This Vegan Strawberry Lemon Loaf Cake is the perfect summer treat! Delicious sweet and tart lemon cake with strawberry glaze for an awesome sweet!
If you love lemons, then you will love this vegan strawberry lemon loaf cake. Quite honestly one of the best spring or summer desserts we’ve made to date.
The lemon cake is just absolutely delicious and lemony and sweet and tart all in one on it’s own. But then…then, you go and add this strawberry glaze and it’s just even more over the top.
What is also nice about doing it this way is that people that like extra sweet things can have more glaze, while people who don’t like as much sweetness, can omit entirely or just drizzle a little. There’s lots of options.
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WHAT INGREDIENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE VEGAN STRAWBERRY LEMON LOAF CAKE?
Below are notes about the main ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make vegan strawberry lemon loaf cake:
- Flour – We only used all-purpose flour here because we wanted this recipe to be as accessible as possible for everyone.
- Lemon Juice and Zest – Since there are no vegan buttermilks on the market, we use acid to mix with the dairy free milk to make a vegan buttermilk. Acid helps tenderize gluten and therefore making a softer cake. Plus lemon is the star of this recipe too! We do NOT recommend using bottled lemon juice.
- Dairy Free Milk – Using milk instead of water adds more flavor into the recipe. We have tried this with both oat and almond and there’s not much of a difference honestly. Use either unsweetened plain or unsweetened vanilla flavored milk, but you don’t want any sweetened milk in this already sweet recipe.
- Vegan Cane Sugar – Cane sugar is what we are using. If you want to learn more about why your sugar may not be vegan, you can learn more by clicking on the link.
- Dairy Free Yogurt – Our favorite is Vanilla by Oui, but you can use your favorite sweeter variety of dairy free yogurt. This helps with moisture and binding.
- Oil – Cake needs some fat to really give the perfect texture
- Cornstarch – helps to make the cake lighter and is traditionally added to cake flour for that texture. If swapping all-purpose flour for cake flour omit the extra cornstarch
- Turmeric – This is to give a deeper yellow color since we aren’t using eggs. You cannot taste it.
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
- Dairy Free Milk – Any dairy free milk that you like can be used in this. The important thing is just not using a sweetened milk in this already sweet recipe.
- Flour – Cake flour could be swapped for all or half of the all-purpose flour. Also an all-purpose or 1:1 gluten free flour could be used.
- Vegan Cane Sugar – While we haven’t tried, you could replace this with a coconut sugar or date sugar
- Oil – Melted coconut oil could also be used here and it is normal for it to resolidify when mixing. It will melt back down again when baking. Alternatively, you could use applesauce (same amount) for even half oil, half applesauce if you are trying to reduce your oil consumption.
- Dairy Free Yogurt – could sub with applesauce or coconut cream (fatty part on the top of canned coconut milk)
- Cornstarch – you can sub with arrowroot powder if needed or add the same amount more all-purpose flour
Tips for how to make the best vegan strawberry lemon loaf cake:
See below tips and tricks for making this cake perfect!
- Follow the instructions pretty please. Cake baking is a science, especially when making a dairy free/vegan cake. Every step has a purpose to ensure the perfect vegan lemon loaf cake.
- If you are new to baking or it’s not your favorite thing, we highly recommend sifting the ingredients into the bowl. This loosens the ingredients and make sure there are no clumps leading to a more airy cake.
- Make sure to line with parchment paper and/or grease your pans. No one likes a cake that can’t come out of the pan. It’s one of the most frustrating things and doing these two things will helps. If using a fancy pan like in the photos, do not line with parchment, only grease.
- When the cakes are cooked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to allow the cakes to cool evenly.
- Let the cakes cool to touch. DO NOT RUSH. Let it cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Absolutely! Did I just make your day? You can swap out the vegan all-purpose flour for Gluten Free Cup for Cup flour. All the other ingredients that we use in this recipe are naturally gluten free and no swaps are needed.Â
Besides the flour, that you can use gluten free as recommended above, the only other ingredient is the vegan yogurt.
Just choose a vegan yogurt that is suitable for your allergens.
This vegan strawberry lemon loaf cake is so moist. The right amount of fat (oil) combined with making our own dairy free buttermilk (non dairy milk + acid) and adding in leavening agents (baking powder) all act together to insure this will not be a dry vegan cake.
Also, the importance of minimally processing the ingredients together. Â We only mix until combined. We do this because the longer you mix flour, the more gluten forms making for a not so great cake.
You can absolutely make this into dairy free strawberry lemon cupcakes.  Simply make the recipe as normal and then instead of greasing a loaf pan, spray a cupcake pan or liners. Fill each one up 3/4 of the way. You’ll want to reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes. You should get about 6 cupcakes. Pair with our vegan strawberry buttercream frosting instead of a glaze.
Yes. You can make this oil free. Replace the full amount of oil for applesauce. It is very important to know that using applesauce does lead to a more dense cake.
A vegan lemon loaf cake is better for animals and the environment; however, we still use flour, sugar, and oil in this recipe. We are not claiming that this is a healthier alternative to a cake that contains dairy based milk and traditional eggs.
We’ll let you in on a little secret. You can’t even tell the difference. In fact, we’ve served vegan cake to many non-vegans and they had no idea!
What loaf pan are you using?
We have a really fun lemon loaf pan from Nordicware. We think these pans are super fun and a great conversation starter or gift to give.
Can I use a regular loaf pan? What size?
Yes. Most standard loaf pans are 8.5″ x 4 1/2″. The biggest thing is to not fill your pan more than 3/4 of the way full or your loaf cake will spill over.
What other frosting ideas could I use on this vegan lemon loaf cake?
We highly recommend using the strawberry glaze recipe below; however, we know that some people want other options than that. Other ideas for how to frosting are:
- Using Dairy Free Whipped Topping (Homemade “Cool Whip”)
- For a thicker strawberry frosting: Vegan Strawberry Frosting
- Vegan Vanilla Frosting
- Vegan Buttercream Frosting
What are other vegan cakes I can make?
Once you have perfected this vegan cake, you may be looking out for other delicious dairy free cupcakes or cakes. Here are some dairy free dessert recipe ideas.
- (Pictured Above) Vegan Strawberry Cornbread Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Dye Free Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry CakeÂ
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Apple Pie
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
Pin this vegan strawberry lemon loaf cake for later!
Vegan Strawberry Lemon Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground turmeric
- zest of 1 whole lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup vegan cane sugar
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp dairy free milk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp dairy free yogurt (can sub applesauce or coconut cream)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For Strawberry Glaze
- 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
- 2 tbsp water
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3-6 tbsp dairy free milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients ( flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, turmeric, and lemon zest). Set aside.
- In another large mixing bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (lemon juice, sugar, non-dairy milk, oil, yogurt, and vanilla).
- Slowly pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Use a spatula to fold together just until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.
- Pour mixture into pan. Tap pan to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 50-55 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool before removing.
- While cooling, add strawberries to a small sauce pan with 2 tablespoons of water over medium heat. Let cook for about 5-7 minutes and smash them down as they soften. Mixture should begin to thicken. Strain through a sieve.
- Into a bowl, add powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of strawberry puree and 3 tablespoons of dairy free milk. Beat with a mixer. If desired – Add another 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry mix for a stronger strawberry flavor, beat again.Otherwise – add more dairy free milk until desired consistency.
- Pour glaze over cooled lemon loaf cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Let’s see your creations!
Share to Instagram and tag us @makeitdairyfree so we can see and share it!
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