You asked and I tested!
I posted this recipe on my instagram a few days ago and my DMs blew up (thank you all! I love DMs!). A few months ago, I started poking around and asking my sister what her boyfriends favorite cake is, because he is spending his birthday in Oregon with us, while we visit for our family friends wedding! His birthday falls on the day of the wedding and we knew we wanted to celebrate him as well! He is an incredible illustrator, he and me sister are so stinking talented, and I knew that the cake had to be gluten free and vegan so I could also indulge!
When Lily got back to me she said, “Lemon Poppy seed”. My heart started to race because I have never tested this recipe before! Not only do I have to make a bomb-ass lemon poppy seed cake, I have to make it vegan, gluten free and oh transport it to Oregon and have it hold its moisture for 3 days. I had the work handed to me!
I went to the drawing board and started doing my research on different base lemon cake recipes. I found there were a ton of similarities between the 20 recipes both not vegan and vegan. I ended up using the basis of my vanilla cake and adding a lot of lemon juice, lemon zest and a twist of vanilla. I feel the vanilla added depth to the butter flavor and the lemon added the brightness that was needed.
Not only is this cake incredibly quick to prep, it lasts great for a few days unfrosted and wrapped tightly while stored in the fridge which is was BIG goal here! I went ahead and tested this recipe a few times and am confident in saying, this is a winner!
Prep Time:
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PinIngredients
Cake:
– 1/2 cup of softened earth balance butter
– 1 1/3 cup of sugar
– 1/4 tsp lemon extract *if you dont have add more juice
– juice of 1 whole lemon
– 1 tsp lemon zest
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 2 tsp baking powder
– 1 1/4 cup of non dairy milk
– 2 tbsp poppy seeds
– 1 tsp salt
– 2 cups of gluten free (1:1 flour)
Frosting:
– 1/3 cup of vegan butter
– 1 tbsp of coconut milk
(canned thick coating on the top)
– 2-3 cups of powdered sugar depending on the
moisture in your coconut milk
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 tsp salt
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 350° F and grease your 2, 7″ cake pans or 1, 9″ cake pan, dust with flour and set aside
2. in a bowl, cream your vegan butter with your sugar
3. next add your lemon extract, vanilla, salt and baking powder until combined
4. alternating 1/2 cups of flour to 1/2 cups of non dairy milk mix those into your butter and sugar mixture until smooth
5. next add your lemon juice and lemon zest
6. lastly, add in your poppy seeds and stir until fully folded through your batter
7. evenly fill your 7″ baking rounds with batter and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. while your cakes bake, beat your vegan butter, coconut cream, vanilla extract and salt
9. add in your powdered sugar to create a vegan butter cream, the texture should be thick but spreadable
10. let your cakes cool completely and cut then in half length wise to create 4 layers
11. alternate cake, frosting, cake and frosting to create a layer cake with 3 of the layers
12. using the 4th layer (choose a top piece with the “crust”, using your hands create a cake crumble and set aside
13. after your cake is frosted, add your cake crumble as decoration, top with fresh fruit and enjoy!
Notes
best kept in the fridge covered to stay fresh longer!
Let’s talk about transportation of cakes!
When we were prepping to get married 2 years ago, I had decided to make our own cake. I couldn’t find a cake baker in the area (south west Montana) that had a good, not dry vegan and gluten-free cake so I said, “heck, I will make my own!”. I had to prep this cake at least 2 weeks before our wedding due to travel and the week before prep. The key to keeping cakes fresh is allowing them to cool for hours before wrapping them in plastic wrap. Usually and in my everyday life I avoid plastic at ALL costs. But in this case, you have to have a tight suction on your cakes to suck out air.
Step 1. Bake your cake
Step 2. Allow your cake to FULLY cool (I am talking 3 hours)
Step 3. Wrap each layer that you make individually 4 times with Saran Wrap and TIGHT
Step 4. if you are baking the cake weeks in advance, toss it in the freezer, if you have a few days, toss it in the fridge
Step 5. Transportation: Whether you are flying or driving, get an insulated bag or cooler and fill with ice packs wrapped in towels (we don’t want them leaking condensation on to the cakes), fill the cooler with ice, and your cakes, you can stack them here in their individual wrapping and cover them again with ice packs in towels
Step 6. Upon arrival at your first or final destination, put cakes immediately into the fridge for an event within the next 3 days or the freezer for an event in the next week
*allow your cakes to thaw in the fridge for 1 day prior to your event – may need more per cake size
Step 7. Pull out your chilled cake rounds from the fridge and start frosting (I like to frost a cold cake to avoid crumbs
*if you are using a pound style cake or a denser cake, I suggest a simple syrup cake soak on each layer before frosting to bring back moisture
Step 8. Frost your cake and enjoy!
Now that I figured out how to transport this cake, I wanted to share it with you! Feel free to top the cake with fresh berries, I choose strawberries, but blackberries, blueberries and raspberries will work beautifully. Enjoy with a friend and tag me in your posts! I love seeing the creations you make!
