Celebrate summer and sunshine with this easy Eggless Lemon Cake. Bursting with fresh flavors, this soft and moist cake needs no fancy ingredients and comes together rather quickly. Enjoy a slice with a side of coffee or tea!

Growing up lemon cake was definitely not in my list of favorite cakes. I don’t think I associated lemon with desserts back then. It was only later in life that I got exposed to lemon based desserts like lemon sorbet, lemon cheesecake etc. that I grew fond of them.

Lemon desserts are great all year around but I especially love them during spring and summer. When the weather gets warm, I feel like baking with lemon. This time around, I had lots of lemon lying around and I ended up baking this eggless lemon cake. It has soft crumbs and needs no special ingredients. This cake is great for snacking or as a little tea time treat. The burst of fresh flavor from the lemon zest and lemon juice really makes this a perfect summer cake.

If you have loved my eggless cakes before like Eggless Jaggery Cake or the Eggless Marble Cake then you are going to love this one too. For more eggless baking recipes, check out my eggless cakes and cookies page.

Ingredients

You need basic pantry ingredients to make this cake!

Flour: I have made this cake with all purpose flour. You can definitely use whole wheat flour but the resulting cake will be a little dense compared to the one made with plain flour.

Lemon: choose fresh lemons that are in season for this recipe, I would not recommend using bottled lemon juice here.

Butter: I like using salted butter for this recipe but you can also use unsalted butter. If using unsalted butter, make sure to add some salt in the recipe.

Yogurt: to make this cake soft (and also to replace eggs), I have used plain yogurt. Make sure the yogurt is at room temperature.

Milk: whole or 2% milk would work well for this recipe.

Step by Step Instructions- How To Make Eggless Lemon Cake

Before you start, grease a 8×4 inch loaf pan with non-stick oil spray and preheat your oven to 350 F degrees.

1. In a large bowl, sift together 2 cups of all purpose flour (260 grams) and 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. It’s best to use a kitchen scale for best results.
2. Using a wire whisk, mix the dry together and set aside.
3. To the steel bowl of your stand mixer (or use your hand mixer), add room temperature 1/2 cup (113 grams) butter. I have used salted butter here but you can also use unsalted butter. To that add 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar.
4. Using the paddle attachment of the stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes until mixture turns pale and fluffy. Then add 1 tablespoon lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until combined.

5. Take a measuring jar (or bowl) and add 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (150 grams) plain yogurt to it. Make sure the yogurt is at room temperature. Mix it using a wire whisk and then add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to it.
6. Within seconds, you would notice the yogurt mixture will become bubbly and rise as the soda reacts with the yogurt.
7. Add the yogurt-soda mixture to the steel bowl of your stand mixer now and mix using the paddle attachment until combined.
8. Also, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix to combine. After adding the lemon juice, it might look like your mixture has curdled but don’t worry. The batter will look just fine once we add the flour and milk to the mixture.

9. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix until combined using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer.
10. Then add 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk and mix until combined.
11. Add the remaining 1/2 of the flour and mix until combined. Do not overmix at this point, some streaks of flour are okay.
12. Transfer the batter to a greased 8×4-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 F degrees for around 40 to 42 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the baked cake onto a wire rack to cool completely and then slice it. Enjoy with coffee!

Baking The Cake In Different Size Pans

I have baked this cake in a 8×4 inch loaf pan. I like using this pan size for a taller cake. But you can also use a 9 x 5 inch cake pan. If using a 9×5 inch pan, you would need to add 5 minutes or so to your baking time.

Expert Tips & Notes

• Make sure the yogurt, milk, butter everything is at room temperature before you make this recipe. This way the ingredients mix better together.
• Do not overmix the batter, a few streaks of flour is okay. Overmixing will lead to a tougher and denser cake.
• Let the cake cool completely before cutting it into slices. As with most eggless cakes, this cake has a soft crumb and is delicate. It needs to be cooled completely before slicing.
• If you want to jazz up this eggless lemon cake, mix up some powdered sugar (icing sugar) with lemon juice and drizzle on top.
• To make this lemon cake vegan, replace the yogurt with plain almond milk yogurt and the milk with non dairy milk like soy milk or almond milk. Rest of the recipe remains same.
• Once completely cooled, store this cake in an airtight container. You can keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days or in refrigerator for 4 days.