This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake is fragrant, moist and perfectly lemony! Both my Olive Oil Cake and Lemon Drizzle Cake recipes have been really popular, so I decided to combine them both in one cake. Using olive oil creates a fruity flavour and moist texture, while the lemon syrup makes the cake extra sweet and tangy. It comes together in one bowl and is refined sugar free too. Great for dessert, breakfast or brunch!
For baking, I recommend using a middle-of-the-range olive oil.
You should use an extra-virgin olive oil that is good quality and that has a good flavour.
If you use a cheap olive oil, it may be overly processed and not have enough flavour to make the cake taste fragrant.
However, as this recipe requires using 8 tablespoons of olive oil, using the best quality, super fancy olive oil can get quite expensive.
So I recommend going for something that's still good quality, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the top of the range.
Tips for baking with lemons
- You have to be careful when baking with lemon juice, as the acidity and lemon flavour can really vary depending on the lemons you use.
- For optimum lemon flavour, I would recommend using fresh lemons (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
- For the lemon juice you'll add to the cake batter, I would recommend tasting the lemon juice you're using and adjusting the amount of lemon juice you use accordingly.
- For the lemon zest, make sure you use unwaxed lemons.
How to make the cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Transfer the batter into a 18cm / 7 inch springform baking tin lined with greased baking paper.
Tip: To prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt, make sure that the baking paper is covering both the bottom and the sides of the tin.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
How to make the syrup
- Whilst the cake is baking, mix together the lemon juice and maple syrup.
- Drizzle the syrup over the cake as soon as you've taken the cake out of the oven - it will soak into the cake better when it's hot.
Tip: It may seem like too much liquid at the time, but it will all be absorbed into the sponge.
- Leave to cool and wait for the syrup to soak in completely before slicing.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds, and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
How long does this cake keep for?
This cake tastes best eaten on the day it's made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More gluten-free vegan cake recipes
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Yogurt Cake
- Lemon Yogurt Cake
- Ginger Cake
- Raspberry Cake
- Blood Orange Cake
- Cherry Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) olive oil *
- 180 ml (¾ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 8 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (use unwaxed lemons)
- 12 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the syrup:
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the olive oil, almond milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, maple syrup, vanilla and ground almonds in a large mixing bowl.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture into a greased baking tin lined with baking paper (I used a 7inch/18cm springform baking tin) - make sure that the baking paper is covering the bottom and the sides of the tin, to prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt.
- Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until risen and golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
For the syrup:
- Whilst the cake is baking, mix together the lemon juice and maple syrup.
- Drizzle it over the cake as soon as you've taken it out of the oven - it will soak into the cake better when it's hot.
- Leave to cool and wait for the syrup to soak in completely before slicing.
- Tastes best eaten on the day it's made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Notes
- Make sure to pour the syrup over the cake as soon as you've taken it out of the oven. The heat will help the sponge soak up all the flavour and keeps it extra moist.
- It may seem like too much liquid at the time, but it will all be absorbed into the sponge.
- For optimum lemon flavour, I would recommend using fresh lemons (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
- You have to be careful when baking with lemon juice as the acidity and lemon flavour can really vary depending on the lemons you use.
- I would recommend tasting the lemon juice you're using and adjusting the amount of lemon juice you use accordingly.
- For the lemon zest, make sure you use unwaxed lemons.
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Anonymous
Looks so good!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
Kristin
Hi. this sounds great! my husband has a nut allergy, what would you recommend in place of the almond meal? thank you!
Rhian Williams
Thank you! You can replace the almond meal with ground sunflower seeds, or a fifth of the amount coconut flour. I hope that helps!