Introducing The BEST Lemon Drizzle Cake. This deliciously moreish, cake is almost too good to be true! Using just 7 ingredients it will be the easiest, tastiest Free-From Lemon Drizzle you’ve tried. Plus, it’s totally vegan which means it is dairy-free and egg-free too. Trust me, you really have to give this recipe a go, it’s an absolute winner!
Recipe Difficulty – Easy!
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Why this recipe works
This recipe is seriously easy to make! You can prepare it in under 10 minutes and I can guarantee you’ll be making it time and time again. It’s the perfect accompaniment with a cup of tea in the afternoon, especially in these cooler, darker days. It even works well as a dessert too as it’s so light and moist, plus the lemon is really refreshing!
I wanted to create another refreshing recipe using fruit/veg as my as my Carrot Cake Cupcakes were so popular. This recipe uses 7 easily found gluten free ingredients, most of which you will probably have in your cupboard at home already! Plus, it can be stored for a few days and even frozen if you wanted to prep ahead for a special event!
If this lemon drizzle cake isn’t right for the occasion then try baking my Gluten Free Victoria Sponge Cake instead.
If you’re not gluten-free or vegan and looking for a more traditional recipe then check out this Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe.
Ingredients to make Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Almond milk – adding milk to cake recipes generally makes the texture lighter and stronger.
- Lemon – the key ingredient in this Lemon Drizzle Cake! I love their zingy, refreshing, citrusy taste! Don’t waste the lemon zest, add it into my Homemade Rosemary Salt. If you have some lemon juice spare then add it into my Sweet Chilli Salmon Fishcakes.
- Baking powder – this helps the lemon drizzle cake to rise.
- Coconut sugar – I like using coconut sugar because of its low glycemic index. It works very similarly to brown sugar and make the batter a lovely rich brown colour. If you have some spare to making my Cinnamon Baked Doughnuts.
- Coconut oil – a great substitute for butter and adds a subtly nutty/coconut flavour
- Ground almonds – these help to create moisture in the cake. They also add a great texture and flavour too. I also use ground almonds to bind my Vegan Meatballs together as it works so well.
- Flour – I’ve used gluten free self raising flour, which I found in my local larger supermarket, however standard self raising flour would also work well if you aren’t gluten free.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions
- Ground almonds – If you don’t want to use ground almonds you could swap these for either coconut flour or oat flour, which is essentially blitzed oats!
- Almond milk – You could swap this for another plant-based milk.
- Coconut oil – I used coconut oil to help keep the Lemon Drizzle Cake moist, however you could use any other flavourless oil e.g. vegetable oil if you prefer.
- Coconut sugar – I enjoy baking with coconut sugar, but you could substitute it for brown sugar instead just like in my Gluten Free Carrot Cake.
- Flour – I have used gluten free self raising flour, but if you aren’t gluten free, standard self raising flour would also work well in the lemon cake.
Variations
- Kid friendly – I think this is a great recipe to get kids involved in! However, I get it, when kids think of cake, they typically think of chocolate so be sure to check out my Free From Chocolate Ganache Cake which will definitely hit the chocolate hot spot with children (plus its still refined sugar free!)
- Deluxe – to turn this delicious Lemon Drizzle Cake into a show stopper, top it with finely grated lemon zest and fresh lemon slices! In my opinion there is nothing better than serving this with a good ol’ cup of herbal tea, but if you really want to take this Lemon Drizzle Cake to the next level, then try it with my Christmas Hot Chocolate recipe, it’s insanely good!
How to make Lemon Drizzle Cake
Step 1: Firstly, preheat your oven to 180C / 360F / gas mark 6 and line a 900g loaf tin with baking paper. Then whisk melted coconut oil and coconut sugar together in a mixing bowl.
Step 2: Then add almond milk, lemon zest and juice and stir in the sieved dry ingredients.
Step 3: Carefully pour the cake batter into a lined 900g loaf tin and bake in the oven at 180C / 360F / gas mark 6 for 35 minutes.
Step 4: Meanwhile, whilst the cake is baking prepare the lemon drizzle sauce – just mix together some coconut sugar, lemon zest and juice – ready in 30 seconds!
Step 5: Once cooked, leave the baked cake in the tin for 30 minutes, then carefully use the paper to lift it out. Make some small holes in the top – I used a chopstick but a skewer or small pointed knife will work too, and drizzle over the tangy sauce to guarantee a maximum lemon hit.
Step 6: Afterwards, top with a few lemon slices for a finishing touch.
