Vegan Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake – soft, moist & fluffy

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This vegan lemon blueberry loaf cake is super easy to make, so fluffy, moist, and of course, super delicious and vegan. The fresh and tangy flavour of lemon is the best when paired with sweet and juicy blueberries. I know you can agree on this. It’s even more delicious with a sweet and tangy lemon glaze. Perfect for bringing to home parties and sharing with your friends and family.

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Lemon cake is one of my favourite cakes of all. It’s so fresh and tangy, I love the sourness of lemon in sweet cakes. It creates a perfect balance. And when you add blueberries to it, it gets even better! Lemon cake with sweet blueberries bursting in your mouth at every bite. Mmm, so good.

The first time I made a lemon cake was because one of my friends asked me to bake it for her birthday. The recipe I chose was from a baking book I had back then and it had 2 layers with lemon buttercream on each layer and lemon syrup soaked into the cakes. And it was so, so good. I’d never even eaten lemon cake in my life up until when she requested me to bake one. And I thank her for it massively, because otherwise, I’ve kept my lemon cake virginity possibly until today.

This vegan lemon loaf cake recipe I’m sharing with you today is different from the 2 layer lemon cake I baked for my friend, but it’s as amazing and delicious, or even better. It’s sweet, tangy, soft, moist, and fluffy with juicy blueberries and lemon glaze drizzled on top. I love this recipe because not only is it delicious, but it’s super easy to make too. Let’s get baking!

Ingredients and substitutions

Plain flour: The base of this loaf cake is plain flour. I like the texture plain flour gives to baked goods which is fluffy, soft, and tender.  You can substitute for a 1:1 gluten-free flour mix if you want to make it entirely gluten-free!

Caster sugar: I used ordinary white caster sugar for this recipe to sweeten up the loaf cake. I chose it because it enhances the creamy, lemony, white colour of the loaf. You can also use brown sugar if you would like to make it more wholesome! You can also use coconut sugar too. If you are using these sugars the final product may look slightly darker because of the rich dark colour of the sugars.

Vegan butter: I like using vegan butter in cakes, as it gives a nice buttery flavour to them. It also creates a soft and moist texture in cakes. I used vegan butter block from Naturli, if you are in Japan you should be able to buy it online! I also love using Earth Balance vegan butter if you are based in the UK. I also hear that Miyoko’s is very good in the US, but I haven’t had the chance to use it so if you do let me know how it goes! You can substitute with vegetable oil or nut butter too! Vegetable oil gives a lighter texture and flavour than vegan butter. And nut butter would make a denser and more flavourful loaf cake. If your nut butter is quite thick and dense, add a tablespoon or two, three of soy milk or any plant milk of your choice to balance the consistency of the batter.

Soy milk: I used soy milk in this recipe as soy milk is one of the most versatile plant milk I use all the time in my baking. You can substitute for any other plant milk of your choice! I would suggest trying coconut milk, almond milk, or oat milk.

Cornflour: Starchy flour such as cornflour gives baked goods a nice soft texture as well as works in place of eggs in vegan baking as a binding agent. You can also use tapioca flour or arrowroot powder in place of cornflour too!

Lemon: Obviously, lemon! Use fresh organic lemon to get that nice tangy flavour. You can also use bottled lemon juice too if you don’t have fresh lemons on hand.

Blueberries: You can use either fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries, whichever you prefer. I used fresh blueberries for this recipe.

You can substitute with: Other berries such as raspberries, blackberries or strawberries!

*I use bone char-free sugars for all of my recipes. I cover the topic in my article Vegan Baking 101. Go to the “Is sugar vegan?” section to learn more!

Recommended equipment for this recipe

Loaf tin: A loaf tin is a rectangular-shaped baking tin that is used to bake, well, loaves. It comes in handy to have one or two loaf tins. You can bake loaf cakes, banana bread, loaf bread, etc. 

Wooden spoon: I like using large wooden spoons to mix batter because it’s more gentle than a whisk and doesn’t develop too much gluten in the batter. You can also use a rubber spatula. A large whisk will do too if you don’t have a wooden spoon.

Parchment paper: This might be obvious to some people but very important in baking. Parchment paper! Lining your baking tin with it will greatly help when taking the loaf cake out of the tin. It makes it easy to remove it as well as prevents them from sticking to the bottom and sides.

*The ingredient list and measurement for this recipe can be found in the recipe card at the bottom.

How to make vegan lemon blueberry loaf cake

Step1: Make vegan buttermilk

Mixing the lemon juice and soy milk comes first in this recipe. Mixing these two ingredients makes vegan buttermilk which is great for raising the loaf nice and fluffy. Whilst the vegan buttermilk is setting, melt the vegan butter in a saucepan and mix the cornflour and water together.

Step 2: Mix the batter

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Add the vegan buttermilk mixture, melted vegan butter, cornflour mixture and all the remaining ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently with a large wooden spoon.

Step 3: Add blueberries and bake

Add in the blueberries to the batter and fold a few times until they are well mixed in. Top with some more blueberries to make it look prettier! Transfer the mixture to a lined loaf tin and bake for 50 mins until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Step 4: Make lemon glaze

To make the lemon glaze, mix the lemon juice and powdered sugar together until it makes a smooth graze. Drizzle it over to the lemon blueberry loaf cake when it’s completely cooled. Cut slices and dig in!

