Vegan Lemon Cake With Lemon Buttercream Frosting

No eggs, no butter, no dairy. Contributing writer Pamela May's pick for the August issue is a lemon layer cake that, as the magazine put it, "You can't believe it's plant-based!"

Vegan baking, meaning baking with no animal products at all, has to solve two problems: what replaces the eggs, and what replaces the butter. This cake answers both with pantry staples. Soy or oat milk, oil and a tablespoon of vinegar go into the batter in place of eggs and dairy, and plant butter stands in for the real thing in the frosting.

Pamela May shared the recipe in the August issue of Stroll Dilworth, with credit to lovingitvegan.com. It makes two 8-inch layers.

Ingredients

For the lemon cake

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups soy or oat milk
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp. distilled white or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 tsp. lemon extract
• 2 Tbsp. lemon zest

For the lemon buttercream frosting

• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup plant butter
• 2 tsp. lemon extract
• 3 1/2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest. Whisk briefly by hand until combined and no big lumps remain. Don't overmix; tiny lumps are fine.
3. Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Remove the cakes and cool them completely on a wire rack before frosting.
5. For the frosting, put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix, starting slow and increasing speed, until thick and smooth.
6. Frost, then decorate with lemon zest and, if you like, blueberries.

Stroll Dilworth collects neighbors' recipes each month; the magazine's content coordinator, Delia McMullen, takes submissions at clteditor@strollmag.com.

This story appears in the August 2026 issue of Stroll Dilworth.