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This easy recipe for Lemon Olive Oil Cake is the ultimate spring and summer dessert! This loaf cake also happens to be a vegan dessert, making it a thoughtful addition to a potluck or picnic menu.
A few years ago, my friend Alisha told me about an olive oil cake that was so good, it “haunted her dreams.” She asked, “Would you be up for the challenge of creating a similar cake?”
Although I don’t follow a vegan diet myself and swear by my egg-inclusive recipes like Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake and Lemon Bundt Cake as well as butter-based ones such as Easy Pound Cake and Texas Sheet Cake, I knew I could find healthy ingredient substitutions to recreate this cake recipe in a way that would make it possible for Alisha and I to share a slice.
After testing and perfecting this Lemon Olive Oil Cake recipe, however, I can confirm that each slice is far too delicious to share. Vegan or otherwise, you’re going to want several slices (or, you know, the whole loaf cake recipe) of this summery dessert for yourself.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Unsweetened almond milk: This works one-for-one as a substitute for regular cow’s milk in this and nearly any baking recipe. Here, I combine the plant-based milk with lemon juice to create a vegan buttermilk replacement. (In case you missed it, here’s my non-vegan buttermilk swap!)
- Turbinado sugar: This sweetener is less processed than regular granulated sugar. The latter may or may not be vegan, depending on the brand and how its processed, so I formulated this olive oil cake recipe to use partially-refined turbinado. Some of the molasses from the sugarcane remains in the mix for turbinado sugar, so it has a subtle caramel flavor that plays nicely in this vegan dessert recipe.
- Olive oil: No need to splurge on the super-fancy and flavorful olive-green finishing oils. Mild-flavored, light olive oil is ideal for baking.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray. To make vegan buttermilk, in a small bowl whisk together almond milk, lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Set aside to blend for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together sugar and olive oil in a large bowl until creamy. Whisk in buttermilk mixture.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold into buttermilk mixture and stir until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool at least 10 minutes in the pan. Remove to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet and cool completely.
- Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. Pour over cooled cake, allowing excess to drip off the cake onto the baking sheet beneath.
- Slice and serve.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: My Lemon Olive Oil Cake recipe makes eight generous slices.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The cooled loaf (frosted or unfrosted) can be wrapped in a double-layer of freezer plastic, dated, labeled, and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Recipe FAQs
If you think the cake itself packs enough citrus flavor, feel free to top this vegan cake recipe with Powdered Sugar Icing (using water or almond milk). Or leave it unglazed and serve each slice garnished with a generous spoonful of Strawberry Topping.
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Lemon Olive Oil Cake (Vegan)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (see note 1)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3/4 cup turbinado sugar (see note 2)
- 1/3 cup olive oil (see note 3)
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- To make vegan buttermilk, in a small bowl whisk together almond milk, lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Set aside to blend for 5 minutes
- Meanwhile, whisk together sugar and olive oil in a large bowl until creamy. Whisk in buttermilk mixture.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold into buttermilk mixture and stir until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool at least 10 minutes in the pan. Remove to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet and cool completely.
To make the glaze:
- Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. Pour over cooled cake, allowing excess to drip off the cake onto the baking sheet beneath.
Notes
- Unsweetened almond milk: This works one-for-one as a substitute for regular cow’s milk in this and nearly any baking recipe. Here, I combine the plant-based milk with lemon juice to create a vegan buttermilk replacement. (In case you missed it, here’s my non-vegan buttermilk swap!)
- Turbinado sugar: This sweetener is less processed than regular granulated sugar. The latter may or may not be vegan, depending on the brand and how its processed, so I formulated this olive oil cake recipe to use partially-refined turbinado. Some of the molasses from the sugarcane remains in the mix for turbinado sugar, so it has a subtle caramel flavor that plays nicely in this vegan dessert recipe.
- Olive oil: No need to splurge on the super-fancy and flavorful olive-green finishing oils. Mild-flavored, light olive oil is ideal for baking.
