Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Hey guys!

A very special someone celebrated his birthday recently — someone who loves film, steam punk, archaeology and, apparently, cranky bloggers. Yep, that would be my boyfriend! He also happens to love poppy seed cake and, man, does he deserve one all to himself on his birthday.

Determined to make him the best vegan poppy seed cake out there, I found myself in a sticky spot when I couldn’t find a promising recipe online. Since I couldn’t risk a mediocre cake on someone who’s so clearly extraordinary, I decided to use the base of my favorite no-fail chocolate cake [via Vegweb here], omit the cocoa and add the lemon, almond and poppy seed flavors that I know he loves. It tasted like perfection and had a dense and super moist texture that made me wonder if the Cake God had come down and added her miraculous touch. It’s.that.good.

For all my health-conscious readers…this is not a “healthy” cake, so don’t bake it and then eat it out of the 9×13 pan with a shovel lol. Unless you’re the birthday boy (or girl), of course, in which case – dig in!

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (AKA “Birthday Boy Cake”)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups vegan sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
3/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking pan with non-stick spray.
Mix together first four dry ingredients, then add in wet ingredients.
Make sure you mix thoroughly, then fold in poppy seeds
Pour mixture into pan and bake for 40 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick to make sure it comes out dry (that means done and voila!)
YUM!

Frosting

I used my favorite butter cream frosting recipe from The Vegan Chef, here, but substituted one tablespoon lemon extract for the two teaspoons vanilla.

Nutritional Information for one 1/18 slice without frosting

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
18 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories		253.9

Total Fat		10.2 g

	Saturated Fat	0.8 g

	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.4 g

	Monounsaturated Fat	5.5 g

Cholesterol		0.0 mg

Sodium		269.9 mg

Potassium		43.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate		39.1 g

	Dietary Fiber	0.8 g

	Sugars	22.7 g

Protein		2.5 g


Vitamin A	0.0 %

Vitamin B-12	0.0 %

Vitamin B-6	1.0 %

Vitamin C	3.6 %

Vitamin D	0.0 %

Vitamin E	9.8 %

Calcium	3.2 %

Copper	3.2 %

Folate	1.8 %

Iron	2.5 %

Magnesium	2.9 %

Manganese	14.0 %

Niacin	1.4 %

Pantothenic Acid	1.0 %

Phosphorus	4.0 %

Riboflavin	1.0 %

Selenium	10.3 %

Thiamin	2.9 %

Zinc	2.3 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

It’s on my to-do list to “healthify” this cake by subbing in whole wheat pastry flour for the refined white flour, apple sauce & vegan sour cream for the oil, maple syrup for the sugar, etc. I’m sure it will taste like an entirely different cake, but hopefully it will still taste delicious and satisfy a hankering for poppy seed cake! I’ll keep ya posted.

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: cake, dessert, Recipes, vegan, vegan desserts

13 People have left comments on this post

» Faith @ lovelyascharged said: { Jun 7, 2011 - 04:06:39 }

Ooh, thank you so much for this recipe! I just tried to make vegan lemon poppyseed bars and they came out so sad – I can’t wait to try this one out instead of just guessing at proportions!

» Amy said: { Aug 27, 2011 - 05:08:25 }

This recipe was amazing, just used it for a recent bake sale! Great job!

» Dino said: { Oct 17, 2011 - 03:10:36 }

I was indisposed, while at a friend’s house (for a birthday celebration). He had requested a lemon poppyseed cake. Because I couldn’t get up from bed, I had to print out the recipe, and have them follow my instructions to make it work. (“No, bottled juice won’t work. Squeeze the lemons. We have them. Also, zest them.” “Yes, that sugar is vegan.” “Yes, you add the wet to the dry only after the oven is preheated.”) What do you know? It turned out PERFECTLY, and delicious. There were six of us there. I had but a small piece. The rest ate through a good 2/3rds of the cake in one sitting. It was scary (and heartening) to watch. Who knew that vegan baking could be this easy!?

» meredith said: { Dec 6, 2011 - 08:12:40 }

this was amazing. subbed apple sauce for the oil and cut the sugar back by 1/2 cup. i made mini loaves and they were delicious. thanks for the recipe!

» Gabs said: { Dec 6, 2011 - 03:12:03 }

This was so good! moist, not to sweet, and so simple! (: I loved it, I also added a lemon glaze on top, and put some lemon zest in the mix.

great recipe, thanks for sharing!

» Kate said: { Mar 22, 2012 - 05:03:52 }

Your cake looks AMAZING!! I’m including it in my “vegan poppy seed cake bake off”!!

http://kateneschke.com/recipes-to-try/vegan-poppy-seed-cake/

» Kirstin said: { May 7, 2012 - 05:05:43 }

My daughter found and made this recipe today. SO good! And um…my youngest was eating it out of the pan…LOL. I however refrained and only had a piece. I’m going to post a picture on my blog sometime soon and link to your page for the recipe. I can’t to browse more of your recipes.

» Chris Day said: { Oct 23, 2012 - 07:10:18 }

I found this via a Google search for a vegan cake recipe. It was for my dad’s birthday, and everyone at the party LOVED it! I was told it may be the best cake they had ever eaten… I used the frosting recipe you linked, and used lemon extract as you posted. Thank you for making me the bestest birthday cake maker!