This Lemon cake recipe with thyme is a favourite of my sons. It's a super moist & delicious cake using lemons and thyme to create a unique flavour explosion in your mouth.

Sometimes it's the smallest changes that make the biggest difference and this lemon cake recipe is a prime example. I am so proud and in love with this vegan lemon cake recipe. It's perfect for when I want to indulge in something sweet.
My brother had a surplus of thyme in his garden, so one afternoon I decided to combine thyme with lemon to whip up a cake. The taste is magical.
At first, my brother and his partner thought 'lemon & thyme cake? that sounds interesting' but fresh out of the oven and into their mouths with zero complaints.
From then on, I started baking it for my son (cupcakes for school lunches), who, as I mentioned, adores this cake.
🥘 Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Plant spread - use something light in taste, like sunflower spread
- 1 cup Castor sugar
- 1 cup Aquafaba (this is chickpea juice, canned is fine)
- 2 cups Self raising flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 ½ medium Lemons, juiced & rind grated Grate lemon rind before juicing ). Another couple of recipes using lemons are my rose lemonade or these sour coconut lemon balls.
- ¼ cup Plant milk or as needed
- ¼ cup Fresh thyme leaves
Frosting
- ⅓ cup Plant spread
- ½ cup Apple sauce
- ½ medium Lemon juiced
- ½ medium Lemon rind grated for garnish
- 2 ½ cups Icing sugar
- ¼ cup Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
💭 Recipe Tips
Adjust the amount of lemon juice and rind used in both the cake batter and frosting if you prefer it more or less lemony
Always use fresh thyme herb to yield a better flavour
Select your preferred cake tin, I used a muffin tray but you can use a cake tin, bunt tin etcetera
Lemon and thyme cupcakes with white lemon frosting.
📋 Other Vegan Dessert Recipes
- I recently made vegan meringue with rose water a light snack perfect for those sugar cravings.
- Vegan gluten free strawberry crisp - a sweet, refreshing, and a deliciously simple crowd pleaser.
Lemon Cake Recipe with Thyme
Ingredients
Cake batter
- ⅓ cup Plant spread
- 1 cup Castor sugar
- 1 cup Aquafaba
- 2 cups Self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 ½ medium Lemons, juiced & rind grated Grate lemon rind before juicing )
- ¼ cup Plant milk or as needed
- ¼ cup Fresh thyme leaves
Frosting
- ⅓ cup Plant spread
- ½ cup Apple sauce
- ½ medium Lemon juiced
- ½ medium Lemon rind grated for garnish
- 2 ½ cups Icing sugar
- ¼ cup Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Farenheit)
- In a mixing bowl add flour and sugar and mix. Once mixed well, make a well in center.
- Add in all wet ingredients.
- Once will whisked together add in baking soda, lemon rind and thyme.
- Whisk together until you see the thyme is evenly spread throughout batter.
- In your desired cake tin pour in mixture evenly (be sure to oil your tin if needed).
- Place cake in the middle of the oven and bake until you are able to poke a fork into the cake and no batter is present on fork when you pull it out. Roughly about 45min (depends on your oven).
- Allow cake to cool for at least 15 minutes before frosting
Frosting
- In a bowl add icing sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind and plant based spread and whisk together until it is thick enough to use as frosting.
- If it is too runny add more icing sugar. (a tablespoon at a time)
- Once cake is cool, transfer to wire rack. (cake must be completely cool before spreading your frosting on otherwise it will melt!)
- Tip; Adjust how ‘lemony’ you'd like the frosting and cake, by adding more or less lemon juice.
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
If you enjoyed this recipe, consider supporting my work for the cost of a cup of coffee.
Maria
The batter turned out great but i couldn’t get the frosting to work for me. I’d recommend removing the applesauce from the ingredients since it makes for a runny consistency.
Matilda
I have to agree with, this combination is really good. I served it for tea and my friends loved it too. They took some home with them. I shared this recipe with them