I love to use fresh fruits in my cakes as much as I can and this sweet and zesty blackberry lemon cake takes fruitiness to another level. I think you'll love it. There are so many delectable flavors to enjoy inside one cake.
This recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make which isn't long at all. If you like cakes which are super soft, fluffy and easy, you should totally consider making this one.
Although I usually serve this cake on it's own, it also tastes great with dairy-free single cream or dairy-free custard. These are optional but I highly recommend giving the cake a try with them sometime.
Love lemon cakes? If you do, I know you'll also like my vegan almond lemon cake, vegan lemon raspberry cake, vegan lemon olive oil cake and vegan blueberry lemon cake which are all amazing in their own ways.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- Delicious Texture - This delicious sweet treat is so light and beautifully moist. Not only is the consistency of the cake itself amazing, but also the glaze on top which compliments it perfectly. It is a bright lilac in color due to the blackberries which are added.
- Fruity & Fresh - This blackberry lemon cake is one of the freshest summertime bakes that I have ever tried, along with my vegan blueberry cream pie and vegan lemon curd . Not only are the fruits in this recipe bursting with flavor upon leaving the oven but they're also so refreshing! Both blackberries and lemons are also packed with antioxidants.
- Great For Sharing - I love baking these cakes for a summertime family get together and for other places where outdoor food sharing is prevalent. People always love this recipe and I hope that you will too.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This vegan blackberry lemon cake recipe is entirely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Apple cider vinegar - You need to stir the vinegar into the soy milk in order to make a vegan 'buttermilk'. This mixture will serve as a vital ingredient in this cake recipe and it will help the loaf cakes to have the best, airy texture possible.
- Canola oil - This is the same thing as rapeseed oil. If you want lots of moisture in your cake, using this type of oil will help you greatly. See my vegan almond raspberry cake and vegan vanilla chocolate cake for examples of the fantastic effects that canola oil has on the textures cakes.
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice - I only ever used freshly squeezed lemon juice in my recipes. Avoid using artificial lemon juice. Not only is it unnatural, but it is also flavorless. It doesn't come through in the true, tangy fashion like real lemon juice does.
- Lemon zest - This gives the cakes an even bigger 'punch' of lemon goodness than the juice. It's more concentrated than the lemon juice and contributes to the cake massively.
- Fresh blackberries - These will be used for both the filling and the glaze topping. I personally prefer using these to frozen blackberries.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- You can make the blackberry glaze thicker or thinner easily in this recipe. If the recommended ratios don't make the glaze you were looking for, all you need to do is change the amount of water that you add to the powdered sugar. Add a little more water for a thinner glaze and add a little less water for a thicker glaze. This is an option for so many of my cake recipe such as, in the vegan carrot walnut loaf cake.
- You can make this cake gluten-free very easily. In fact, you only need to substitute one of the ingredients, which is the regular white all-purpose flour. It's very easy to replace it these days, as most major grocery superstores will sell gluten-free all-purpose flour blends, which you can swap 1:1.
How To Make Blackberry Lemon Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Grease two loaf cake tins with vegan butter then set aside.
2: Make the vegan buttermilk.
3: Combine the dry cake ingredients in a bowl.
4: Pour in the wet ingredients to create the batter.
5: Fold in the blueberries and pour into the prepared tins. Bake.
6: Let the loaf cakes cool before decorating.
7: Make the blackberry glaze then spoon the glaze over the cooled cakes.
Expert Tips
Stop the blackberries from sinking - Dust the blackberries in some flour before adding them to the cake batter. This will help them stick to the batter and they won't sink as much while baking inside the oven.
Don't use frozen blackberries - For ease and efficiency, I advise that you use fresh blackberries, as opposed to frozen blackberries. Not only will you be able to use the fresh ones instantly, but they also have a much better flavor.
Recipe FAQs
Blackberries are very good for you. They are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants so if you'd like a treat that also has health benefits, this could be the one that you're looking for.
The great thing about these easy loaf cakes is that I don't use a direct egg replacer. Instead, I rely on science and chemical reactions between the apple cider vinegar and leavening agents.
Store this blackberry lemon cake at room temperature inside an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the fridge for 4 days.
You can freeze this cake for up to 3 months. Slice the cake up and place inside a ziplock bag or an airtight container. I also recommend that you separate each slice of cake with a piece of parchment paper so that they don't stick together.
Depending on the utensils that you used to zest your lemons, you may have grated some of the pith. This often gives a lemon cake an extra bitter taste! Also, adding too much baking powder or baking soda can cause strong bitterness.
With lemon cakes, this is almost always due to an incorrect ratio of ingredients. Some examples include not enough of the leavening agents and too much flour.
More Lemon Cake Recipes
If you tried this Blackberry Lemon Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Easy Blackberry Lemon Cake
Ingredients
For the lemon cake batter:
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 200 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 ml canola oil rapeseed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Zest of 2 medium-sized lemons
- 150 g fresh blackberries
For the blackberry glaze:
- 160 g powdered sugar sifted
- 5 teaspoons water
- 12 g fresh blackberries squashed with spoon
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F).
- Grease the insides of two 20cm x 10cm cake tins with dairy-free butter. Set aside.
Make the cake:
- Start by making the dairy-free buttermilk. Do this by mixing your apple cider vinegar into the soy milk. Let it curdle for 8 minutes before adding it to any other ingredients.
- To a large mixing bowl add the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix the dry ingredients well.
- Next, add the curdled soy milk, canola oil, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixture. Fold the lemon cake batter until almost all the flour is mixed in. Lastly, fold in the fresh blackberries.
- Equally, pour the cake batter into the greased loaf tins and bake in center of your oven for 20 minutes. A skewer will come out clean when they’re done.
- Allow the blackberry lemon cakes to cool down inside the tins for 15 minutes, then place them on a cooling rack to cool fully.
Make the glaze:
- To a small bowl, add the powdered sugar and the water, one teaspoon at a time. The glaze will be thick in consistency.
- Separately, squash the blackberries with the bottom of a fork until they become juicy. Mix the squashed blackberries into your glaze.
- Spoon the blackberry glaze over the two lemon loaf cakes.
Video
Notes
- Dust the blackberries in some flour before adding them to the cake batter. This will help them stick to the batter and they won't sink as much while baking inside the oven.
- For ease and efficiency, I advise that you use fresh blackberries, as opposed to frozen blackberries. Not only will you be able to use the fresh ones instantly, but they also have a much better flavor.
Christine Rowe says
This cake was so good. Everyone enjoyed it 😍