Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake is easy to make, elegantly simple and incredibly delicious. It’s moist and fluffy, perfectly tangy and refined sugar free.

Why you’ll love this Lemon Drizzle Cake

If you’re looking for a truly undetectably vegan and gluten-free, look no further! It’s:

• moist and fluffy
• rich and buttery
• bright and citrusy 
• seriously moreish
• just as delicious as its conventional counterpart
• perfect for birthdays and other occasions!

It’s made in one bowl and uses simple ingredients, which can easily be adapted to suit your needs:

• you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
• you can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc
• you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
• you can substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts
• for a nut-free version: substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (1/4 cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds
• you can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.

Tips for making this Lemon Drizzle Cake

• Make sure to use the right amount of baking powder – 2 heaped teaspoons! Use too little baking powder and your sponge won’t be fluffy, too much and it’ll have a bitter taste.
• Make sure to use an all-purpose shop-bought gluten-free flour blend (or a homemade gluten-free flour blend), as opposed to just using any type of gluten-free flour you can find (such as almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour etc).

As delicious as the sponge is, the main highlight (as with any other Lemon Drizzle Cake situation) is the drizzle! I used a simple 2-ingredient mixture of lemon juice and maple syrup, which works really well to lock in the moisture, and works to add extra sweetness and citrus aroma. Tip: The trick to getting the full potential out of the drizzle is to pour it over the cake as soon as it’s out of the oven. The heat will help the sponge soak up all the flavour and keeps it extra moist. It may seem like a lot of liquid at the time, but it will all be absorbed into the sponge.

Tips for baking with lemons

• 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.

EQUIPMENT YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS Lemon Drizzle Cake:

• glass mixing bowl – for mixing the cake batter
• measuring jug – for measuring out the plant-based milk
• 18cm / 7 inch springform baking tin – for baking the cake
• baking paper – to line the baking tin.

How long does this Lemon Drizzle Cake keep for?

I found that this cake tastes best eaten on the day or day after it was made – just be sure to wait for it to cool completely before cutting, though! Any longer than that, it tasted best reheated in a dry frying pan or the microwave.

More gluten-free vegan cakes:

• Red Velvet Cake
• Tropical Carrot Cake
• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Orange Cake
• Strawberry Cake
• Vanilla Cake
• Coconut 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.