Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake

Wondering why you need to make this Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake? It's delightfully citrusy, elegantly chocolatey and filled with the most indulgent buttercream frosting!

I'm so excited to share this Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake! It's a great combination of flavours and textures, as the sponge is moist, fluffy and subtly lemony, whilst the melt-in-your-mouth buttercream is a little tart, super creamy, and tastes indulgently chocolatey.

I used my go-to vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free sponge recipe for this. Not only do I love its amazing flavour and texture, but also its easiness, simplicity and versatility. It comes together in one bowl, requires only familiar ingredients, and a lot of the ingredients can be easily substituted.

I was inspired by my Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake recipe to make a white chocolate and lemon-flavoured cashew buttercream frosting - it's incredibly rich and creamy and really melts in your mouth like real buttercream! Adding a little cacao butter enhances its texture and adds a delicious white chocolate-like flavour.

I also decided to add a little coconut yogurt for fluffiness - if you can't get hold of it you can just add some extra milk instead.

I then decorated it with some edible flowers, but you can use anything you want! I also like the idea of topping this cake with some toasted desiccated or flaked coconut...I think the sweet, nuttiness of the coconut would really compliment the lemon and white chocolate flavours.

For more delicious cakes, check out my:

• Matcha Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Cherry Bakewell Cake
• Black Forest Cake
• Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
• Fig Upside Down Cake
• Lemon Drizzle 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 on Instagram! Thank you.

Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake:

For the cake:

glass mixing bowl

measuring jug

18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin

baking paper

cooling rack

For the buttercream:

food processor

blender

hand-held stick blender

palette knife for frosting

Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake is citrusy, elegantly chocolatey and filled with the most indulgent buttercream frosting.

3.89 from 9 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, British

Keyword: vegan lemon cake, vegan white chocolate cake

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 409kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

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
• ▢ 12 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ Pinch salt
• ▢ 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 buttercream:

• ▢ 100 g (⅔ cup) raw cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in boiling water for 10 minutes
• ▢ 30 g (1 oz) cocoa butter
• ▢ 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ▢ 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub water or any other plant-based milk)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 3 tablespoons coconut yogurt (or sub coconut milk, or any other plant-based yogurt)

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 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 between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm springform baking tins)
• Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean
• Once done, turn the cakes out onto wire racks and leave to cool completely before frosting

For the buttercream:

• Drain soaked cashews and add to a food processor** or blender (or hand-held blender) along with all the other ingredients 
• Whizz until completely smooth
• Taste and adjust flavour if necessary
• Put the mixture (keep it in the food processor but you can transfer to a bowl if you wish) into the fridge and leave to harden slightly before using to frost the cake

To frost and decorate the cake:

• Place one half of the cake onto a plate or cake stand and spread half of the buttercream onto it
• Place the other half of the cake on top of that and use rest of the buttercream to spread on top of the cake
• Decorate with edible flowers or whatever else you fancy!
• Tastes best when fresh but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour.

**If your food processor isn’t very powerful, it may have trouble with the cacao butter. In this case, melt the cacao butter first using a bain-marie before adding to the food processor.

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan White Chocolate Lemon Cake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 409 Calories from Fat 207

% Daily Value*

Fat 23g35%

Saturated Fat 8g40%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 4g

Sodium 79mg3%

Potassium 215mg6%

Carbohydrates 47g16%

Fiber 4g16%

Sugar 25g28%

Protein 8g16%

Vitamin A 2IU0%

Vitamin C 10mg12%

Calcium 153mg15%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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