- Yield: My Lemon Olive Oil Cake recipe makes eight generous slices.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The cooled loaf (frosted or unfrosted) can be wrapped in a double-layer of freezer plastic, dated, labeled, and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Could I use a lemon extract instead of the fresh lemons you think? I want to make this for my moms bday since she loves lemon 🙂 thanks!!
Hi Emma! I’m not sure, I think so but it would probably be less, not an equal swap. If the lemon extract has a good flavor, it should be fine. How do you feel about tasting the raw batter? If you are okay with that, maybe try 1/2 teaspoon of extract and see how it tastes. I feel like I would probably do 1 teaspoon, but without knowing for sure or trying it myself, I’m scared to ruin your cake. But you can definitely try it. Thanks! -Meggan
Can I use oat flour by chance?
Hi Rebecca, I’m not sure! I don’t have a lot of experience with oat flour in general and not in this recipe specifically. You could try it if you want to. I will cross my fingers that it goes well and doesn’t ruin your day! 🥴 -Meggan
I’ve made this cake three times now, and it’s delicious. I LOVE lemon stuff. My personal notes would be: 1. I used a lightly greased 8×8 pan instead of a loaf pan for no particular reason, but I kind of like cutting it up into 16 tiny squares. 2. Perhaps because of the pan difference, I also found that the cake was ready in closer to 30-35 minutes. 3. I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 3/4, and an extra tablespoon or two of lemon juice (I don’t think these were the reasons behind the different baking times, though, because the first time I made the recipe I followed it exactly, including the loaf pan). And 4: I omit the vanilla extract from the icing. I used it the first time (and the second, but then threw it out and remade it), but it adds a weird and unnecessary alcohol flavor (and yes, it was pure extract). When I left it out, the glaze was just pure lemon, no underlying flavors. The recipe is a keeper, though!
Have made this cake several times and is one of my faves. I tend to use half the powdered sugar for glaze and go a bit heavier on the zest. Big flavour.
This was amazing! I made as cupcakes and only baked for 25ish minutes. SO good and easy.
So great Maggie! I never tried making cupcakes with this recipe. Sounds like a future baking project! Take care and thanks. -Meggan
Mmmm! I made this over the weekend and yuuum. I love lemon stuff.
I only used 1/2cu of sugar and it worked just fine with the sugary glaze. I added an extra Tbsp or so of lemon juice to both the cake and the glaze. I also took a chance at using 3/4tsp of baking soda and also baking powder, because I wanted try to make the cake a little taller/less dense than it looked in the photo. It worked!
The only thing I didn’t love is that it was hard to eat as a “finger cake” (i.e., standing there eating the entire thing slice by slice with your hands). It was crumbly and definitely a fork-and-plate cake. But maybe that was from my substitutions -? At any rate, yum.
I did end up adding the lavender buds. It was really good. I added in 2 tsp of the buds to the cake mix after folding everything together. I also put some (about 1/4 tsp) into the icing mixture too. It was very delicate and tasty. On a second tasting, I served it with strawberry ice cream and it really pulled out the lavender flavor. It was an amazing combination!
P.S. I subbed in extra tbsp of lemon juice to the cake mix and I still think it could take more (or zest) for stronger lemon punch.
What are your thoughts on adding lavender buds into the recipe?
I think lemon and lavender were made to be together. I love lavender-flavored lemonade so I don’t see any reason that this cake could not benefit from some lavender buds. If you decide to try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out. And, I will put it on my list of recipes to test. Thanks for the question! Take care.
Hi. I would like to make the lemon olive oil cake but I can’t find the whole wheat pastry flour. It si ok if I substitute it with whole wheat flour?
Thanks
Hi Rosie, YES! You can do a mix of 50% whole wheat flour and 50% all-purpose flour if you’d like. If you go straight whole wheat flour, the cake will be a lot denser (I’m not sure exactly how well it will rise or if the baking time should be adjusted, but ultimately it should taste fine). Thanks! Good luck!
I made this cake for my birthday and everyone, I mean everyone enjoyed it. We couldn’t stop eating it. I am making it for my mom’s birthday next week per her request.
Bethany, thank you so much for this! I love hearing a good success story especially when we’re talking about a vegan olive oil cake. 😀 Take care!