This Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Yogurt Cake has a soft, fluffy sponge drizzled with lemon syrup. It's tangy from the lemon, fragrant from the olive oil, and moist from the yogurt. Both my Vegan Olive Oil Yogurt Cake and Vegan Lemon Yogurt Cake recipes have been really popular, so I decided to combine them to make this Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Yogurt Cake! It comes together in one bowl, and is gluten-free and refined sugar free too. Great for dessert, but also works for 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.
- I'd recommend using an unsweetened plain yogurt that doesn't contain any additional flavourings.
- For this recipe, you can use any type of plant-based yogurt: almond, soy, cashew or coconut yogurt all work well.
Instead of yogurt, you can use the same amount of blended-up silken tofu, or the same amount of any plant-based milk.
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 yogurt!
- 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.
- Leave to cool before slicing.
How to make the lemon 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 yogurt: almond, soy, cashew or coconut yogurt all work well.
- You can replace the yogurt with the same amount of blended-up silken tofu, or the same amount of any plant-based milk.
- 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 yogurt.
How long does this cake keep for?
This cake keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More gluten-free vegan 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.
Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Yogurt Cake (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) olive oil *
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened plain plant-based yogurt ** (I used coconut yogurt but you can use any plant-based yogurt)
- 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, yogurt, 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 of any plant-based 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.
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Anonymous
Looks amazing!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!