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Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

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This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is moist and fluffy, sweet and tangy and super easy to make!

As my Lemon Drizzle Cake is one of the most popular baking recipes I’ve posted, I decided to make more lemon dessert recipes, and this Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is my answer!

Photo of a poppy seed loaf cake topped with three lemon triangles against a marble background

Why you’ll love this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This cake is so versatile as it’s great for breakfast, brunch, dessert or a snack. It also works well for lots of events like birthdays, Easter, Mother’s Day and baby showers!

The cake is made using my go-to vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free sponge recipe: it comes together easily in one bowl, uses familiar ingredients and it’s super versatile too.

The coconut oil can be substituted for vegetable or olive oil, the maple syrup can be substituted for any other liquid sweetener such as agave or brown rice syrup, and you can use any type of plant-based milk.

Photo of poppy seed cake batter in a glass mixing bowl

What equipment should you use to bake this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake?

I decided to bake this Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake in mini loaf cases because I thought they were cute, but there are other options too. Instead of mini loaves, you can also make these into:

Photo of three mini lemon poppy seed loaf cakes on a marble background with one sliced

How to make the lemon syrup

I decided to drizzle some lemon syrup over the cake for extra moistness, sweetness and lemon flavour!

The syrup is refined sugar free and low-maintenance too, as it doesn’t require any cooking and you can quickly mix it together whilst you’re waiting for the cake to bake in the oven.

Tip: It’s important to pour the syrup over the cake whilst it’s still warm from the oven, because that’s the best way for it to be absorbed.

Photo of a sliced lemon poppy seed cake

How long does this Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake keep for?

This cake tasted best eaten on the day it was made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days. Leftovers taste best reheated in a dry frying pan or the microwave.

Photo of a sliced lemon poppy seed cake with another cake in the background

More vegan lemon cakes:

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 Poppy Seed Cake

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is moist and fluffy, sweet and tangy and super easy to make! 
4.58 from 26 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: gluten-free lemon poppy seed cake, gluten-free vegan cake, vegan lemon poppy seed cake
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 mini loaves
Calories: 665kcal
Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

Metric - US Customary

For the cake:

  • 60 g coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
  • 200 ml unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch salt
  • 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 150 g ground almonds (almond meal) *
  • 150 g gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
  • 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
  • 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

For the syrup:

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, salt, poppy seeds 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 mini loaf tins**
  • Bake in oven for 15-20 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 before cutting
  • This cake tasted best eaten on the day it was made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days. Leftovers taste best reheated in a dry frying pan or the microwave

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour
**Instead of mini loaves, you can also make these into:
Nutrition Facts
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 665 Calories from Fat 342
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 38g 58%
Saturated Fat 14g 70%
Sodium 141mg 6%
Potassium 249mg 7%
Total Carbohydrates 76g 25%
Dietary Fiber 9g 36%
Sugars 39g
Protein 12g 24%
Vitamin C 15.2%
Calcium 34.9%
Iron 18.2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the 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.

This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is moist and fluffy, sweet and tangy and super easy to make! Refined sugar free. Perfect for brunch, dessert or a snack. #rhiansrecipes #vegan #glutenfree #dairyfree #lemoncake
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Comments

  5. hi rhian,

    i’d like to try your recipe. it sounds delicious. should the poppy seeds be ground or whole? and what do you suggest for the flour? i have flaxseed, cocoa, chestnut and tigernut flour. would any of these be suitable?
    kind regards,
    elisabeth

    Reply

    • Hello! Thank you! The poppy seeds should be whole. I use a gluten-free flour blend from Dove’s Farm. I’m not sure about flaxseed, cocoa, chestnut or tiger nut flour, but if you don’t want to use a shop-bought gluten-free flour blend you can substitute the gluten-free flour blend with half rice flour and half buckwheat flour. Hope that helps!

  6. hi rhian,

    thanks for suggesting an alternative. i tried it out with rice- and buckwheat flour and it came out deliciously. i made muffins, the backing time was about 25 min. will definitely make this recipe again!
    cheers,
    elisabeth

    Reply

  7. Hello Rihan, my wife made these last week in muffin format and they were mindblowingly delicious!!! The texture was fluffy and just moist enough and the flavour… so delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I will soon try to adapt it to make a version with no nuts in it, as I have an intolerance and it’s better if I don’t eat then. Cheers 😊

    Reply

  8. Hey Rihan, thanks for the lovely recipe. Does this freeze well? Say I bake it minus 10 minutes and freeze and when ready to eat the frozen ones just bake for another 10-15 minutes?

