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 too. It comes together in one bowl, and the recipe is easily customisable.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass 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.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
How to make the lemon syrup
As delicious as the sponge is, the main highlight (as with any other Lemon Drizzle Cake situation) is the syrup! 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.
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 making this recipe
- 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).
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.
Substitutions you can make
- 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 replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ 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.
How long does this 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
- Almond Cake
- Olive Oil Cake
- Ginger 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.
Watch how to make it
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable 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 coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, lemon zest, maple syrup, vanilla and ground almonds.
- 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).
- Bake in oven for around 30 minutes until risen and golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
For the syrup:
- Whilst the cake it baking, mix together the lemon juice and maple syrup.
- Drizzle it over the cake as soon as it's out of the oven - it will soak into the cake better when it's hot.
- Be sure to wait for the cake to cool completely and for the syrup to have soaked in completely before slicing.
- This cake tasted best eaten on the day it was made, and leftovers taste best reheated in a dry frying pan or the microwave.
Video
Notes
- 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).
- Pour the syrup 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.
- 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.
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Kristiana
Hello,
What sort of flours and ratio do you use for the gluten free flour blend?
Rhian Williams
I use Dove's Farm gluten-free flour, or Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour. Hope that helps!
Nancy
Hello! Just trying this recipe today for my dad. It’s actually in the oven right now. But I’m not sure it’s gonna work, the texture of the mixture came out super dry, I did try to add more milk, but since I don’t exactly know how it’s supposed to be, I don’t know if it was enough. Can anyone tell me how’s supposed to look before putting it in the oven? Thank you!
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for sharing! I'm not sure why the mixture came out so dry, it is supposed to be quite liquidy - more so than a normal cake. What type of gluten-free flour did you use? So sorry you've had a problem with it and hope we can sort it out!
Nancy
I used whole wheat flour. Is that the reason? Do you have an idea to make it better? I still have the same ingredients on hand and would like to try again tonight.
Nancy
Ok, so the idea is to make a cake with no white flour (that’s the reason I used whole wheat) and sugar-free. Not necessarily needs to be vegan. And I can’t find a recipe like it. Sorry to have so many questions, I’m new to this kind of cooking, but I really want to bake something for my dad. Thanks again!
Rhian Williams
Hi, thanks for your reply. no problem at all - I've sent you an email directly as the matter is quite urgent!
Jenny nicholson
i made this on the weekend and it turned out really well i actually used half oat flour,seed flours and it worked really well. thankyou so much for this recipe
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, really happy to hear that!! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, oat flour sounds like a good idea!
Steph
Made this for a quick dessert. It turned out great! Way better than I expected! I used a brown rice flour mix and 3/4 tsp xanthan gum, soy milk, canola oil. Everything else’s was the same. Baked it in an 8x8 glass pan. I baked it closer to 45 minutes with a tin foil tent over it. (I am cooking it in an oven on a fishing boat and have less precise control over temp). Will be trying more cake recipes from you in the near future!! This is the first GF AND egg free cake I’ve made successfully (I usually end up just using eggs to make a good cake) Super excited it turned out and it was so easy. Thank you so much!!
Rhian Williams
Hi Steph, thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear you liked the cake! 🙂
Abby
I just made this, with a gluten free flour blend adapted from another recipe, fingers crossed, I hope it works out well. I added about a teaspoon of chia seeds, too because I didn't have any poppy seeds on hand and wanted that kind of look in the lemon cake, so I will update with how it turns out, the batter, was quite thick, which worried me a little, time will tell.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing - chia seeds do act as a thickener so might need some extra milk so that the texture doesn't get too thick. Hope it turns out ok. Would love to hear how you got on. Thank you!