Leftovers
The best thing about this gluten free Lemon Drizzle Cake is that is can be frozen. To freeze, simply slice and freeze separately. Allow to defrost at room temperature for a few hours and you’ve got yourself an effortless afternoon snack! Equally this Lemon Drizzle Cake will store in an airtight container for a few days at room temperature.
Recipe FAQs
You can easily swap normal flour for gluten-free. I also like to use ground almond when baking gluten-free cakes as it gives moisture, flavour and texture too.
I personally like to use a chopstick! However, there are plenty of other ways you can create the holes such as using a cocktail stick, the prongs of a fork, a skewer or even gently scoring with a knife would work.
This Lemon Drizzle cake will store in an airtight container for a few days at room temperature. However, it can also be frozen. To freeze, simply slice and freeze separately. Allow to defrost at room temperature for a few hours and you’ve got yourself an effortless afternoon snack!
The reason this lemon drizzle cake doesn’t look traditionally ‘white’ is because I have used coconut sugar in the recipe. I enjoy baking with coconut sugar because its had a low glycemic index and isn’t refined, I also love the taste it gives!
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Tried this Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe? Please leave a star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and let me know how you get on. Hearing positive feedback is one of the best parts of creating recipes so please review it below and leave a comment!
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Recipe
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- whisk
- sieve
- 900g loaf tin
- baking paper
- chopstick or utensil to create a small hole
Ingredients
Lemon Drizzle Cake
- 100 g coconut oil melted (roughly 7 tbsp)
- 150 g coconut sugar
- 200 ml almond milk (unsweetened)
- 2 lemons (zest of 1 and juice of 2)
- 225 g gluten-free self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
- 150 g ground almonds
Lemon Drizzle Sauce
- 1½ lemons (zest of 1 and juice of 1½)
- 30 g coconut sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/360F/gas mark 6 and line a 900g loaf tin with baking paper
- Now, in a large mixing bowl add 100g of melted coconut oil and 150g of coconut sugar and whisk until smooth
- Add 200ml almond milk, zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 lemons and whisk
- Into the bowl sieve 225g gluten-free self raising flour, 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder and 150g ground almonds (some ground almonds won't go through the sieve, just add them into the bowl)
- Mix until it forms a smooth batter and pour into the prepared tin
- Bake in the oven at 180C/360F/gas mark 6 for 35 minutes
- Meanwhile, make the lemon drizzle sauce. In a small bowl, mix the zest of 1 lemon, the juice of 1½ lemons and 30g coconut sugar.
- IMPORTANT Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin, for at least 30 minutes, this helps it to firm up a little more inside
- Once the cake has cooled, in the tin for 30 minutes, carefully lift it out, using the paper. Then, with a chopstick, create holes across the top and pour over the lemon drizzle sauce. Top with lemon slices, if using and slice
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that Nutrition information is a rough estimate
This is now my go to cake. It is so lovely!
Thank you 🙂
I’ve made this cake 3 times now it’s so amazing! The texture is lovely and being GF and vegan I really fancied a typical lemon drizzle cake without the masses of fat and sugar, and this really delivers! Thanks for the amazing recipe 🙂
Aww love this thank you so much Lorna 🙂
Made this today for me and my girlfriend, we absolutely loved it, thank you for sharing the recipe
Also made one for work, and had alot of people surprised by how tasty began cakes can be
So pleased you enjoyed it Chris!
This cake is soo tasty! Thank you for sharing it.
What a fantastic recipe! Thank you for sharing it.
Can I use store bough almond meal instead of the ground almonds as my blender isn’t strong enough! Can’t wait to make this tonight
Hey Georgie, I use store bought ground almonds so assume that’s the same?
My first time making it, turned out really good!! Thanks for the recipe! Next time please use the cups measurements instead grams!!
Thanks Jigna, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Mine came out oily and flat. Used almond flour, was that the mistake?
Yes unfortunately. It needs the self raising flour to help it rise
hi James can I use glass loaf tin? If so, would I need to cook this in the oven a bit longer? thanks
Good question Amee, I don’t actually know the answer to that. I would assume it will be similar. Try it and let me know 🙂
Can I use coconut flour instead of gluten free s.r. flour? ……
& can I use dark brown soft sugar instead of coconut sugar?
Hey Madee, coconut flour just doesn’t act the same as other flours I have found. It’s crumbly and just doesn’t bind very well so I wouldn’t recommend it for this type of recipe. The sugar however is an easy straight swap.
Hey. I’m keen to try this recipe, but never heard of coconut sugar. Where do you get that from? Do the usual Tesco , Asda, etc supermarkets stock those things ? Thanks, Nina.