    Reply

    • Hi – yes it should freeze well! I would recommend baking it for the recommended time and then freezing, and baking in the oven again. Shouldn’t be a problem!

  9. Hi
    Very happy to find your recipes. Can you please let me know what you mean gf flour blend? I have gf flour however it doesn’t say blend on it. Assume it should just wheat without the gluten , very white and noisy to touch
    Thanks

    Reply

  11. What is the difference between baking powder and bi-carbonate soda ? Is the gluten free flour plain?

    Reply

    • Bicarbonate of soda is also known as baking soda, and it serves a different purpose to baking powder in this recipe. The baking powder is for making the sponge rise, whilst the bicarbonate of soda is alkali, so reacts with the acidic vinegar to produce fluffiness. And yes plain gluten-free flour.

  13. Just made these – I made two mini loaves and 4 doughnuts. Halved the maple syrup. DELICIOUS! My question is, what’s the best way to store these if not eaten immediately in one day? Air tight container on the counter? Fridge? Thank you!

    Reply

    • Thank you so much! Either an air tight container or the fridge is fine – depends how long you plan to store them for and how hot it is where you live. If it’s not too hot and you plan on finishing them the next day, an air tight container on the counter is fine, otherwise I’d recommend keeping them in the fridge. Hope that helps!

    • What do you usually use as a sugar substitute for diabetics? If the sweetener is liquid, it should work fine to just substitute that for the maple syrup. Hope that helps!

  15. Hello. I would love to make this recipe but have only spelt flour, buckwheat flour and wholewheat flour. Would any of these work? Thank you

    Reply

    • Thank you! Spelt, buckwheat or whole-wheat flour all work in place of gluten-free flour. But you’ll still need to use the ground almonds! Hope that helps!

  16. I substituted almond meal with coconut flour and it made the mixture crumbly almost like cookie batter.. so I packed them into muffin cups and it made some yummy muffin cookie things : ) not as fluffy as yours looks but definetly worked for what I already had in the kitchen. Thanks or sharing 🙂

    Reply

    • Thank you so much, so glad you liked the recipe!! If substituting the almond meal with coconut flour, you can use a fifth of the amount of coconut flour and the recipe should turn out super fluffy like the almond meal original. Thank you again!

    • They keep in the fridge for up to a few days. They can be frozen though, I would suggest thawing them out and then reheating them in the oven! Hope that helps.

  18. Was really looking forward to this but mine was a complete disaster. Recently had to go dairy free and have struggled to find any free from stuff that doesn’t taste like pure sugar.
    Unfortunately even after following the recipe very closely and doing everything instructed, the cake wouldn’t set and then burnt. Covered it in foil to prevent it going any browner and still wouldn’t set. Where did I go wrong? Is there a reason why it wouldn’t set?

    Reply

    • Hi – thank you for your feedback, I’m so sorry the cake didn’t turn out. Did you add the right amount of liquid and what type of gluten-free flour did you use?

  19. How about one loaf pan?? Or would it make two regular sized loafs? I don’t want to do muffins or have mini loaf pans :/

    Reply

    • Use the cake instructions? I’m not seeing a regular sized loaf pan. Hoping you see this before morning!! Wanting to make this for a brunch I’m hosting

    • Hi! Sorry only just saw this. Oh I’m so sorry I thought I’d written the loaf pan option too but just realised it’s a springform baking tin. It’ll take around 40-45 minutes in a regular loaf pan, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Please let me know if you have any other questions!

  20. This recipe looks great and well explained . It’s great to see a recipe with UK ( European ) measurements rather than just the US cup version . Will oatley milk work instead of almond mild as I’ve not always had success with it but that maybe down to the recipe or me !

    Reply

  22. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I made a Lemon Poppy Seed loaf. It was delicious and not sure we will need to worry about how to store leftovers!

    Reply

  23. HI Rhian, in your nutrition facts, it says 39gr of sugar, is that for the whole recipe, that seems like a lot for one slice or one muffin, thanks

    Reply

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