Lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting (vegan)

Let's just pretend we didn't say this was vegan. (Unless of course you shun all animal products, in which case, VEGAN!) This cake rocks. It's just the right amount of dense/moist, with a fantastic lemon undercurrent. And the icing? So lemony sweet it'll knock your ankle socks right off.

Our friend made this cake for her daughter's birthday a few weeks ago and everyone raved and drooled and scraped the last bits of cake and frosting up with their forks. You won't waste a crumb. This recipe was taken and adapted from Savvy Vegetarian.

We're talking cake from scratch, here. So, we're sorry to say, it's not Half Assed. But it's simple and delicious and not Full Assed by any stretch of the imagination.

Rating: 3/4 assed

Here's what you need and how you do it

Cake:

2/3 cup vegan margarine

1 cup sugar

3-1/2 cups white flour

3-1/2 Tablespoons corn starch

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cup almond, soy, or rice milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

Zest from one lemon

Frosting:

1 cup vegan margarine

1 pound powdered sugar

Zest from 2 lemons

3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 x 12” pan or 2 9” round cake pans. Mix almond milk and lemon juice and set aside to curdle. Cream butter and sugar. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients, almond milk mixture, and lemon zest to butter mixture. Mix all ingredients together until just blended.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan(s) and bake 35 to 45 minutes until slightly golden in color and firm in the center. The 9 x 12 pan will take longer to bake than the 9” rounds.

Remove from pans and cool on racks.

For Frosting:

Using a hand-held mixer cream together margarine, sugar, and zest until smooth. Sift the icing sugar into the mixture through a medium strainer. Gradually beat in lemon juice 1 Tablespoon at a time, stopping when the icing has reached the right consistency for spreading. Refrigerate in an air tight container until needed. Allow to soften before using.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Comments

[Manic Mommy]

Could you deliver that to me? Now? I wonder if it'd taste the same without the vegan margarine. Not a fan. I'd be happy to try the almond milk though.

[Half Assed Kitchen]

Manic Mommy~ You could easily substitute butter or even regular milk. Though I will say that Earth Balance is a delicious dairy free option.

[Healthy Foods Blog]

Wow... the word that came out of my mouth. I'm 100% amazed on the outcome of your recipe. The quality is really great.

- Tera

[Samuel]

Interesting recipe. Just passed the recipe to an aunt who loves baking cakes. Can't wait to taste it.

[Undercoverpunk.wordpress.com]

OMG-- this is sooooo good! Five stars!

Recipe deviations: I had to substitute real milk for almond/soy/rice and I ended up making a half-batch of frosting because I didn't have enough butter.

This didn't matter a bit because the frosting is very sweet and the whole thing was DELICIOUS!! Addictive, even. I couldn't stop munching on it last night & I think I'll have some for breakfast this morning. ;) My guests were very pleased and I will DEFINITELY be making this again. THANK YOU!!

[Tara]

Just wondering if I'm the only one that noticed on the recipe...White sugar is NOT vegan friendly...

[All Adither]

Tara, we did not realize that. For others interested, here's more information on why cane sugar is often not vegan friendly.

http://www.vegsource.com/jo/qa/qasugar.htm

[Kangar]

A failed cupckae (or cake) is perfect to make cake balls with. Crumble it all up and put approx 1c (or s0) of your frosting in and smush it all together with your hands, mixing well. Chill it in the fride for a half hr or so. Take out and roll into bitesize balls, put back in fridge for about another hr. (if you have sucker sticks, line the balls up on a cookie sheet and stik in the sticks before putting back in fridge.) Once chilled again roll in melted chocoate (if that is GF and vegan, I'm neither so I don't know) if chocolate is not ok to use just micro your frosting for a few seconds to thin it out a bit and roll them in that. You can even add some sprinkles or whatever to make them cute too. Just and idea, good luck on the future recipes.

[Nong]

I have the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and I've made about 8 of the different reiecps. I would absolutely put my cupcakes against any cruelty cuppies. Mine and light and fluffy and delicious. I had a stupendous FAIL with one recipe, but I think it was because the baking soda and baking powder were not as fresh as they should have been. However, I crumbled the cupcakes, added the icing to the mix, and ate it over vanilla vegan ice cream. OMG was that yummy! Don't throw them away!!!