This recipe is for all lemon dessert lovers out there. Because there's nothing more delicious than this super lemony Vegan Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake, drizzled all over with a divine lemon glaze. The vegan cake has a stunning red-gold crust and a soft, buttery crumb.
You might also like these recipes for vegan lemon pound cake and vegan lemon cake (with lemon curd icing).
Trapped in a winter wonderland yesterday, with the snow piling up outside, I channeled my time and energy into making the most divine Vegan Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake.
One of the problems with lemon desserts is that no matter how much lemon juice you add to the batter, the flavor tends to dissipate during baking. So for this lemon cake I packed the lemons in at three stages. There's lemon juice and zest in the batter, a lemony syrup that goes over the cake after baking, and finally, there's an absolutely scrumptious lemon glaze that gets drizzled over the cake. It not only looks pretty, it really is the icing on this cake.
This is a spectacular-looking cake as well, with a dark red-gold crust. The crumb is tender and soft, thanks to the yogurt, and melts in the mouth. If you want to make a smaller cake, halve the recipe and bake in a loaf pan or an 8-inch cake pan.
Make sure you reserve some of the glaze to drizzle over the individual slices when you serve the lemon cake, for the most flavor. And if you make this cake, be sure to come back and tell me if you liked it. You might also want to check out more lemony vegan desserts here on Holy Cow, including these awesome vegan lemon cream cheese cookies.
More vegan cake recipes
Recipe card
Vegan Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and zest of two lemons (I used meyer lemons, but regular lemons would work too)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup avocado oil or any neutral oil (I used avocado oil, which is flavorless. You can use olive, but I find the olive oil sometimes tends to overpower the lemons)
- 2 cups vegan yogurt (I used my homemade cultured cashew yogurt, but use any unsweetened storebought yogurt.)
For the lemon syrup:
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup sugar
For the lemon glaze:
- â…“ cup lemon juice
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt.
- In a larger bowl, mix the oil, sugar, yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice and zest until combined.
- Add the flour to the wet mixture in three batches, mixing thoroughly with a spatula after each addition. Make sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Prepare a bundt pan by spraying with cooking spray. Pour the batter evenly into the bundt pan. Place it in the oven and bake 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Place the bundt pan on a rack and unmold the cake after 10 minutes. It should come out very easily, but if you need help, run a knife gently along the edges.
- Prepare the syrup by melting the sugar with the lemon juice. Poke some holes into the bundt cake with a toothpick, and drizzle on the syrup. Let the cake cool thoroughly.
- Once the cake has cooled, prepare the glaze by mixing the confectioners' sugar with the lemon juice. Drizzle it over the bundt cake, and reserve some glaze to drizzle over individual slices.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Lili says
Reporting back to say I tried the recipe with added fresh strawberries and it was a hit! I followed everything to a t other than the addition of berries. The only small hiccup I had was the glaze being much too liquid and not setting. It could be because I live in a very humid climate. I’ll reduce the amount of juice in the glaze next time. Excellent recipe, thank you so much!
Vaishali says
Awesome! So happy to hear you enjoyed the cake. Good idea to use less liquid the next time for the glaze. Thanks for the feedback.
Lili says
Hi there! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I wonder if I could add berries to the batter?
Vaishali says
Hi Lili, you definitely can. Be sure to chop any larger berries like strawberries.
K.W. says
Will this recipe work with 1:1 ratio GF flour?
Thanks
Vaishali says
I can't say for sure because I haven't made it with gf flour, but it should be fine with all purpose gf flour.
Barbara says
I liked this recipe.
I took a chance because I had an issue to work around. My husband doesn't like lemon; I know - that is hard to believe. I substituted lemon with orange and it worked well. Oddly enough the only real problem I had with this recipe was the oil. I didn't like it. I am going to try this recipe again, but with Coconut Oil. I'm looking forward to it.
Angela says
I blended whole lemons (flesh, pith and skin, after deseeding) for the batter and it gives a lovely bitterness, although I also used a drop of soya milk to loosen the batter. Super recipe! Thanks.
Vaishali says
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the feedback.
Katie F. says
Amazing recipe! This cake is delicious on it's own. I let it cool and started eating it and can't stop eating it. I haven't even glazed the cake yet. Easy to follow instructions. I will make this on a regular basis. Thank you!
Vaishali says
Awesome, so happy you loved it!
Michelle says
This turned out really good! I used 1/2 maple syrup and 1/2 coconut sugar in place of the sugar, plus I added a bit of coconut flakes. And for the syrup I used a bit of honey and lemon juice. It was very lovely. Thanks for the recipe !
Vaishali says
Sounds lovely!
Sheila says
Can I sub the vegan yogurt with 450ml soy milk+30ml acv
Vaishali says
I think that should be fine. Yogurt does add a nice tenderness to the cake so you might lose some of that by using just milk and acv.