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Gluten-free Vegan Lemon Cake with Curd and American Buttercream

By Sara Kidd March 29, 2022 6 Comments

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Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cake this recipe

Lemon cake is one of the most popular cake flavours in the world. It’s certainly one of my favourite flavours when it comes to desserts. Tanginess always works well with anything sweet, especially cakes. This gluten-free vegan lemon cake has a wonderful light airy cake crumb that’s met with a tangy curd and simple American Buttercream. You can also make this with a meringue buttercream for a less sweeter version.

This cake is one of the recipes featured in my new cookbook THE VEGAN CAKE BIBLE, now available to purchase here. This cookbook encapsulates 60 recipes, decorating cake tutorials, troubleshooting, ingredients recommendations and everything you could possible ever want to know about vegan cakes. My hardcover cookbook (265 pages!) is broken down into the following chapters:

  • HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
  • THE BASICS 
  • ASSEMBLING & DECORATING YOUR CAKE 
  • FOUNDATION FROSTING
  • FOUNDATION FILLINGS
  • FOUNDATION CAKES
  • TRADITIONAL CAKES 
  • SPECIALITY CAKES
  • GLUTEN FREE CAKES

The reason I’m sharing this recipe is that you can’t beat a lemon cake recipe and I always have many requests of gluten-free versions. It works of every occasion and it’s also an easy recipe that you can bake, whether you’re a beginner or at an advanced level.

Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cake Breakdown

Skill:Easy
Method:Mixing in one bowl
Size:Makes one 6 inch / 15.24cm 3 layered cake
Serving:8 – 10 casual servings
Pairing:Any type of frostings, fillings or inclusions
Sweetness:Moderate
Profile:Gluten-free, light cake crumb
Storage:Un-iced layers stored in an airtight container outside of fridge one to two days, once sealed with buttercream, airtight container out of the fridge for 2 days. It’s gluten-free and will dry out faster than other cakes.
Bakers Tip:Always slightly under bake gluten-free cakes to prevent dryness. If you’re wanting to keep this cake for a few days add a sugar syrup between layers to keep moist.

Tips For Making This Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cake

  1. Make sure your oven is heated to the correct temperature before baking, use an oven thermometer
  2. Use a vanilla bean paste and lemon essence for the best flavour
  3. Don’t over bake this cake, the skewer will still present some sticky crumbs when poked throw the centre

Ingredient Substitutions

  • swap potato starch with tapioca flour
  • swap almond flour with almond meal or pumpkin seeds ground into a meal for a nut free version
  • swap soy milk with coconut milk for a soy free version
  • swap xanthan gum with 3 flax eggs
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Cake

Love Gluten-Free Vegan Baking? Check out these recipes…

  • Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake
  • Gluten-Free Apple Glaze Cake
  • Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
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Screen Shot 2022 03 29 at 11.09.32 PM

Gluten-free Vegan Lemon Cake w Curd and American Buttercream


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Sara Kidd
  • Total Time: 2 hours 41 minutes
  • Yield: 8 – 10 serves
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

An easy, delicious recipe for a gluten-free lemon cake


Ingredients

Cake
335 g (2 ¼ cups) white rice flour
100 g (1 cup) blanched almond flour
85 g (¾ cup) potato starch
230 g (1 cup) caster sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
310 ml (1 ¼ cups) plain soy milk
190 ml (¾ cup) lemon juice
190 ml (¾ cup) vegetable oil
½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste
2 teaspoons lemon essence
Zest from one unwaxed lemon (about 1 tablespoon) 

American Buttercream
See recipe on here and make a double batch
Vegan yellow food colouring

Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon vegan butter or margarine
3 teaspoons cornflour
190 ml (¾ cup) fresh lemon juice
55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar (add more if you prefer it sweeter and less tangy)
1 to 2 drops of vegan yellow food colouring

Simple Drip Icing
See recipe here

Decoration
Sliced lemon (optional)


