This Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Drizzle Cake is sweet, fragrant and citrusy. It's seriously moist, fluffy and refined sugar free too. It comes together in one bowl and is really easy to make!

Tips for baking with oranges
- The orange flavour in this orange drizzle cake comes from orange zest and orange juice.
- The orange zest can be replaced with orange extract.
- If using orange zest, make sure to use unwaxed oranges.
- You can either use freshly squeezed orange juice, or orange juice from a carton.
- If you prefer a stronger orange flavour, you can add some orange extract to the cake batter.
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: Use a measuring jug to measure out the orange juice and plant-based milk.
- Transfer the batter into a one-pound loaf tin.
Tip: Make sure to line the loaf tin with greased baking paper - this will make removing the bread from the tin so much easier!
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Drizzle the syrup over the cake as soon as you’ve transferred it to the wire rack – 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.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- The orange juice can be freshly squeezed or from a carton.
- The orange zest can be replaced with orange extract.
- 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 (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal) 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?
This Orange Drizzle Cake definitely tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More gluten-free vegan cakes
- Red Velvet Cake
- Tropical Carrot Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Orange Cake
- Strawberry Cake
- Vanilla Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Orange Pound 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.
Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) orange juice (freshly squeezed or from a carton)
- 150 ml (⅔ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 2 tablespoons orange zest (use unwaxed oranges – or sub 2 teaspoons orange extract) *
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 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:
- 3 tablespoons orange juice (freshly squeezed or from a carton)
- 3 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 orange juice to the same bowl along with the milk, orange zest, vanilla, maple syrup 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 loaf tin lined with greased baking paper (I used a one-pound loaf tin).
- Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until risen and golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once out the oven, transfer the cake from the baking tin onto a wire rack.
For the syrup:
- Whilst the cake is baking, mix together the orange juice and maple syrup.
- Drizzle it over the cake as soon as you’ve transferred it to the wire rack – 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
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these 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.
Tiffany
This was delicious. I only have one slice left! I used whole stevia powder (green powder) and agave as the sweetner. (I added salt and almond extract and orange oil to my batter also). Then I used apple sauce instead of oil. Then I used plant milk instead of plant yogurt. The reason this worked is because I cut some of the almond flour and used garbanzo bean flour to make up the difference. Since that flour is lighter it does not need the yogurt to “hold it up”. This tasted like “normal” pound cake in every way. Texture, density, taste, crust, eveything. Just not as sweet. However, I did make a crunchy glaze using OJ with coconut and raw sugars (blended to a powder) so it was very balanced in sweetness. The reason I am posting this is because I want people to know how flexible this recipe is. Just keep all the ratios the same when subbing and it should be excellent! Thank you for your inspiring recipe!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that! And thank you so much for taking the time to share your substitutions, that's so helpful to know!