Vegan Baking 101

Here are some key how-to's when it comes to vegan baking.

Vegan Lemon Cake

By Sara Kidd January 25, 2020 16 Comments

Vegan lemon cake has to be one of the most requested cakes in my Facebook vegan baking group. I put a lot of time into developing this vegan lemon cake recipe. I wanted to create a cake that had a buttery cake crumb that melts in your mouth. This recipe has big notes of lemon rounded off with the gentle sweetness of sugar. It’s a very easy recipe to master and no-one will ever know it’s a dairy-free and egg-free cake. This cake keeps for around 4-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

I wanted to make this cake crumb very white so I used white chia seed as my egg replacer. The trick with this ingredient is you need to beat it so there are no lumps. You can use ground Flaxseed but your cake will have small flecks of seeds in it.

Once you have mixed all your ingredients, the vegan lemon cake batter will be very thick and light. Don’t overbeat your batter as it will cause your cake to become dense.

Vegan Lemon Cake Dairy-Free and Egg-Free

This recipe paired great with my vegan lemon curd. It’s a simple recipe that you can whip up in 10 minutes.

EXTRA TIPS FOR THIS VEGAN LEMON CAKE RECIPE

Preheat your oven to the exact temperature
If your oven heats unevenly, add a heatproof bowl of water to the bottom of the oven
Make sure your chia seed egg replacer has no lumps in it otherwise you will have lumpy bits in your cake
Use a high-quality lemon essence and vanilla bean paste
Use an organic lemon for the rind because commercial ones have no flavour

Vegan Lemon Cake

★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

Total Time: 52 minutes
Yield: 2 6 inch cake layers 1x

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Description

Easy vegan lemon cake recipe that no-one will ever know is vegan

Ingredients

Units Scale

2 tbsp golden flaxseed, ground
5 tbsp boiling water
220 g vegan butter or margarine (room temperature)
200 g caster sugar
350 g plain all purpose flour
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
125 mls plain soy milk
1 tbsp white vinegar
100 mls lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla bean extract
2–3 tsp lemon essense ((depending on how strong you want the lemon flavour))
zest from one whole large unwaxed lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven 160°C/320°F and line 2 x 6IN / 15.24CM cake tins with baking paper, grease with oil and dust with flour.
Mix ground flaxseed with boiling water and stir to remove any lumps, set aside.
In a small jug mix soy milk with vinegar to thicken then add lemon juice, vanilla, lemon essence and egg replacer. Beat or blend together until completely smooth. Stir through lemon zest.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar for a few minutes until creamy with no lumps.
Sieve flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.
Add haft of the flour mix very slowly and mix on lowest speed to the creamed butter, then add half the liquid. Repeat until all ingredients are just combined. It will be a very thick batter (see image).
Pause mixer and scrape down sides and mix for a few seconds.
Divide between tins, tap tins on the bench to release air bubbles, bake 35-37 mins, check with a skewer through the centre, if it comes out clean it’s ready.
Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then flip on a cake rake.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 37 minutes
Category: Cake, Citrus

Keywords: lemon, vegan, vegan baking, vegan cake

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Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

By Sara Kidd January 7, 2020 49 Comments

I promise this is truly my BEST cake recipe ever. This gluten-free vegan vanilla cake will not fail you. It’s a no-fail, no sink, no weird flavours, one bowl, gluten-free vegan vanilla cake that is insanely easy to bake. It tastes like a normal vanilla cake. You won’t be able to tell the difference. It’s also a go-to recipe if you’re looking for a Gluten-free vegan sponge cake as it’s really light in texture.

Gluten-free baking can sometimes be a baker’s worst nightmare. We all remember back in the day when gluten-free meant we were about to embark on eating something with the texture and taste of a brick covered in a layer of cinnamon dust – early gluten-free bread gave me nightmares. Thankfully, that good old G-F has come along way and we now have the knowledge and power to create godlike goodness of everyone to enjoy. Here are my top tips to get you started.

GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN BAKING TIPS

Use extra vanilla when baking. It will help balance out those nutty flavours that appear in gluten-free baking.
The smaller the better. I always recommend making cakes no larger than 6 to 7 inches or smaller. I find that the smaller the cake, the better the bake.
Don’t be afraid to under-bake your cake slightly. You want to retain extra moisture in your cake as GF cakes can be a little dry. I usually bake it for 5 minutes less and test it with a skewer. If the skewer still has a few crumbs and a tiny bit of moisture on it, it’s ready to come out of the oven.
Use 25 percent more raising agents (baking soda or baking powder) if you’re converting a recipe to gluten free.
Do worry about over-mixing your batter even though there is no gluten to overdevelop. It still affects the outcome of your cake. Just mix until just combined.
If you’re finding your GF cake is coming out dry, try using a vegetable shortening as your main fat source, this can add extra moisture.
If you’re converting a recipe to gluten free, experiment with adjusting the temperature of your oven 10C/50F lower.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GLUTEN-FREE BAKING? CHECK OUT MY LATEST GLUTEN-FREE WORKSHOP.

You can bake this cake along with me and I also show you how to decorate this cake in a naked cake style.