Light, moist and zesty vegan lemon and poppy seed cake topped with a simple lemon icing. Packed with fresh lemon juice, zest and poppy seeds.
Lemon cake will always be one of my favourite flavours. It’s a british classic and I’ve grown up eating plenty of lemon drizzle cakes!
I love pairing lemon in cakes, this lemon and elderflower cake is one of the most popular cake recipes on the blog.
Adding poppy seed to cake means it’s automatically healthy right? They add a lovely nutty crunch and pair with the lemon perfectly.
The best thing about loaf cakes is that you don’t have to worry about layering sponges.
Simply spoon the simple lemon icing on top and you’re good to go!
This is the perfect cake to have with an afternoon cup of tea. Or breakfast. Or for dessert. Of course having three slices in one day is totally acceptable!
You wouldn’t be able to resist this lemon poppy seed loaf either, it never lasts long in my house!
How to make a vegan cake:
My favourite swaps for a vegan cake are using plant milk and a neutral flavoured oil. They make for super moist cakes and you won't notice dairy or eggs are missing.
Making this lemon poppy seed cake is so simple. For your dry ingredients you're going to mix together self raising flour, baking powder, caster sugar and poppy seeds.
In a separate bowl mix together your wet ingredients - rapeseed oil (or canola oil), unsweetened almond milk (or soy milk), lemon juice and lemon zest.
Next, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mixed until just combined. Pour into a lined loaf tin and pop in the oven for 45-55 minutes.
To make the simple lemon icing simply mix lemon juice with icing sugar and mix until a thick icing forms.
Once the cake has cooled, spoon over the top of the cake with the back of a spoon until some drips over the edges.
Sprinkle some poppy seeds and lemon zest on top and voila! Dig straight in and enjoy with a cup of tea!
For more vegan cakes you may enjoy these:
Upside-down pear and almond cake
As always if you make this vegan lemon poppyseed cake be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram – I’d love to see you all there!
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Lemon Poppy Seed Drizzle Cake
Light, moist and zesty vegan lemon poppy seed cake. With a simple lemon icing this is the perfect cake to serve for afternoon tea!
Ingredients
- 300g self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 185g caster sugar
- 2 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 120ml rapeseed/canola oil
- 230ml unsweetened almond milk
- Juice of 4 lemons (~125ml)
- Zest of 3 lemons (~3 tbsp)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Icing
- 170g/3/4 cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line and grease a 9x5" loaf tin.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and poppy seeds and mix with a wooden spoon.
- In a separate bowl mix together the oil, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla,
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour into the loaf tin and place in the oven for 45-55 minutes. It should be starting to turn golden brown on the edges. Do the toothpick test and once it comes out clean, its ready.
- Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar and lemon together until it forms a thick icing. Spoon onto the cake once cooled with the back of a spoon.
- Top with some poppy seeds and lemon zest ans serve! Will keep in an air tight container for 2-3 days.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 434Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gSodium: 529mgCarbohydrates: 70gFiber: 3gSugar: 38gProtein: 5g
Hi! Can I make this recipe into a 4 layered cake? Would it hold the weight? Maybe double or triple the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Cristy, it should work yes but if you are doing more than two layers you will need to use dowels and cake boards for support. I would say that double the recipe would make two 8 inch layers, Tamsin xo
@Tamsin, Hi!!!! I baked this and made a smaller cake! It came out as a 4 layer cake and used a 6 inch. It was sooo good! With one piece it was perfect lol, the lemon taste was delicious and not so overpowering. I made a raspberry compote for the filling and a lemon cream cheese frosting. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
Hi Cristy, yay it sounds so delicious! So glad it worked out as a tiered cake too! Those fillings sound sooo good! Tamsin xo
I’ve made this cake twice now, my son is the only vegan in our house but we all love this cake, thank you for sharing the recipe
Hi Sharon, thank you so much for your comment! So glad you all enjoyed it 🙂 Tamsin xo
Wow. This is the best lemon and poppyseed cake I've ever had (don't tell my granny)! I cooked in about double the size of the loaf tin and added a bit more baking powder and plain flour. I also only had vegan butter so subbed that for the oil. Cooked for an extra 5-10 mins and left in the tin outside the oven for 20 min before putting on cooling rack. So moist and somehow both light and dense. A new favourite that I'm sure I will be making again and again. Cheers!
Hi Leah, aww thanks so much for your comment, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for letting me know what subs you made and worked 🙂 Hope you'll be enjoying it for years to come! Tamsin xo
I just made this this afternoon, I followed the recipe to a T, though i converted the measurements to cups (maybe that's where i went wrong) the flavor is great but the center is a bit gummy/gewy not crumbly or fluffy. Almost reminiscent of what the inside of a moist brownie might be like. Is that what it's supposed to turn out like? Still delicious, but am i eating something that's undercooked? My toothpick test came out clean.
Hi Steph, sorry to hear it didn't turn out right! The sponge should definitely be light and fluffy not dense. I always give measurements in grams because it is so much more accurate than cups. There is a lot more room for error using this method especially in baking. If you followed the method and ingredients exactly then most likely it is the measurements. Hope it works out next time if you do make it again! Tamsin xo
Nice flavour. Thought it would rise more, but cooked perfectly well and a nice light crumb. Thanks for the recipe, I will make it again as it's a good way to use up lemons and poppyseeds, neither of which keep very long.
