Vegan pound cake with lemon icing made utterly delicious and moist without oil. This whole food, plant-based cake recipe is gluten free and refined sugar free.
3tablespoonlemon juice + 1 ½ teaspoon lemon zestabout 1 lemon - see notes.
1teaspoonvanilla extract
½cupdate sugaror sub another granulated sugar - see notes.
1tablespooncorn starch
Instructions
To Make the Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and make sure 1 rack is in the center of the oven with enough room above for a loaf pan.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or use a silcone pan.
In a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients (lemon zest + lemon juice, applesauce, almond butter, maple syrup, and plant milk). Whisk to combine until smooth.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients (almond flour + oat flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt). Whisk together until fully combined and lump free.
Add the dry ingredients about ⅓ at a time to the wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Whisk well until everything is fully combined and lump free.
Spoon the batter into the loaf pan, spreading it out evenly.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool complete before icing, about 1 hour.
To Make the Icing
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the vanilla extract and lemon juice.
Make powdered sugar. Place the date sugar and corn starch in a blender, and process a few seconds until it forms a light, powdery sugar. See notes.
Add the powered sugar a little at a time and stir to combine, making sure to break up any lumps.
Add the lemon zest and whisk together.
To Assemble
Remove the cooled cake from the loaf pan, and place on a tray or plate with some room around the edges.
Slowly pour the icing evenly over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.
Allow the icing to fully set before serving (about 15 minutes). Place the cake in the fridge if you want the icing to set faster.
Notes
Lemons. You'll need about 4-5 medium lemons TOTAL if you're making both the cake and the icing.So you'll probably end up with leftover lemon, without its skin. Just toss these back in the fridge and use over the next few days, or squeeze out the juice and freeze it to use later.Powdered sugar. I find a nutribullet is perfect for making this powdered sugar, but you can use a large blender or even a food processor. This technique should work well with most granulated sweeteners. This recipe yields about 1 cup of powdered sugar.Sweeteners. You can use other sweeteners like date syrup in this recipe, but they will change the color of the cake and icing, making it more brown and will affect how sweet the cake is. Note: this recipe was originally made with erythritol, which has since come into question as an acceptable WFPB sweetener. Please use date sugar or another granulated sweetener of your choice. Silicone bakeware. It's fine to line your regular pan with parchment paper, but I highly recommend flexible (but not too flimsy!) silicone bakeware as shown in the photos above. Don't scoop your flour with the measuring cup. Use a spoon or scoop to spoon it into the measuring cup instead, then use the flat side of a knife to scrape the excess off the top. Don't overwork your batter. Eliminate lumps in the dry and wet ingredients before mixing them together. Then, whisk to completely combine the dry into the wet but don't over stir, or the batter can become tough.Don't be tempted to ice the cake until fully cooled. A warm cake will make it too runny, and all of your icing will end up on the plate.Adjust the sweetness to your liking. This cake is not very sweet, but the icing is. Taste the icing, and adjust as desired. Zest. When zesting your lemon, only grate the dark yellow part of the skin, not the white (pith), which has a bitter flavor.