Lemon Layer Cake (Vegan)
This lemon layer cake has a lovely light lemon buttercream, a slightly tart curd, and a light, moist, citrusy crumb. For all of my lemon lovers, here's an egg-free and dairy-free lemon cake.
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 1½ cups + 3 tbsp / 200 grams all purpose flour
- 1+ ⅛ tsp baking powder
- ¼ + ⅛ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup / 150 grams cane sugar
- 3 tbsp plant based butter with salt - melted
- 3 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup / 120 grams plant based milk (room temperature)
- 6 tbsp / 90 grams plant based yogurt (room temperature)
- ¼ cup cane sugar and ½ tbsp zest for rolling the cake in
Lemon Curd
- ½ recipe see my recipe for lemon curd - ½ recipe will due or ⅓ cup of your favorite lemon curd
Lemon Buttercream
- 2 cups / 240 grams powdered sugar (suggest sifting)
- 8 tbsp / 113 grams plant based butter with salt
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp plant based heavy cream ( needs to be cold)
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- Prepare ½ recipe of lemon curd - see recipe on the website - this can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also make or purchase your favorite lemon curd.
Lemon Cake
- Prepare two 6 inch round cake pans by lightly greasing and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Zest and juice the lemons. One lemon will take care of all the juice needed. Two to three medium to large lemons will be needed to obtain all of the zest that is needed.
- In a medium bowl add the flour, baking powder and baking soda; whisk to combine and set aside. In a large bowl add the sugar and lemon zest. Combine the two by rubbing the sugar and zest together between your fingers until well combined (texture will be much like wet sand). To the sugar mixture add the melted butter, oil, yogurt, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract and whisk until thoroughly combined (30 seconds to 1 minute). To the wet ingredients add the dry ingredients and whisk until fully combined (do not overmix). Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F. Once the oven reaches temperature, place the pans in the oven and bake for 27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes rest in the pans for 5 to 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. The cakes can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two or the freezer for a couple of months.
Lemon Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (this can also be done with a hand mixer) add the butter. With a balloon whisk attached, whip the butter for 3 to 5 minutes on high speed (we want it to be light, fluffy and creamy). To the whipped butter add the lemon juice, lemon zest and plant based heavy cream, continue whipping on high for another 3 minutes. Once all the ingredients have come together add the sifted powdered sugar. Continue whipping but start off on low and once the powdered sugar starts getting incorporated increase your speed. Once fully incorporated set the speed to medium high and continue whipping for 5 minutes (looking for light, creamy and airy). The buttercream can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for a week or the freezer for a couple of months.
Assembling the layer cake
- Start by covering the edges of each cake with the sugar/zest mixture. Mix the 1/4 cup cane sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of zest and roll the sides of each cake layer in the mixture. To assemble the cake, place one of the the cake layers on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread a thin layer of lemon buttercream on top of the cake. Fill a piping bag with lemon buttercream and pipe the buttercream around the edge of the cake. I used what is equivalent to a Wilton 6B piping tip. Add the lemon curd to the top of the cake (inside of the piped buttercream). I used ⅓ of a cup of lemon curd. Place the second layer of cake on top of the 1st layer. Cover the top of the second layer with the lemon buttercream. I continued with the 6B piping tip and covered the entire top of the cake. For a final look, lemon zest can be sprinkled on top of the cake. The cake stays fresh 3 to 5 days left on the counter, longer if kept in the fridge.