This easy, everyday vegan lemon pound cake recipe is simple enough to make during the week but flavorful enough to serve for a celebratory weekend brunch.
Similarly to my vegan orange cake, you only need about 15 minutes of active prep to get this citrusy loaf cake in the oven. Better yet, you don’t need to get out your mixer to make it!
And since this recipe is made with primarily pantry staples, you can fix yourself an entire vegan Starbucks iced lemon loaf for the same price you’d pay for just one or two slices, while being eggless and dairy-free!
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🧾 Ingredients Needed
As promised, you only need a handful of ingredients plus some pantry staples to make this easy vegan lemon loaf. Here’s what you need:
Ingredient Notes
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Lemon Juice & Zest: As with all lemon desserts, I recommend you use fresh lemons - no bottled juice, please! If possible use organic lemons since we're using both the skin and the juice.
- Granulated Sugar: I tested this loaf several times with different amounts of sugar and concluded that it's not a good idea to reduce the amount, as it brings moisture content down.
- Soy Milk: When mixed with fresh lemon juice it becomes an excellent vegan buttermilk swap. If soy is not an option for you, try using full-fat oat milk or almond milk instead.
- Vanilla Pod: Vanilla beans are a bit pricey, but their flavor is rich enough to justify the cost. To get the most from them, save the spent pods for making homemade vanilla extract or vanilla-flavored sugar. You’re also welcome to swap in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, vanilla paste, vanilla powder, or a teaspoon of ground vanilla bean instead.
- Olive Oil: The subtle fruitiness of olive oil adds a lovely dimension of flavor and a faint tint of yellow here, it also helps to keep the cake from drying out.
- Vegan Greek-Style Yogurt or Skyr: You can also use plain soy or coconut yogurt. The protein content from the vegan yogurt with the fat from the oil acts as an egg replacer in this vegan loaf.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: You need both leaveners to achieve a soft and tender crumb. Please don’t try swapping one for the other — it simply won’t work.
- Powdered Sugar: Also named “icing sugar,” this is an essential element for a smooth and shiny glaze.
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🥣 Instructions
Here are step-by-step images showing how to make this vegan lemon loaf recipe. Please refer to the detailed printable recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions:
Preheat your oven. Lightly grease a loaf tin and line it with parchment paper. Make vegan "buttermilk" by mixing the soy milk and lemon juice and allowing it to sit for 10 minutes.
Step 1: Flavor the sugar. Add the sugar, lemon zest, and scraped-out seeds from the vanilla pod to a large mixing bowl, using your fingertips to rub and combine.
Step 2: Cream the sugar and butter. Add the melted butter and whisk until combined.
Step 3: Whisk in the olive oil and yogurt until smooth. Then mix in the vegan buttermilk mixture, until all the wet ingredients have been combined.
Step 4: Dry ingredients. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until just combined.
Step 5: Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Cut thin strips of vegan butter and place them down the center of the loaf. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick stuck into it comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Step 6: Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and yogurt until smooth. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, pour the lemon icing on top of the loaf. Smooth it over the sides so that it covers the entire surface. Enjoy immediately, or allow the icing to set for an hour before serving.
🍽 Variations
While I love this vegan version of Starbucks lemon loaf as is, here are a few variations to consider:
- Add up to a cup of fresh or frozen berries before baking. Blueberry lemon loaf and raspberry lemon loaf are both simply divine. Toss your berries in a bowl with a few tablespoons of plain flour before folding them into the batter. This will help to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf during baking.
- Or, add up to 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds to make vegan lemon poppy seed cake. The little black flecks are both visually appealing and they add a nice bit of crunch.
💭 Recipe Tips
Make sure to leave some parchment paper overhang to help you remove the loaf from the pan. Oh, and if that parchment keeps misbehaving and rolling up on you? Crumple it into a tight ball, then unwrap it. All the little folds will help it stay in place.
