Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Basic Lemon Cake


Ingredients

Scale

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 cups dairy-free milk 
  • 1 T. cider vinegar
  • 2/3 cup oil (I used melted coconut oil)
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 T. vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil (or 1 teaspoon fine lemon zest, don’t use lemon extract or the cake will taste like floor polish)

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare your cake pans by tracing and cutting out parchment paper rounds to line the bottoms and spray the pans well with oil.
  2. Whisk dairy-free milk and vinegar together in a medium bowl and let thicken. Then add the sugar, oil and flavorings. Mix well.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, soda, baking powder and salt. My cornstarch and baking soda are always lumpy, so I sift mine into the bowl through a mesh strainer to get out the lumps.
  4. Carefully dump and mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Just blend until most of the lumps are out. Don’t beat the heck out of it.
  5. Pour batter into your prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center is set and you can poke a knife into the center and it comes out clean. Let the cake rest for a few minutes before lifting out and cooling on a rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Notes

This is a great cake to try some coconut oil. The coconut flavor is very subtle and tastes rather buttery. Other vegetable oils work fine, but you’ll need to crank up the lemon or vanilla flavors or the cake will taste bland. 

Lemon oil is amazing stuff, a little goes a long way. It lasts forever in the fridge.