Instructions

Cake

  1. Preheat your convection oven to 160°C (320°F).
  2. Grease and line three 6 in / 15.24cm round cake tins with vegetable oil and baking paper, then grease again and dust with a tiny amount of rice flour to coat the cake tin.
  3. In a large mixing bowl sieve flours, starch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum together. Briefly whisk to combine.
  4. In a large bowl, mix all remaining wet ingredients together, including zest.
  5. Pour liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients and gently mix together until just combined. It will be a very thick mixture. 
  6. Pour batter into each cake tin, making sure they have the same amount of batter. Tap the pans gently on the bench to release any air bubbles.
  7. Place tins into the middle of your oven and bake for 38 to 41 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out almost clean with still a few crumbs.
  8. Allow to sit in the cake tins for 20 minutes before running a knife around the outside and turning onto a cake rack. Let it completely cool before assembling your cake. Whilst your cake is cooling, prepare your American Buttercream, see recipe here and make a double batch. Then move onto preparing your lemon curd. See assembling instructions for further details. 

Lemon Curd

  1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Remove from the stove and mix in cornflour to form a thick, smooth paste.
  3. Return to medium heat and add remaining ingredients. Continue to stir until sugar has dissolved and curd thickens; about 3 minutes.
  4. Take off the heat and let it rest for 30 minutes before using.

Assembling The Cake

  1. Using a sharp knife, cut the domed tops off all cakes to create perfectly flat rounds. Make sure each cake is exactly the same height. 
  2. Place the bottom layer onto your cake board or stand. Using a piping bag with a round nozzle, pipe buttercream around the edge of the cake to create a thick 1 inch border. Fill the centre with lemon curd, reaching only ¾ of the way to the top of the buttercream. Place your 2nd layer on top and repeat the process until you add the final layer of cake on top. 
  3. Crumb coat your cake in buttercream, then divide your remaining cream into three bowls. Add a few drops of yellow to the first bowl, add a few more drops of yellow to the second bowl to make it a darker yellow and leave the remaining bowl white. 
  4. Fill 3 piping bags with each buttercream. Divide your cake into 3 equal sections and pipe the darkest colour on the bottom section, the 2nd colour on the middle section and the remaining white. 
  5. Smooth out the sides with an offset spatula or cake scraper. 
  6. Make your drip icing, see recipe here and using a teaspoon, drip small amounts down the side of your cake to create a drip effect. 
  7. Add any remaining buttercream from your bowls to one piping bag and add a wide star tip nozzle, pipe the remaining buttercream on top of your cake, around the edge of the cake however you desire. Add lemon slices to the top of your buttercream swirls to finish your decoration and serve!

 

Notes

I would recommend keeping this out of the fridge as it may dry out. 

  • Prep Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 41 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: 1 bowl mixing
  • Cuisine: Dessert

Keywords: Gluten-free, vegan, lemon, cake

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Share a photo and tag @veganbakesbysarakidd — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

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Over 60 recipes, gluten-free cake recipes included, many photographed decorating tutorials and everything you need to know about about baking, building and decorating spectacular vegan cakes! Out now…

Vegan Cake Bible Cookbook

Filed Under: Cake, Featured Recipe on Homepage, Gluten Free, Lemon, Recipe, Vegan Tagged With: cake, gluten-free, lemon, vegan

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Comments

  1. Vinita says

    May 23, 2022 at 2:54 am

    Does this white rice flour in this recipe means the sweet white rice flour or normal rice flour ?? Plz specify . Both have different texture and they respond differently in gluten free recipes

    Reply
    • Sara Kidd says

      May 23, 2022 at 6:28 am

      Normal rice flour

      Reply
  2. Sharon Shaw says

    April 8, 2022 at 11:49 am

    Hello, I made this and it was good but then I put it in the refrigerator and it got a liitle hard, crumbly and more starchy tasting. Do you think this was just because of me refrigerating it overnight?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Sara Kidd says

      April 9, 2022 at 5:31 am

      Hey Sharon, yes, GF can dry out in the fridge.

      Reply
  3. Gloria Madle says

    April 1, 2022 at 9:51 am

    This recipe looks amazing, and I am going to make it. I have ordered your book, and look forward to it arriving.
    When you say to use block butter, what is the best one to use in buttercream. I can usually buy Nutella, but not block style fats for this use. Naturali is not available in Melbourne. Could you please advise me.
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Sara Kidd says

      April 5, 2022 at 2:53 pm

      Hey Gloria
      Hmmm I’m not sure as I use Natrali. I’m not sure what’s available in Australia as I’m in NZ. Sorry I can’t be more help.

      Reply

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