Roll, zest, then juice. Firmly rolling your lemon on the countertop for 10-15 seconds will help to release all the juice inside. When zesting, remove only the top, bright yellow layer — the white pith is quite bitter. When you’re done juicing, save any extra juice for making lemon curd.
Don’t overmix the batter. Consider this Baking 101. Overmixing results in the overproduction of gluten, which creates a tough, dense cake.
Adding a thin line of butter slices down the middle of the batter helps to create a lovely crack in the center of the cake. Thanks to CloudyKitchen for the idea!
Before pouring on your glaze, place a sheet of parchment paper under the cooling rack to catch any icing.
💬 FAQs
Store the glazed loaf in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze this cake in an airtight container for up to a month and defrost it at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving.
I have not tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. Making lemon loaf vegan is one thing, but eggless GF bakes can be tricky. If you try it out, remember to let the batter rest for 30 minutes before baking to let the flour rehydrate. Also, please let me know how it turns out in the comments below!
When I tested this recipe using only olive oil and no butter, it wasn’t as soft, moist, or rich. My instinct leads me to believe that using strictly fat substitutes like applesauce will result in a dry, tough cake, so I don’t recommend it.
While you could probably bake this recipe in an 8-inch round pan, I recommend trying my vegan lemon cake instead, which is layered with vegan cream cheese frosting and tangy lemon curd.
If you're looking for a sheet cake, this lemon drizzle cake is also made with real lemons and features fresh lemon syrup for extra moisture.
You can! I recommend following my vegan lemon poppy seed cake recipe which uses olive oil instead.
🍞 More Vegan Loaf Cake Recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lemon Loaf Cake (Starbucks Copycat)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 118 ml (½ cup) soy milk
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice freshly squeezed, *see notes
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar use organic if in the US
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest approx 2 large lemons
- ½ vanilla pod seeds scraped out
- 75 g (2.6 oz) vegan butter melted and cooled to room temperature
- 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil or plain soy or coconut yogurt
- 140 g (⅗ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt or Skyr or plain soy or coconut yogurt
- 240 g (2 cups) plain flour (all purpose) sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder sifted
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda sifted
- ¼ teaspoon salt sifted
Icing
- 150 g (1 ¼ cups) powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon vegan Greek-style yogurt or Skyr or plain soy or coconut yogurt
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Lightly grease an 8" loaf tin and place a sling of parchment paper into it to help lift out the cake once baked.
- To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and lemon juice to a small bowl, stir and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Add the sugar, lemon zest, and scraped-out seeds from the vanilla pod to a large mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar.
- Add the melted butter and whisk to combine. Add in the olive oil and yogurt and whisk for a minute until everything is combined. Then add the vegan buttermilk mixture, and whisk again.
- Add the sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl with the wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until just combined and there aren't any visible pockets of flour - be careful not to overmix the batter.
- Bake: Transfer the cake batter to the prepared loaf pan. Cut thin strips of vegan butter and place them down the center of the loaf, this will help the loaf to crack in the center once it bakes (*see notes). Bake for 40-45 mins. Check the cake is ready by inserting a knife or toothpick into it, which should come out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: Meanwhile, add the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and yogurt to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Once the cake has cooled, place a sheet of parchment paper under the cooling rack to catch any icing. Pour the glaze on top of the cake, and smooth it over the sides so that it covers the entire surface. You can eat the cake as is, or allow the icing to set for an hour or so before serving.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze this cake in an airtight container and defrost it a couple of hours before serving.
Notes
- When you’re done juicing, save any extra juice for making lemon curd.
- Use organic sugar to ensure that it's vegan if you live in the US.
- Adding a thin line of butter slices down the middle of the batter helps to create a lovely crack in the center of the cake. Thanks to CloudyKitchen for the idea!
- Add up to 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds to make vegan lemon poppy seed cake. The little black flecks are both visually appealing and they add a nice bit of crunch.
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