I don’t think it’s any secret that I love all things lemon! I’ve been wanting to make a lemon cake for quite some time, as a follow up to my Lemon Cupcakes. I’ve always loved a good loaf cake, so I decided to make one with poppy seeds! Y’all, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT! This Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is amazing. Perfectly moist, lemony, and sweetened to perfection.
How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
You won’t believe how easy this cake was to make. Just look at the ingredients! Does it get anymore basic than this? You’ll start by combining your dry ingredients together. The flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix these together to combine and then prepare to add your wet ingredients.
Mix in the almond milk, lemon juice, vegan butter, and lemon extract. Once these ingredients have been combined with the dry ingredients, whisk in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. When mixing the ingredients it’s important not to over-mix. The batter may be slightly lumpy before adding in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. This is okay! As long as they’re not huge globs, you’re good to go!
Once your batter is ready, it’s time to prepare it to go into the oven. I baked this cake in a standard 9 inch glass loaf pan. To make for easy retrieval of the cake once it’s finished, I placed a piece of parchment paper in the pan (as shown above). Parchment paper isn’t absolutely necessary, but it does make retrieving the cake easier. Don’t have parchment paper on hand? Be sure to grease the pan thoroughly to keep the cake from sticking to the sides of the pan.
After placing the batter into your loaf pan, it’s ready to bake! Place the pan into a preheated oven for 55 minutes. If you’re using a metal pan, be sure to keep an eye on the cake as it will most likely cook faster, resulting in a crispier top and edges.
I would recommend checking on it after 35-40 minutes to check on its progress. You’ll know that the cake is done after gently pressing down on it and it bouncing back up. If you press down on it and the cake doesn’t bounce back up, allow it to continue cooking, checking on it in 5 minute increments.
Can Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Be Made Vegan?
Absolutely! This recipe is a great example of that. Growing up, if you would have told me that you could make a cake without cow’s milk or eggs, I wouldn’t have believed you! You can make this Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with just a few basic ingredients that you probably already have.
Once your cake is done baking, it’s important to let the cake cool entirely before removing it from the baking dish. Removing it prematurely may result in the cake falling apart because it’s too hot. Once the cake has cooled, you may find it helpful to go around the edges of the baking dish with a butter knife to loosen the sides (especially if you didn’t use parchment paper). At this point, you can grab the parchment paper and pull the cake directly out of the pan and peel back the sides of the cake with the parchment paper and transfer it to its home (cake dish).
Making the Lemon Icing is super simple! You’ll just whisk together the lemon zest, powdered sugar, and lemon juice. It’s important to note that you may need more liquid than the 4 tsp suggested. I’ve found that different brands of powdered sugar perform differently, even if they are organic. Weird right? I know. If yours requires more powdered sugar than mine did, just add one tsp at a time until the consistency is loose enough to form a drizzle.
Enjoy!
I know you’ll love this Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake. It’s moist, perfectly sweetened and filled with zesty lemon flavor. Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think in the comments below!
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Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake [+VIDEO]
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup lemon juice (zest lemons before juicing)
- ½ cup vegan butter melted
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
Icing
- 1 cup organic powdered sugar
- 4 tsp lemon juice (plus more as needed)
- 1 tsp lemon zest add more if you'd like!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large mixing bowl, add in your flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk them together.2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ tbsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, ¾ cup organic cane sugar
- Next, add in your almond milk, lemon juice, melted vegan butter and lemon extract. Whisk them into the same bowl. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix (batter may still be slightly lumpy).1 cup unsweetened almond milk, ¼ cup lemon juice, ½ cup vegan butter, 1 tsp lemon extract
- Add the lemon zest and poppy seeds to the bowl. Whisk them into the batter.2 tbsp lemon zest, 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan lined with parchment paper for easy retrieval (if you don't have parchment paper, you can also grease the pan instead) and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 55 minutes or until the top bounces back up after being gently pressed down. Note– cooking time may need to be slightly adjusted if using something other than a glass baking dish.
- While the cake is baking, you can mix together the ingredients for the icing. Cover and set aside until needed.1 cup organic powdered sugar, 4 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest
- Once the cake is finished cooking, remove it from the oven and set it on the counter to cool.
- Once the cake has completely cooled, remove it from the pan (may need to gently go around the edges with a butter knife) and transfer to preferred serving dish. Drizzle with the icing, slice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Different brands of organic powdered sugar perform differently when creating the icing. Mine came together with just 4 tsp, however yours may require more. If after 4 tsp yours is still too thick to drizzle, simply add 1 tsp of additional lemon juice at a time until it is thin enough.
- If using fresh lemon juice and zest, you will likely need 3-5 lemons.
- Can substitute fresh lemon juice for bottled lemon juice.