Hey Nina, it’s available in most supermarkets now 🙂 but you can sub for brown sugar if you can’t find it!
I bought mine in Tesco. I have also bought it in a health food shop. It tastes delicious
The most amazing lemon drizzle cake I have ever tasted. So easy to make and healthy too!!
Thanks so much Denise 🙂
This is the only lemon drizzle I could find online that was healthier and vegan with minimal ingredients! My problem is if it’s a weird ingredient that I won’t use more than once I just won’t buy it or use that recipe but James’ recipes are always with ingredients I can find in my pantry or that I’ll reuse again at least! I’ve made the lemon drizzle multiple times and it’s so moist & full of flavour every time. 5*
Super easy to make and so very delicious, its moist and even freezes well (so I didn’t eat it all at once) like all of your recipes I’ve tried so far this one is 5 star!!!
Thank you for the great feedback Janine 🙂 so pleased you’re enjoying the recipes!
Loved this. Cooked while camping using our kettle bbq as an oven. Even my wife, who isn’t a sweets/cake fan devoured it. Can’t tell it’s “free from”. My new go to dessert. Thanks James.
Thanks Paul 🙂
Delicious scrumptious yummy cake so easy to make
Thanks Kim 🙂 glad you enjoyed it!
In love! Such a great recipe – so easy! I ran out of coconut sugar so left 50g out of the mix and the topping was just lemon juice rather than the sugar+lemon mix..and it still turned out awesome!!! Just thought I would mention for anyone who might be wary of sugar…or run out like me 😛 Thanks James! New staple 🙂 🙂 and fun way to use lemons!!!
Thanks Emily, handy to know about the sugar side 🙂 glad you enjoyed it!
Lovely recipe and easy to make. The whole family enjoyed it!! Thanks James
Thank you Sanj 🙂 so pleased the whole family enjoyed it!
Absolutely loved this recipe. Super tastey and simple to make
Thanks Fran 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it!
This recipe is amazing! The cake comes out so moist and it tastes delicious! It is actually the best lemon drizzle cake I have ever tried and with no refined sugar it’s a no brainer!
Thank you Charis 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it!
Beautiful cake, give it a try
Really enjoyed this cake. I’m not the best at baking cakes but it turned out great. I used dark brown sugar and oat milk as that’s all I had in and it worked out fine. It tasted lovely and everyone who tried it really liked it. Thanks for another great recipe
That’s awesome thank you Ali 🙂
This is just awesome! Even my family loved it.
I used rapseed oil and grounded oats instead of grounded almonds and coconut oil and it worked just perfect. I just love how easy and quick this recipe works. thank you‘
Appreciate the feedback Luisa 🙂
Did it today for my birthday but with some adaptation. I did it oil free so I used water instead of oil and I used oat flour as I did not have the one you recommend and it was amazing. Lovely taste and not very hard to do.
This cake was delicious – highly recommend making it, I couldn’t get hold of any coconut sugar so use brown sugar instead. Very moist and tasty. Thank you for sharing
Thanks Natalie 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it!
Very easy recipe, and the cake came out so delicious and moist! I added a little bit of lavender for a herbal twist, and it worked a treat 🙂 thank you!
Thank you Asia 🙂 appreciate the positive feedback!
This cake is super easy to make and tastes delicious!!
I already wanted to eat all the raw dough.
At first I thought it might be sour or bitter, but it definitely isn’t!
I used normal (none self raising) gluten free flour and just added a little more baking powder and it worked!
Thank you!
Thank you Lena 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it! Glad it worked for you with plain gluten free flour and just extra baking powder.
This cake is everything!!! Structure and taste are really good. I made it for Mother’s Day and my family also loved it! And on top of that it is so easy.
I swapped a part of the coconut sugar for white sugar since it is a lot cheaper and that went perfect, only difference is that the color of the cake turns out a lot lighter!
Aww thank you Mette 🙂 so pleased you enjoyed it!!
A lovely moist cake/loaf! Adding the lemon drizzle on top of the cake, at the end, completes it!
I didn’t have coconut sugar; used golden caster as a substitute which gave it a nice caramelised touch.
It only lasted a day!
