One Bowl MOIST Vegan Raspberry Lemon Sheet Cake with Lemon Curd
This one bowl vegan raspberry lemon cake is full of fresh, zesty lemon and jammy raspberries, topped with a fluffy raspberry buttercream frosting and fresh vegan lemon curd. It’s all dairy free, no eggs, and unbelievably soft and tender- YUM!
Why you’ll love this vegan raspberry lemon cake recipe
If ever there was summer in a cake, it’s this one bowl vegan raspberry lemon cake recipe.
Topped with a bright pink, deliciously tart raspberry buttercream frosting and pools of lemon curd, there’s no reason not to love this cake.
Coming from a baking cookbook author, who’s had thousands of cake slices in her time, this is saying something.
To achieve that super bright lemon flavor sans any extracts (yep, just real lemon and raspberries throughout!), like my lemon poppy seed cupcakes and lemon poppy seed cake, the key is rubbing the sugar into the lemon zest.
This brings out the oils of the lemon, giving the cake way more lemon flavor, and still allowing it to rise, like my lemon pound cake recipe!
Then we layer on loads of fresh vegan lemon curd (one of my favorites, especially atop my lemon cheesecake and lemon blueberry cake) and raspberry jam to finish.
Trust me, I’ve had several non-vegans declare that this lemon cake was sublime. And they had no clue it was vegan, dairy free, and made entirely without eggs.
So let’s get started!
Ingredients
For this egg free lemon cake, you’ll need:
- Flour: I recommend using all purpose flour here, or oat flour (which is what I used for some of the cake photos below in white buttercream frosting). This is what gives this cake the ultimate tender and crumb-like texture. You can also use just a gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, like King Arthur Measure for Measure.
- Raspberries: You can use fresh or frozen.
- Sugar: I used granulated sugar here. However, you can also keep this lemon cake refined sugar free by using coconut sugar! Just keep in mind that your cake might be tanner in color.
- Vegan butter: I recommend using vegan butter here over coconut oil. The coconut flavor can be nice to the lemon and raspberry, but sometimes I think it reads as definitely vegan. There are many great brands on the market that are also nut free, such as Flora Plant Butter.
- Dairy free yogurt: We go a bit more in depth in the next section, but the yogurt here represents our egg replacement and makes this an eggless lemon cake. Read on to see why I personally recommend using dairy free yogurt above most other egg replacements. I have used applesauce in this cake recipe, and it also works wonderfully!
- Vegan buttermilk: this is a combination of dairy free milk (of your choice- I recommend oat milk, but you can use soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or your favorite!) with a bit of apple cider vinegar.
- Fresh lemon juice & lemon zest: both lemon juice and lemon zest give this wonderfully flavorful cake it’s personality!
- Vanilla extract: to balance the powerful lemon!
What’s the egg replacement for this eggless raspberry lemon cake?
Yes, vegan cake baking means that all cake recipes are eggless, dairy free, and free from any animal products in general. However, if you’re not vegan and you’re just looking for an eggless lemon cake, you might be wondering what’s the egg replacement in this recipe!
For this vegan lemon cake, the dairy free yogurt (or applesauce for certain allergies) acts as the egg replacement. Yogurt is a wonderful vegan ingredient that adds both moisture and structure to a cake. I personally prefer it over flaxseed, mashed banana, or store bought egg replacement, as I’ve found it really is the best way to keep moisture in cake.
This is why I exclusively use dairy free yogurt in all of my vegan cake recipes and is one ingredient I highly recommend you don’t make a swap for! Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Overview: how to make a vegan raspberry lemon cake
As per all of my recipes, the full written instructions and measurements of ingredients for this vegan lemon cake recipe are found down below in the recipe card at the end of this post.
However, we’ll go over the basics here! Making this vegan cake is really not dissimilar to traditional baking, and certainly is not as intimidating as it seems (yes, even a layer cake!).
Vegan Raspberry Frosting:
This vegan raspberry buttercream is absolutely incredible. The slight tartness of the raspberries complements the sweet vanilla and tangy notes from the lemon cake perfectly.
It’s very similar to my strawberry frosting, which would be equally delicious here! Or even go simple and use my cream cheese frosting. All vegan and dairy free of course 🙂
I recommend using Violife vegan cream cheese or Miyoko’s vegan cream cheese. Those are my two favorites! Then you’ll use vegan butter, and powdered sugar, to create the frosting.
The number one reason cakes fail:
You didn’t properly measure your ingredients.
