Vegan lemon almond cake with coconut whipped cream and macerated strawberries – a light, moist vegan lemon and almond cake topped with a cloud of coconut whipped cream and sweet macerated strawberries. The perfect cake for Spring!
This vegan lemon almond cake is really quick and simple to make, but it looks very pretty topped with it’s cloud of whipped coconut cream and mound of juicy strawberries; no decorating skills required! It would be a lovely cake to make for occasions such as Easter or Mother’s Day, not that it needs a special occasion to be baked at all.
The cake is a simple matter of separately whisking together the wet ingredients and the dry then mixing them together.
The eggs in this case are replaced with plain soy (or coconut) yogurt, which helps not only to bind the cake together, but to keep it lovely and moist too.
It is flavoured with lemon and almond and is absolutely delicious on it’s own, but is even better with the smooth, lightly sweetened coconut whipped cream and juicy strawberries.
Everyone that I served this cake to was utterly astounded that it was vegan, you really can’t tell at all.
If you haven’t made coconut whipped cream before then it is very easy to make, but you do need to do a little preparation in advance.
You need to buy two tins of full fat coconut milk and refrigerate them overnight so that they separate into two layers – the solid white coconut cream and a clear liquid.
Discard the liquid (or save it to use in smoothies) and whisk the coconut cream with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
If you find that it is too soft you can pop it back in the fridge for a while to firm up and then whisk it again. Once whipped it can be stored in a container in the fridge for up to a week.
The strawberries are macerated in a little sugar and lemon juice for half an hour so that they release their juices and become syrupy. They unfortunately don’t keep for too long so once the cake is assembled it ideally needs to be eaten that same day.
Vegan Lemon Almond Cake Recipe:
Vegan Lemon Almond Cake With Coconut Whipped Cream And Macerated Strawberries
A light, moist vegan lemon and almond cake topped with a cloud of coconut whipped cream and sweet macerated strawberries. The perfect cake for Spring!
Ingredients
Vegan Lemon Almond Cake:
- 240 ml (1 cup) plain soy or coconut yoghurt
- 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 75 ml (1/4 cup + 1Tbsp) sunflower oil
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 150 g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 80 g (2/3 cup) ground almonds
- 225 g (scant 2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Coconut Whipped Cream:
- two 400 ml cans full fat coconut milk refrigerated overnight
- 3 Tbsp icing (powdered) sugar (or more to taste) sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Macerated Strawberries:
- 400 g (14 oz) fresh strawberries
- 1 Tbsp caster sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
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Whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, sunflower oil, almond extract, lemon zest and caster sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.
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Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder; add to the wet ingredients and gently fold through.
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Working quickly, transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin, spread it level and pop in the oven. Bake for about 40 minutes, until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
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Leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
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Hull and slice the strawberries and place in a bowl. Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir to coat. Let sit for 20-30 minutes until the strawberries release their juices.
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To make the coconut whipped cream, remove the chilled coconut milk from the fridge without tipping or shaking it and remove the lid. Scrape out the top, thickened cream and discard the liquid (or reserve for use in smoothies).
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Place the coconut cream in a chilled bowl and beat with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract and sieved icing sugar and beat for about another minute. Taste and add more sugar as needed. Keep in the fridge if not using right away - it will harden in the fridge so may need to be re-whipped a little.
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Place the cake on a serving plate and spread over the coconut whipped cream, top with the strawberries and some of their juices and serve right away. Store any leftovers in the fridge.
For more vegan cake ideas check out my vegan chocolate fudge cake and vegan lemon curd layer cake.
I was lucky enough to sample this one! Delicious and moist and I would never have guessed it was vegan
If I wanted to ice the entire cake with this whipped cream, would it melt at room temperature?
Hi Rosa, if it is warm out then the coconut cream can get quite soft. It depends on how long it is sat out for really, and it can also vary depending on the brand of coconut milk that you use as to how soft it is. If you ice the cake shortly before serving it then it should be fine.