Awesome Lorna, so pleased you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing feedback 🙂
So easy to make and totally delicious. Can’t remember the last time I was able to have this cake. Well Worth the wait. Thanks James
Thank you Cathy 🙂
I have never made a lemon drizzle before but this was so easy to make and tastes delicious !! I will 100% be making this again soon. Thanks James for yet another fabulous recipe <3
Thank you Naomi 🙂
I’m a gluten free vegan who is not the worlds best baker, but I’ve always loved lemons so thought I would give this cake a go. I had all the ingredients except coconut sugar so had to wait until my weekly essential food shop and managed to get the only packet in the supermarket..phew! It’s expensive, but worth it as it does give a lovely caramelly taste to the cake. I found the recipe easy to follow and to make and my husband and son both loved it too. Super lemony! Make sure you use us waxed lemons for all that zest.. the zest in my sauce stayed on top which looked rather nice, I thought. Thank you, I think this will become a staple in our house 🙂
Thanks for the great feedback Alison 🙂 pleased to hear you found it easy and tasty!
Loved this recipe & cake , I was worried when the coconut oil went hard after adding the milk but all was ok after adding the flour , I used normal Self raising flour not GF. Would definitely make again
Thank you for the great feedback Michelle 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I’m not a baker but it was so easy to make & turned out perfect! Kids enjoyed it too. Will definitely be making it again very soon…Thank you for another 5-star recipe!!
Thank you Danae 🙂 so happy to hear you enjoyed it!
This cake was super easy to whip up! No bad fats, healthier sugar, no dairy or gluten, what’s not to like? Couldn’t resist having a piece after waiting the 30 or so minutes and it tasted amazing…..Kind of caramel like probably because of the the coconut sugar. I didn’t make the drizzle as I am trying to reduce my sugar intake, but it was insanely delicious without it anyway. I gave a few pieces away, a bit is on the side and the rest is in the freezer to stop me eating it all!
Thank you for the great feedback Ingrid 🙂
As always, James comes up with a delicious recipe again, this time, one of my old time favorites: lemon drizzle cake. It’s just delicious, few ingredients, few utensils, and most ingredients we have in cupboard/fridge. Gf, vegan and refined sugar free. James gives alternatives too so that everyone can have their cake and eat it
Aww thanks Yvonne 🙂
I made this lovely cake today, exchanged self raising flour for oat flour and was still amazing! Thank you James for the flour substitute advice and for this gorgeous recipe!
Thank you Emilia, glad to hear you still enjoyed it with oat flour 🙂
Delicious! So easy to make as well. I had to swap the coconut sugar for soft light brown sugar as that’s all I had in and it still worked perfectly. Thank you another great recipe
Thanks Jo 🙂 pleased to hear you enjoyed it!
Loved how easy this recipe was to make. I was a little concerned at first as the coconut oil hardened up quite quickly once the liquid was added (it’s quite cool where I am). But once the dry ingredients were added, awesome. Haven’t tried it yet as it’s for Mother’s Day tomorrow.
Thank you Jacinta 🙂 enjoy it!!
What if I don’t have self rising flour or coconut sugar?
Use normal gluten free flour and add more baking powder and swap for other granulated sugar instead.
Is there anything I could substitute for the coconut sugar e.g maple syrup? Could I leave it out or would that effect the mixture?
It would be awful without any sugar Sarah. Maple is liquid so that would complete change the cake consistency. Needs to be some form of granulated sugar.
Xylitol would work. Just don’t let dogs get hold of any as it’s toxic to them.
Excellent recipe-I swapped sugar with granulated erythritol and added in extra baking powder as I only had plain GF. I had to I convert to cups using google and wasn’t sure I got that it right as I thought the recipe was a little runny but I had needn’t worried it came out fab and delicious and a hit with the family. My gratitude to James. A resounding success along with your banana bread recipe. Xx
Appreciate that Kulwant 🙂 thanks for sharing!
This is honestly delicious. I’m not sure how only 7 ingredients can make such a delicious flavour, but it does!!! This is beautifully sweet, with the gorgeous tang of the lemon. My mum couldn’t believe it was vegan!
Thank you Hannah 🙂 so pleased you both enjoyed it so much!
Love how quick and easy this was to make and it tastes absolutely delicious! Another amazing recipe which will most likely become a firm favourite!
Thanks Kiera 🙂
Just made absolutely delicious added cream cheese and ginger topping x
Thank you.
Happy birthday! Would buckwheat flour work? Thanks!
Thank you Nicola 🙂 buckwheat won’t rise so it will be more dense but worth a try!
Hi James,
Happy birthday to you!
Can I replace the gluten free flour for normal Self-raising flour?
I love any kind of lemon cakes, but in this “flour” situation in shops I have just normal flour to use at the moment.
Thank you
Thank you Adriana 🙂 yes of course, should work fine! Enjoy
It’s easy and amazing taste! Simply delicious thank you
Thank you Olga 🙂