Lemon Drizzle Cake (Vegan)

I couldn’t let November pass by without posting a vegan recipe or two, could I… after all, it is World Vegan Month. What, you didn’t know?!

“World Vegan Month is celebrated around the world as a time to recognise how far the vegan movement has come, to highlight how accessible and beneficial a vegan lifestyle can be and to encourage the vegan-curious to adopt veganism by sharing advice, recipes and ideas.”

The Vegan Society website.

So today I am going to share a delicious lemon drizzle cake recipe which is based on my ultimate vegan victoria sponge. (You can find the victoria sponge recipe here).

It is a light and very lemony sponge cake with a lemon syrup poured over while still warm and then a tangy lemon icing drizzled over when it has cooled. So if you fancy something sweet, but fresh and zesty too, why not treat yourself! This cake has been served to non-vegans, vegetarians and vegans alike, with everyone agreeing it is extremely lemony and very tasty!

It is also incredibly easy to make.

🙂

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease and flour a round 24cm (9 to 10 inch) springform cake tin.

For the cake mixture you will need to sieve together the following ingredients into a large mixing bowl:

• 350g (2 and 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
• 2tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

Next, melt the following together in a saucepan and then allow to cool:

• 170g sugar and 1tbsp vanilla sugar (3/4 cup altogether) (or add 1tsp vanilla essence)
• 180g (1 and 1/2 sticks and 1 tbsp) vegan butter or margarine

You will also need:

• 1 veg egg (either 1tbsp flaxmeal mixed to a paste with 3tbsps water, or another egg replacer equivalent to one egg, both available in health food shops)
• Zest of 2 large lemons
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 330ml (1 and 1/3 cups) unsweetened soya yoghurt (available in most supermarkets these days)

Once the butter/sugar mixture has cooled down, add it and all the other ingredients to the flour mixture and gently fold in until all the flour is incorporated. Do not beat or overmix. You should see little bubbles in the mixture as the chemistry starts to work. 😃 Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes as ovens do vary. Insert a toothpick into the centre and if it comes out clean the cake is done – it should be golden brown on top and starting to shrink away from the sides of the cake pan.

While the cake is baking you can prepare the syrup to drizzle over it immediately after it comes out of the oven.

Lemon syrup:

In a saucepan, melt

• 1/2 cup of lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar

As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, prick little holes all over the surface with a toothpick and pour the syrup carefully and slowly over the cake so it can absorb it all. Wait until the cake has cooled a little before removing it from the tin and place it on a cake rack to cool completely.

The final stage is the icing.

Lemon icing:

• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup icing sugar

Mix the lemon juice into the icing sugar slowly, making sure you don’t have any lumps. You can stop adding juice as soon as it reaches the right ‘drizzling’ consistency. Drizzle this over the cold cake and allow to set a little before serving.

This recipe serves 12. Simply halve the recipe and use a 16cm round tin (or a small loaf tin) for a smaller cake like this one…

We got 8 slices out of this size.

Yum!

Happy World Vegan Month!

😃