Now, I’m a fan of using the kitchen scale- it’s what I do with all of my recipes, and very rarely will I bake with cups unless I’m traveling or visiting my family (my mom refuses a kitchen scale no matter how much I tell her how helpful it is lol).
So here’s what you do instead: Spoon and level the flour.
This part is crucial, and if done incorrectly, almost always leads to a dense and gummy cake.
Make sure that you spoon and level your flour instead of scooping the measuring cup into the flour bag. Scooping the cup will give you way more flour than you actually need, leaving your cake being dry or gummy.
You can get closer to the general ball park of 127 grams per cup if you spoon and level.
Watch how to decorate this vegan lemon cake here!
Check out how I decorate this vegan lemon cake on my Instagram page!
You’re going to absolutely love this easy vegan lemon cake! It’s perfect for Mother’s Day, Easter, or any spring get together. If you give it a go, let me know down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find it.
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy cake baking!
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Print
One Bowl MOIST Vegan Raspberry Lemon Cake
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 23
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This one bowl vegan raspberry lemon cake is full of fresh, zesty lemon and jammy raspberries, topped with a fluffy raspberry buttercream frosting and fresh vegan lemon curd. It’s all dairy free, no eggs, and unbelievably soft and tender- YUM!
Ingredients
Raspberry Lemon cake:
- 10 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) dairy free milk, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup (360 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- 1 cup (225 g) salted vegan butter (I recommend Miyoko’s or Flora Plant butter), melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 cup (240 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract (optional)
- 3 3/4 (450 g) cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Raspberry buttercream:
- 2 cups (452 g) vegan butter, room temperature
- 6 cups (840 g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 0.8-ounce package (23 g) freeze dried raspberries, blended into a powder
- 2–4 tbsp dairy free milk, optional (and in increments)
- 1/2 batch vegan lemon curd
Instructions
No equipment version:
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9×13″ cake pan with olive or coconut oil and line with parchment paper. I recommend making the lemon curd first, following the instructions in the link in the ingredients section. You can either make it right before the cake or the day before.
- Coat the raspberries: In a bowl, toss the raspberries with 1 tbsp of flour. Set aside.
- Make the raspberry lemon cake batter: In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together. Then add in the melted vegan butter, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, optional almond extract, and sea salt. Whisk until combined. Then add in the cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda, and whisk again. Finally, add in the flour and dairy free milk, and whisk just until combined.
- Fold in the raspberries: Add in the raspberries and fold until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Bake: Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan and bake for 35-37 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a drying rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the vegan raspberry frosting: When ready to frost the cakes, add vegan butter to a large bowl or stand mixer and cream for 2-3 minutes. Add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, continuing the beat the mixture until it’s a thick buttercream. Add in a tablespoon at a time of dairy free milk and continue to beat until desired texture. Then add in the freeze dried raspberries, and mix again until the raspberries are evenly distributed throughout the frosting, and it’s a consistent pink color.
- Frost the cake: Spoon and spread the raspberry frosting over the cooled cake, and top with pools of lemon curd.
- Serve and enjoy! Serve the lemon curd cake or store in the fridge until ready to serve. Slice and enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
Sugar: If using coconut sugar, your cake will come out tanner in color, but still taste delicious!
Gluten free: Use gluten free 1:1 baking flour or oat flour to create an entirely gluten free lemon cake. I recommend King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free baking flour.
Hey! Do you have the ingredient list and amounts for the frosting? Thanks!
Hi there! Everything is listed in the recipe card 🙂 Right above the comments section here!
Hmm maybe it’s just not showing on mine? I see the ingredients for the actual cake, but not for the buttercream frosting (for that I only see the directions but no amounts for each ingredient)
I’m so sorry about that!! It ended up being a coding issue with my recipe card!! It should be fixed now!
hey! sorry for the annoying questions but do you think its possible to substitute vegan butter for olive oil/could I add poppy seeds without it ruining it?
Not an annoying question at all! You absolutely can!! That would be lovely 🙂 I sometimes like oil in cakes even more than vegan butter!
I’ve made a lot of your recipes, they are amazing!!
Do you have any substitute for powdered sugar for the buttercream??
