This lemon and raspberry loaf cake is bursting with vibrant, fresh flavours and is perfect for morning tea. The lemon cake is studded with pockets of juicy, fresh raspberries and is made with mostly pantry staples. This easy loaf cake is also completely dairy free and vegan.
I’ve been loving baking this season with all the fresh, sweet raspberries. So far I’ve made gluten free raspberry muffins and this incredible raspberry almond cake, and now we have the ultimate combination of raspberries and lemon coming together in this loaf cake.
Loaf cakes are perfect for morning or afternoon teas when you definitely want to serve something sweet but don’t want the level of intensity that a layer cake brings. With the combination of sweet and tart, the vibrant flavours of this lemon and raspberry cake pair perfectly with a cuppa.
But of course you can totally enjoy it for dessert with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream!
This cake isn’t too sweet but it’s soft and moist and while not completely necessary, the tangy lemon glaze drizzled over the top really just brings it to life.
Key Ingredients
Once you have your lemons and raspberries, the rest of this vegan and dairy free cake should come together pretty quickly with pantry staples (no eggs or butter required!).
Note all ingredients and their quantities are laid out in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Raspberries – I am using one punnet of fresh raspberries for this recipe. I don’t recommend adding more than specified as this will impact the end result and may leave you with a soggy cake. While I haven’t tried it myself, you should be able to substitute with frozen raspberries, however you’ll need to allow 2-5 minutes additional cooking time to compensate for the added moisture.
- Lemons – we’re using both the juice and the zest to ensure a strong, lemony flavour throughout the cake.
- Canola oil – keeps the cake super soft and moist. You can use any light tasting oil.
- White sugar – adds essential sweetness and structure to the cake.
- Vanilla – for the best flavour make sure to use vanilla extract not imitation vanilla.
- Almond milk – I like to use almond milk in this cake, however I’ve also made it with oat milk with similar results so any dairy free milk you prefer should work fine.
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour in the US.
- Baking powder – to help the cake rise and become light.
- Bicarbonate of soda – also known as baking soda in the US. As this cake has a long cook time, a little bicarb soda helps ensure the cake fully rises while also reacting with the lemon juice creating a softer, more tender cake.
Step-By-Step Instructions
To make this raspberry lemon cake, you’ll need a loaf pan, a whisk and a few bowls. I am using a 8 x 4 inch loaf pan but you can also use a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. If you have the latter size (which is more common) your cake may not look as tall as mine and the cook time may be a little less.
Note that this is a lot of batter for this pan so if you’re watching it rise in the oven, it may look like it will overflow…but it wont. It just makes a very full loaf!
Start by mixing together the canola oil, white sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
In another mixing bowl, combine the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet along with the almond milk and whisk the batter until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
In a small bowl, toss the raspberries with a tablespoon of flour until coated.
Pour ⅓ of the batter into a lined loaf pan and dot over half of the berries, followed by another ⅓ of the batter and the remaining berries. Finish with the remaining batter over the top.
Bake the lemon and raspberry loaf cake for 40-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a skewer when inserted just comes out clean. The exact cooking time will vary depending on your pan and your oven, so start checking at 40 minutes but know it may take longer. My cake takes 45 minutes.
Once the cake is cooked, let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. This is easiest if you leave a little bit of baking paper overhang so you can easily lift out the cake.
Finally you can make a super simple glaze by combining icing sugar and lemon juice. Once the cake has cooled, just drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake and decorate it with extra raspberries and lemon slices before serving.
How to stop raspberries from sinking!
When testing this recipe, I had to make it a few times in order to get a result that had the raspberries dotted throughout each slice of cake and not sinking to the bottom causing a soggy mess. This is a common problem when making cakes that contain fruits.
These are my tips to prevent this from happening to you and ensuring you have raspberries in each bite!
- Make sure your batter is thick enough. With my first test, I realised my batter was too thin which was causing the raspberries to sink to the bottom. A loaf cake is traditionally a denser cake so that’s what we need. For this reason make sure to stick to the wet to dry ratio of ingredients in this recipe.
- Toss the raspberries with some flour before adding them to the batter. Rather than just throwing the raspberries in the cake batter, a little coating of flour will help suspend them in the batter for enough time to allow the cake to cook and set around them.
- Don’t mix the berries through the batter. This is by far the most helpful tip for being able to control the density of the raspberries in your cake. Usually the berries are mixed through the batter before being poured into your prepared pan. Instead, pour ⅓ of the batter into the pan and dot over half of the berries, followed by another ⅓ of the batter and the remaining berries. Finish with the remaining batter over the top.
Freezing and storing instructions
If I am not serving this cake the same day, I do prefer to store it in the fridge but it will last at room temperature as long as you’re not in a hot climate for 2-3 days.
It also freezes well. If you’re making it ahead of time for guests, I’d recommend freezing just the cake and then making the glaze fresh for the best results. Otherwise you can freeze any glazed slices.
To freeze, wrap either the full cake or the individual slices in two layers of plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminium foil to protect it from any moisture. Let the cake defrost completely on the kitchen counter before unwrapping.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you can substitute any other berry in this cake – blueberries would be delicious!
Yes, if you’re looking for a plain lemon loaf cake then you can simply omit the raspberries and you have an easy lemon loaf cake. You can also make my vegan lemon poppy seed loaf cake which this recipe was adapted from.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with @eightforestlane as I would love to see.
More loaf cake recipes:
Coffee and Walnut Loaf Cake
Pistachio Cardamom and Lemon Loaf Cake
Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Orange Pound Cake
Vegan Lemon and Raspberry Loaf Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
For the cake:
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¾ cup white sugar/granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest from 2 lemons
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 2 cups plain flour/all purpose flour + 1 tablespoons extra
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
For the glaze:
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F conventional or 160°C / 320°F fan force and line a 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with baking paper and cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the canola oil, white sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- In another mixing bowl, combine the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet along with the almond milk and whisk until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
- In a small bowl, toss the raspberries with an extra tablespoon of flour until coated.
- Pour ⅓ of the batter into the pan and dot over half of the berries, followed by another ⅓ of the batter and the remaining berries. Finish with the remaining batter over the top.
- Place in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a skewer when inserted just comes out clean.
- Once the cake is cooked, let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze. Whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice. Once the cake has cooled, pour the glaze over the top of the cake. Slice to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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