Vegan Lemon Pound Cake

Name: Vegan Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature; 1 cup white sugar; 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons); 3/4 cup nondairy milk like oat or soy; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 cups flour (250 g) (I did half all-purpose and half cake flour to make it extra fluffy); 1 tbsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp salt; 1 tbsp lemon zest plus extra for decorating top; sprinkle of poppyseeds for top; 1 cup powdered sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1-2 tbsp nondairy milk

April 7, 2022 21 comments

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe·★★★★★5 from 11 reviews

This vegan lemon pound cake is the perfect treat to make for lemon lovers! The buttery, dense cake is so soft and fluffy, it instantly melts in your mouth. Have this cake baking in the oven in just 15 minutes!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Made with just 8 ingredients! All you need to make this beautiful vegan lemon pound cake and vanilla glaze is a few simple ingredients.
A Spring favourite. Once the weather begins to warm up, there’s nothing better than bright, lemon-y desserts! If you love lemon recipes, you have to try this Spicy Lemon Dill Rigatoni, Lemon Dill Potato Salad, and this Blueberry Vodka Lemonade with Lemon Sugar Rim.
No expensive ingredients. Many vegan pound cake recipes call for vegan sour cream and lemon extract, but these ingredients can be expensive and hard to find. This pound cake tastes just like classic pound cake, but is made with budget-friendly pantry staples instead!

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

Vegan butter – For this vegan pound cake recipe, you’ll need your favorite vegan butter brought to room temperature (about 1-2 hours on the kitchen counter). If you’re short on time, cutting the butter into smaller chunks can help it warm faster.
Sugar – White granulated cane sugar sweetens the loaf while keeping it really light and soft. To ensure your sugar is vegan-friendly, use organic sugar.
Lemon – The key to the best lemon pound cake is lots of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest! I highly recommend fresh lemon juice over pre-bottled lemon juice. The flavor is unparalleled.
Nondairy milk – Soy milk or oat milk are my favorite plant-based milks to use when making a homemade vegan buttermilk, but you can really use any unsweetened milk you have.
Flour – I like to use a blend of all-purpose flour and cake flour to make this pound cake extra light and fluffy, but all all-purpose flour will work.
Baking powder – In order to make cakes rise, it’s important to use leavening agents. Make sure your baking powder is fresh or else your cake won’t rise as well as it should.

How to Make Vegan Lemon Pound Cake

Cream the butter and sugar. Place the room temperature vegan butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream for a few minutes on a lower speed. After a couple of minutes, it should become well combined and light and fluffy. The air pockets in the mixture are essential to a light pound cake.
Combine the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate large bowl. Mix well to combine.
Make the buttermilk. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine the lemon juice and nondairy milk. Set aside for a few minutes to curdle, then add the vanilla extract.
Add the ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix again on low speed until just combined.
Fold in the lemon zest. Lastly fold in the fresh lemon zest, then spread the vegan pound cake batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake. Bake the vegan pound cake for 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.
Allow to cool. Remove the loaf from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, lift the pound cake out of the pan using the parchment paper and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Prepare the glaze. While the pound cake cools, prepare the vanilla glaze. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and nondairy milk.
Glaze and serve. Once the cake has cooled completely, pour the sweet glaze overtop and sprinkle with additional fresh lemon zest and poppy seeds. Slice and enjoy!

Ideas for Serving

Pound cake is one of those classic desserts that’s perfect for any occasion like coffee Sunday, holidays, potlucks, or a casual weeknight dessert.

Serve on it’s own with extra lemon zest, vegan whipped cream and fresh berries and pair with a glass of your favorite nondairy milk. It also pairs well with a hot cup of coffee or tea, or to make it even more decadent, serve with a scoop of your favorite vegan vanilla ice cream.

How to Store

Leftover lemon pound cake will keep best in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you need to store it for longer than 3 days, place it in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 1 week.

Recipe FAQs

Can I make this vegan pound cake gluten-free?

I haven’t personally tested a gluten-free version of this vegan pound cake, but if you’d like to experiment, I’d recommend replacing the flour with a 1:1 Gluten-Free flour mix. It likely won’t be as fluffy as the original version make with cake flour, but it will likely work! Let me know in the comments if you give it a try.

Avoid using gluten-free flours like oat flour or almond flour – these flours absorb liquid very differently than all-purpose flour and cannot be used as a cup for cup substitute.

Can I freeze vegan pound cake?

Yes! This vegan lemon pound cake freezes well and can be frozen whole or in slices for up to 3 months. To freeze, follow the recipe as written then allow the pound cake to cool completely to room temperature. Omit the glaze, then wrap the pound cake tightly in plastic wrap. When ready to eat, thaw the cake in the refrigerator overnight then bring to room temperature. Top with the glaze and serve as desired!

Can I use a different type of sweetener in vegan pound cake instead of sugar?

I wouldn’t recommend it. Swapping the granulated sugar with another sweetener such as maple syrup or agave would make the batter too wet and replacing it with brown sugar or coconut sugar would make the pound cake really dark. For best results, I recommend using white sugar.

I don’t have a loaf pan. Can I bake this in another baking dish?

This vegan pound cake can be baked in a larger baking dish like an 8×8 baking pan with a reduced baking time (start with about 30 minutes).

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