Aw thank you so much!! That’s so sweet! If you’re looking for a lower sugar option for the powdered sugar, I know that The Sugar Free Diva has an awesome sugar-free powdered sugar that you can make at home using cornstarch/arrworoot powder and stevia/monkruit/allulose etc! Here’s the post to that: https://thesugarfreediva.com/how-to-make-sugar-free-powdered-sugar/ If you just wanted to make your own powdered sugar at home, you can actually use granulated sugar and cornstarch, then blend it really finely! Essentially the same method as in SFD’s post. I hope that helps!
Thank you so much!
The recipe looks so fantastic! I do have a question though. You mentioned to sift in 1 tbsp of cornstarch if AP flour is being used when you wrote about the description of the recipe. But in the ingredient list, you said to not skip using the 1 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch for the AP flour. Is it 1 tbsp or 1 tsp? Thanks 😀
Oh I’m so sorry about that! That should have been tbsp! So sorry for the confusion! It’s been edited 🙂 Thank you for this note!
You said use applesauce but you don’t say how you make it. Would love to know how to make this egg substitute
Thank you
Hi there! I just use store bought! You can make your own though if you’d like!
Hi! I just use store bought! You can make your own though, if you’d prefer! You can also use mashed banana if you’d prefer. Just keep in mind it will have a slightly banana taste. Applesauce is a very neutral taste when baked in a cake.
Hi, just want to verify that 1 Tbsp of baking powder is correct please?
Hi Kat! Yes! If you’re concerned though, you can reduce it to 2 tsp instead- you won’t taste the baking powder though.
Thank you! Just wanted to make sure. 🙂
Absolutely!! I hope you love it!
Hey! Is there any way I can substitute the vegan butter and non dairy milk for normal milk and butter, because i cannot eat eggs only so i’m trying to find a recipie without eggs and not make it wholey vegan.
Yes, absolutely! You can use regular dairy butter and dairy milk here, and keep everything else the same!
I was wondering if you have a certain kind of baking pan that you like best? I am excited to try some of your cake recipes!
Hi Sharon! I’m so glad to hear that! I use Wilton cake pans- I find they’re the best for also helping the cakes not dome too much when they bake, but just rise! You can make this cake either with 6″ or 8″ cake pans!
I saw that I could use 8” cake pans but I didn’t see if there was a difference in bake time for 8” vs 6”? And would I do two 8” instead of three 6”?
Yes absolutely!! You can use two 8″ cake pans, and the baking time should be about 27-30 minutes, but be sure to check around 25 minutes to see where your cakes are in the process!
Could you provide gram measurements for your recipes ?
Yes! Working on this one 🙂 I’ve completely switched to gram measurements for all of my new recipes, but still provide US for those who use it- this one will be updated next week!
Hello,
I have a few substitution questions! Can I use oat flour for this recipe and add the arrowroot to it? (I have a rice allergy and can’t use most of the gluten free flour mixes). Also, as far as a sweetener, could I use either birch xylitol or maple syrup/honey?
Thanks,
Kristen
Hi Kristen! Yes, I’ve tried this cake with oat flour! For sweeteners, I’ve personally noticed cakes not rising AS WELL with sugar free sweeteners, even granulated. I wouldn’t recommend it but if you have a favorite granulated sugar free sweetener that you’ve found works, please feel free to use it!
Just started making this and have potentially spotted a MAJOR problem in the steps. The first step says to mix in the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder (which I did). Then the next step says to cream the vegan butter and sugar. But the sugar just went into the dry ingredients?? I’m sure it’ll turn out but now I’ll have to add more sugar to cream the butter with. I hope I’m wrong and just misread something but I really recommend this be edited…
I’m so sorry for the confusion! When this post was updated, it didn’t fully reflect the changes, and I’m so sincerely sorry for that confusion! If you went ahead with the cake and omitted the sugar adding to the butter, the cake will still turn out- again I sincerely apologize for the confusion!
It all worked out in the end and it was delicious! I did end up adding a little more sugar to the butter and it was all good. I also made the icing and it could just be the brand of butter I used (Melt) but I think that and the cream cheese made it too liquidy so I added more icing sugar to make it thicker. Ended up making a lot of extra icing as a result, but all’s well that ends well as I’m going to make this cake again for a birthday tomorrow! Thanks for your reply 🙂
I’m wondering if there’s an instructional that you used to make the decorative lemons on the outside of the cakes, they’re so cute!
Hi Holly! Yes, on my Instagram page! I’ve linked it in the post 🙂
The recipe sounds fantastic! I love the decoration with painted on lemons! Could you give some instructions as to how to add those please?