Hi Dan, thanks for your comment. Glad you enjoyed it! It should rise, it may be that you over mixed the mixture, or it could be oven temperature! Thanks, Tamsin xo
Going to make this tonight, going to try and substitute the oil for coconut oil. Have you tried that before? Wondering if I’m setting myself up to fail ?. Only other oil I have is sunflower oil?
Hi Kiki, I'm not sure how coconut oil would react in this. Sunflower oil would be the best bet, so go with that 🙂 Tamsin xo
I bake a lot, made it, tasted of oil, not nice. Used sunflower oil perhaps that was unsuitable. Waste of time and ingredients.
Hi - this cake should be fine with sunflower oil, although I do recommend canola/rapeseed for its neutral taste. I have made this cake at least 10 times with a lot of reader reviews and it definitely doesn't have an oily taste! The recipe only calls for 120ml oil so I'm not sure what went wrong with yours. Thanks, Tamsin
@CAS, hi I’ve made this twice and used vitalite dairy free butter melted. it works just fine and you can’t taste it once baked.
Tried to follow recipe but there are hundreds of pop ups all over it...!
Hi Jean, sorry that you found the ads obtrusive. I provide these recipes for free and as this is my job they help contribute to my income. I hope you were still able to make the recipe and I appreciate you stopping by, Tamsin xo
I would love to try this recipe! I love lemon. I was wondering if your ml and cup measurements are based on US or UK? i heard there are differences between the 2. I usually convert it to grams so its easier as I am a novice at bakig haha
Hi Rina, the ml measurements are universal, I always do baking in grams and ml as this is the most accurate. The only measurement in cups is the icing which is based on a uk cup but a little less or more wont make much difference. You can make the icing to the consistency you prefer. Hope that helps, Tamsin xo
Recipe did not disappoint! I added almond extract instead of vanilla and it’s amazing. Super fluffy and moist and the almond brings out the tanginess of the lemon. Will definitely make this recipe again.
Hi Martyna thank you so much for your comment - so glad you enjoyed it! Love the sound of almond extract too! 🙂 Tamsin xo
Hey will normal dairy milk work fine with this recipe instead of the almond milk?
Hi Bhakti, I can't say for sure as I don't consume or cook with dairy. You can use a different type of plant milk such as soya or oat milk though. Tamsin xo
I made this cake during week 3 of quarantine and it was a big success, I couldn't find any poppy seeds in any shops - really wanted poppy seeds but hey ho! It tasted delicious, I gave some to my two neighbours and they LOVED it too! Great recipe, will make again - maybe for a birthday cake!
Made this tonight as a treat for after tea. Lovely! I used vegetable oil and oat milk as that is what I have in. Came out beautiful and will definitely be making this again
Hi Carla - thanks so much for your comment. So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for letting me know what subs you used! Stay safe,Tamsin xo
I’ve made this 2 times within 2 weeks already. It’s delicious and easy to make. Lovely recipe!
I made this cake for my vegan friend and I can honestly say it did not disappoint. It was very easy to make and was not short on flavour, for someone that doesnt like overly 'zesty" things, it had just thr right balance. Will definitely make this again!!
Hi, I could have sworn I had a loaf tin but I can't find it anywhere. How long would you cook these for as cupcakes? Thanks
Hi Sydney, I haven't made these into cupcakes before but I would bake for about 20 minutes, check they've risen then do the skewer test to make sure they're baked inside 🙂 xo
Hi there,
I am currently making your lemon and poppy seed cake (it's in the oven and smells delicious) but I forgot to mix the dry ingredients beforehand.. Hope it still turns out okay ?
Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Riekie, hopefully it mixed okay when you added the wet ingredients! 🙂 Tamsin xo
This looks amazing and I want to try it. I would like to know: can one use almond or coconut flower? And what other alternative to castor sugar for bread if you dont have? Coconut sugar?
Thank you.
Hi, thanks for your comment! I haven't tried it with any substitutes so I couldn't say whether this would work unfortunately, but let me know if you do try it! xo
This looks delicious! Do you think soy milk would be ok instead of almond milk?
Hi Jess, I haven't tested it in this recipe but have other cake recipes so soy milk should work fine! 🙂 xo
This recipe is brilliant. So lemony, unlike many other lemon cake recipes. The only thing I did differently was add a syrup drizzle after baking which only added to the lemon tartness, which I love!
Just making a gluten free version at the minute so I'm hoping it turns out just as well!
Hi Pamela, I'm so glad you loved it! The syrup drizzle sounds delicious! I would love to know how the gf version turns out! 🙂 xo
Hi! I was wondering wether this cake could be made without the poppyseeds and as just plain lemon? Thanks x
Hi Bella, yes absolutely you can just leave them out! xo
Thank you for this recipe. I was just in the mood to make a lemon cake this weekend. Thanks especially for not only giving the quantity, but weight / volume for the lemons. I always hate it when a recipe says juice of two lemons ... how do they know how juicy your fruit is? It is very frustrating.
Hi Marina, thanks for your comment! I would love to know how it goes if you make it 🙂 yes I agree, lemons vary so much in size! xo