Hi baking friends! Today I bring to you my twist on the classic British lemon drizzle cake – vegan orange drizzle cake! This moist and zesty cake is bursting with flavour and can be whipped up in just a couple of hours! As a hobbyist baker, my favourite type of desserts of those that require the least effort but have the biggest payoff and this orange drizzle cake is no exception.
If you’re not a fan of orange then not to fret – check out my other cake recipes here!
Baking tips:
This vegan orange drizzle cake is fairly foolproof as it requires no difficult tools or techniques and can be whipped up in 2 hours! However, I know I’ve made some silly mistakes on easy recipes before so here are some tips and tricks to make sure your cake is picture perfect!
1. Do follow the recipe as described! It’s a very simple recipe with baking is an exact science so things have to be done in the right order at the right temperature, etc.
2. I have had a few people ask if they can replace the almond meal/flour here and unfortunately it’s quite vital to the crumb structure. If you have a nut allergy, you can swap it out with more flour (swap the 75g almond meal for 50g AP flour) but the structure will be a little different. If you’re celiac you can use use a gluten-free flour blend but make sure it includes xanthan gum or add it yourself.
3. Don’t skip the sea salt. I know it seems odd adding salt to desserts but when all the elements are sweet, you need a pinch of salt for balance.
4. Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature. The main ingredient that’s usually not room temperature is the plant milk so make sure you take it out of the fridge in advance. If the batter is too cool when it goes in the oven, the edges will cook before the centre and you risk having raw batter in the middle.
5. Do line your loaf tin with parchment paper. I like to do the 2-strip method: one strip vertically and one horizontally. This makes it really easy to remove.
6. Don’t be tempted to add extra orange juice to the batter to make the flavour stronger. Too much acid from the citrus can cause the structure to collapse when baking.
7. Make sure you use unwaxed oranges; the wax they use to coat fruits typically isn’t vegan.
If you’re in the UK, I’ve provided a list below with some of the key ingredients I’ve used…
Ingredients:
- For the plant milk, I used unsweetened, organic Alpro soy milk but you can use another other of the plant milks such as oat or rice if you need to be soy/nut free!
- I typically use canola or vegetable oil for the cake though you can be fancy and use something like olive oil too!
- I use Sainsbury’s almond meal for this cake but you can also use almond flour too.
For this recipe you’ll need:
- 2 lb loaf tin (medium size – 22cm x 11cm)
Orange Drizzle Cake (vegan)
Nothing quite beats a moist, zesty and sweet pound cake packed with vibrant orange flavour. This vegan twist on a classic lemon drizzle is a guaranteed crowd pleaser and you won't regret making it!
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 225g all-purpose flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 75g almond meal/flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 250g plant-based milk
- 1-2 tbsp orange zest (2 oranges)
- 1 tbsp orange juice (1/2 orange)
- 90g neutral vegetable oil
- 2 tsp orange extract
- pinch of sea salt
- Syrup:
- 50ml orange juice
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
- Glaze:
- 200g icing sugar
- 20ml water/orange juice (vary as necessary)
Directions
- Step 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Step 2 Line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
- Step 3 Sift all the dry ingredients together (flour, almond meal, baking powder, soda and salt).
- Step 4 Mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (plant milk, orange juice, extract, and veg oil) with the sugar.
- Step 5 Add the orange zest to the dry ingredients and then quickly mix in the wet ingredients into the dry, careful not to overmix (30 seconds of mixing).
- Step 6 Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake at 180C for 40 minutes. Use a toothpick at the 35-minute mark to see if it is cooked. If it still needs longer, rotate the cake and cook for another 10 minutes. You can cover it in foil if it is browning too quickly.
- Step 7 Take the cake out the oven and allow to cool for at least an hour.
- Step 8 After the cake has cooled, poke a dozen holes in the cake so that the syrup can soak through.
- Step 9 Mix together the syrup ingredients in a pan on low-medium heat. When the syrup starts bubbling (boiling point) take off the heat and carefully spoon into the holes on the cake.
- Step 10 Put the cake in the fridge to cool down for 20 minutes.
- Step 11 Mix together the glaze ingredients, adding more or less orange juice for a preferred consistency and spoon over the final cake.
- Step 12 Serve!
