemon zest or fresh lemon juice! They add a ton of flavor to the recipe.
- This is a vegan copycat recipe for the Starbucks lemon loaf!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 501Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 336mgCarbohydrates: 78gFiber: 1gSugar: 47gProtein: 5g
All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on seitanbeatsyourmeat.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.
Shawna W
Just made this & it's divine! Thanks for the simple yet fabulous recipe. I copied it to a "T", though my oven had it baked in 52 minutes. The glaze recipe needed to be tripled to have enough for our tastes. 🙂 The whole thing is super lemony - satisfied my craving. I used 3 lemons total, for all the zest and juice needed.
Kelly Peloza
So glad you liked it, Shawna! A combo of the lemon zest and juice definitely makes it nice and lemony.
Kelly
Tahira Akhtar
I don't have a loaf tin. Could I still make this in a 8 inch round cake pan?
Kelly Peloza
Hi Tahira,
An 8x4" loaf pan holds 4 cups of batter and an 8" round cake pan holds 6 cups so if you do this, just keep an eye on the oven because it won't take as long to bake since the batter will spread out thinner.