Yes absolutely! I used the wilton Small Petal Cake Decorating Tip 101 and then the wilton leaf tip to create the green leaves! I just reserved some frosting from the cake to tint yellow using turmeric and green using moringa (you can also use matcha, but I wanted to use caffeine free!). Then you just pipe as many lemons as you’d like!
Brilliant, thank you! Would have never thought to use those ingredients as food colourings, genius!
Could you add fresh raspberries to the batter without it messing anything up?
Hi Lauren! Yes you can! Simply toss the raspberries in a light dusting of flour though- this ensures that they don’t all sink to the bottom of the pan, but instead stay distributed throughout the cake!
Hi Britt! I am playing around with a bunch of your cake recipes making a vegan wedding cake for my sister and they are fantastic! My questions is regarding the cake pans- I have one of each size and typically use a cake leveler to cut into 3 layers. Would it still work if I made the full recipe, put it in a 6 x 3 pan, put in the oven for the same or extended time, and cut using the leveler? Thanks so much!
Hi Emily! Oh my gosh, I’m so honored!! Thank you so much 🙂 For your question, is this a 6″ round cake pan that’s 3″ high? You might need a bit taller, unless you also have cake tin strips to help the cake from doming too much- I just worry it might dome a lot, then you’d have to level it and not have as high of cake layers!
Trying recipe now for boyfriend’s birthday, thank you! I’m noticing that 3/4 cup milk is more like 177 mL, not 200. Do you think this difference in liquid makes any difference? I suppose I’ll find out! I’m multiplying by 25% to fit 9″ pans so getting extra into exact amounts to multiply.
Aw wonderful! That much of a difference won’t affect the cake at all! Please do let me know how you like it 🙂 Enjoy!
Your recipes never disappoint! This cake is heavenly. Sublime texture and plenty of lemony scrumptiousness! Raves all around. Thanks a million! (FWIW, I used vegan yogurt and cake flour.)
This is so wonderful, wow thank you! And thank you for noting what you used!! Always so helpful for others! Enjoy 🙂
Made this for Easter and it was absolutely delicious! As an experienced vegan baker, this is one of the best cakes I’ve made! Wow! I did have to use a lot more sugar for the icing and it was still not stiff like buttercream….
Never made such a light and fluffy cake before, turned this into cupcakes and halved the ingredients. They came out sooo lemony and delicious!
How many cupcakes would this recipe make?
Around 24!
I’m so excited to make this for my birthday next week. I want to use your raspberry frosting recipe instead of the cream cheese one. Should I double the recipe that you have linked in order to have enough for the this cake?
Hi There! Sorry, but I’m not sure I totally understand the question! :/ The raspberry frosting recipe is actually listed in the recipe card (no cream cheese needed!) and it will be enough for this sheet cake! 🙂
I used this to make my mother’s birthday cake and ohhhh my gosh, the best mt delicious cake I’ve ever made. Mind. Blown!
First off, love your recipes! I was hoping to make this specific one into cupcakes and was wondering how long you would recommend baking them? Thanks!
Aw thank you so much!! That’s so kind! So I actually have a lemon cupcake based off of this recipe! It adds poppyseeds, but you can simply omit 🙂 Here’s the recipe. Let me know if you try!
This is the cake my 23 year old son requested for his birthday. I didn’t realize at the time we would be having 10 0f his friends join us too. They all loved it and couldn’t believe it was vegan. Good thing I doubled the recipe and made 3 8inch rounds! I used the “Quick & Easy Vegan Lemon Curd” in-between the layers. The weather was excessively humid and not allowing the cream cheese frosting to set up, the layers were sliding around. (Yes, it was cooled properly for 2 hours on the counter after baking. I put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and that did the trick.) The leaning cake certainly did not deflect from the moist and flavorful dessert!
This is so wonderful, wow!! Thank you so much for this beautiful review! And a happy birthday to your son! I feel you on the humidity too- in Florida, it’s so hard to keep any cake stable 😅
Hello!
I noticed on the cake ingredients there is 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch, but not on the preparation. When should I add it?
Hi Inês! So sorry for the confusion, it’s to be added along with the baking powder! Enjoy 🙂
Hello, this recipe looks amazing. I really want to make it! Do you think I could make it two layers instead of three? Or would that mess it up?
Hi Nikoleta! Absolutely! The bake time will be a bit longer, so just be sure to watch the cakes with the oven light to ensure you’re not over baking (or under baking!). Enjoy, and let me know how they go!!