Tips and tricks

No over mixing

When mixing your cake batter, it’s tempting to mix very well until it’s completely smooth and creamy. And I get it, it’s so satisfying to have smooth batter.. But try not to do it! When you mix cake batter, gluten is constantly developed as you mix and if developed too much, it results in a rubbery, tough texture in cakes. So to avoid this, mix the wet and dry ingredients gently with a large wooden spoon to minimise gluten development. You can also use a rubber spatula if you want.

Coat the blueberries in flour before mixing in

Do your blueberries sink to the bottom when the cake is baked? This is especially common when you use frozen blueberries and we don’t want them all to sink at the bottom! To prevent this from happening, toss the blueberries in flour to coat them lightly before mixing them into the batter. This will prevent them from sinking.

Line the tin with parchment paper

I’m guilty of not lining my tins properly with parchment paper, and if you haven’t done it yet, you should start doing it like now! Lining your tin will greatly help take your cake out and keep its shape too. To line, simply cut a piece of parchment paper into the sizes of the bottom and side of the tin you are using, grease a thin layer of oil or vegan butter on the inside then line with the cut parchment paper. You can also just grease your tin if you don’t have any parchment paper.

Cut into slices when the loaf is completely cooled

If you are having a difficult time cutting the loaf into slices, you might be cutting it too soon. When the loaf is still hot/warm right out of the oven, it’s still in the process to form a nice shape. So let it cool completely first and see if it helps! Another thing might be that your knife isn’t sharp enough to cut a loaf/bread or that you are not using a bread knife. Try sharpening it or using a proper bread knife!

Adjust the amount of lemon juice for the glaze

You can adjust the amount of lemon juice for the glaze to make it your ideal consistency. If you want it thin, use about 2 tablespoons. If you want it thicker, use half to 1 tablespoon. In the picture, I used 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. This also depends on the powdered sugar you are using too, so try and adjust the amount to find your best balance!

Q and A

My blueberries sink to the bottom! What can I do?

I got you! There’s a tip for it above in the tips and tricks section too for you. Ok so this can happen from time to time, especially when you are using frozen blueberries. So to prevent this, you can add one step before adding them into the batter – lightly coating them in flour. This will stop blueberries from sinking to the bottom!

The centre of my loaf is doughy but the outside is cooked. What should I do?

This loaf cake recipe has a slightly higher butter content to make it flavourful, and while it makes it delicious, it can sometimes be tricky to bake the centre right. But don’t worry, here are some tricks.

First, use a digital scale to measure your wet ingredients. Cup measuring is easy but it can be inaccurate more times than you think. You can be having the wet and dry ingredients ratio wrong with measuring cups and this can result in an uncooked centre. Weighing ingredients with a digital scale on the other hand, is the most accurate way to measure ingredients. So I always recommend using a scale to get the ratio right.

Another thing can be that your blueberries had a lot of moisture from rinsing with tap water or frost around them if you used frozen ones. In this case, make sure that the blueberries are dry by pat drying them with clean clothes or a kitchen towel.

If your centre still doesn’t cook, it could be that the consistency of the ingredients you are using is different from mine. In this case, if your batter still looks runny after trying these tricks, try adding a tablespoon or 2 of flour to the batter and see if it helps!

How can I prevent the top of my lemon blueberry loaf from being burnt?

Each and every oven is different and has a unique character. And if the top of your loaf gets burnt, it could be that your oven had a higher temperature than it says. If you think this is the case, it might be a good idea to check the temperature with an oven thermometer!

And here is a very useful trick that I use to prevent it from happening. Place a sheet of tin foil that is a little bigger than your loaf tin on top of the loaf after 30-40 mins of baking in the oven when the top is golden, then bake for the remaining time. This trick works very well. If you are baking for longer after a toothpick test and you think baking longer can burn the top, use the same trick, it should work!

Can I make it gluten-free?

Yes you can! I tried making this recipe with 1:1 gluten-free flour and it was as delicious. The texture of the cake might be a little denser than the original recipe though, a 1:1 gluten-free blend should work in place of plain flour.

Can it be oil-free?

If you want to make it oil-free, I suggest you use nut butter in place of vegan butter. I used almond butter once before and it turned out amazing. However, because the consistency of each nut butter varies, you may have to adjust the amount of soy milk. If your nut butter is quite thick and dense, add 2-3 tablespoons of soy milk. And if it’s very runny and thin and the batter looks too watery, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and see if it helps.

How to store the leftovers

To store this lemon blueberry loaf, slice, put it in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can enjoy a slice straight out of the fridge while it’s cold or microwave for 30 seconds for a warm slice. For a longer storage time, put them in an airtight container that is freezer friendly and store them in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. Defrost a slice and enjoy it whenever you fancy one!

Want to master the basics of vegan baking?
Check out Vegan Baking 101 – the beginner’s guide to vegan baking for you to become an excellent vegan baker and familiar with the basics of vegan baking, ingredients, and techniques with useful tips!

You will LOVE this vegan lemon blueberry loaf cake because they are:

• super delicious
• moist
• vegan
• juicy with blueberries
• perfectly balanced with tanginess and sweetness
• fun to share with people
• easy to make

Want more recipes like this?

Try my other delicious cake recipes you might enjoy!

• Blueberry lemon muffins
• Peach cobbler
• Chocolate chip pumpkin bread
• Vegan Apple Crumble Cake
• Lemon sugar

Visit the cakes and cupcakes page and recipe page for more delicious recipes!

Please leave a comment and rate this recipe in the comment section below if you like this recipe! Let me know and tag me @thechestnutbakery on Instagram too. Thank you for making my recipe, friends!

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