Vegan Blueberry Cake Recipe

Some cakes require a long list of specialty ingredients, complicated techniques, and a full afternoon. This vegan blueberry cake recipe requires none of that. One bowl, pantry staples, fresh blueberries, and an hour in the oven and what comes out is a tender, moist, lemon-scented cake with jammy blueberry pockets throughout and a gorgeous burst topping that looks like you genuinely tried.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Servings: 10

Course: Blueberry Cake, Dessert, Gluten-free, Vegan Lemon Blueberry

Cuisine: American

Calories: 338

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups 315g all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled - Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it with a straight edge. Don't scoop directly from the bag. Scooping compacts the flour and adds significantly more than the recipe needs, producing a dense cake with poor rise. If you have a scale, weigh it at 315g and skip the measuring cup drama entirely.
1¼ cups 250g granulated sugar - Standard white sugar creates the lightest, most even crumb. Coconut sugar works as a substitute but produces a slightly denser cake with caramel undertones and a darker color.
3 teaspoons baking powder - Three teaspoons which is generous and correct. Without eggs to provide lift and structure, this vegan blueberry cake relies entirely on baking powder for its rise. Check the freshness date on yours. Old baking powder is the most common reason a cake comes out flat.
⅛ teaspoon salt - Technically optional but worth including. Salt enhances every other flavor in the cake particularly the lemon.
Wet Ingredients
¾ cup 190g dairy-free milk - Oat milk produces the most neutral, tender result. Soy milk adds body and a tiny bit of extra protein. Almond milk makes a lighter, slightly thinner cake. Any unsweetened, unflavored plant milk works avoid sweetened varieties, which throw off the sugar balance.
½ cup 125g neutral-flavored oil - Sunflower, avocado, or refined coconut oil all work beautifully. Don't use extra-virgin olive oil or any strongly flavored oil the flavor competes with the lemon and blueberry rather than supporting them. Oil keeps vegan cakes moist significantly longer than vegan butter, which tends to dry out as it sets on cooling.
⅓ cup 80g fresh lemon juice + zest of those lemons - You'll need 2 large or 3 medium lemons to get ⅓ cup of juice. Use every bit of zest from those lemons. The zest carries the essential oils that create a bright, aromatic lemon flavor. The juice provides acid that activates the baking powder and creates a more tender crumb.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract - Optional but recommended. It adds warmth that rounds the lemon flavor and prevents it from tasting one-dimensional.

Equipment

Equipment You'll Need For
One bowl, one pan the essential simplicity of this recipe:
A 20cm (8-inch) round cake pan - The specific size matters. An 8-inch pan gives you the right batter depth for the cake to rise evenly and cook through in the 50–60 minute window. A 9-inch pan spreads the batter thinner and results in a drier, faster-baking cake. A 7-inch pan makes the batter too deep and undercooks the center. Stick with 8 inches.
Parchment paper - Line the bottom of the pan. The blueberries sitting against the pan surface can stick and tear the cake when you unmold it without parchment.
A large mixing bowl - You only need one. This is a one-bowl vegan blueberry cake, which is part of why it's so easy.
A whisk - For combining dry ingredients and mixing the batter without lumps.
A rubber spatula or large spoon - For folding in the blueberries without crushing them.
A microplane or fine grater - For the lemon zest. Zest before juicing a juiced lemon is nearly impossible to zest cleanly. FYI, the microplane is the one kitchen tool that turns lemon zesting from annoying to effortless.
A citrus juicer -For extracting ⅓ cup of juice from your lemons.
A toothpick or skewer - For testing doneness.
A wire cooling rack - For cooling the cake after its 10-minute pan rest.
A kitchen scale (optional but recommended) - Weight measurements are more precise than volume for baking, especially for flour. 315g of flour is reliably consistent; a scooped cup can vary by 20–30g depending on how you measure.

Method

Step 1 - Preheat and Prepare the Pan
Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F). Line the bottom of your 8-inch round pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. Get this done before you start the batter you want to move efficiently from mixing to baking without the batter sitting around.
Step 2 - Combine the Dry Ingredients
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to your large mixing bowl. Whisk together thoroughly until there are no lumps and the baking powder distributes evenly through the flour. Thorough mixing at this stage prevents pockets of baking powder that taste slightly metallic in the finished cake.
Step 3 - Add the Wet Ingredients
Pour in the dairy-free milk, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Mix with your whisk until just combined and stop mixing the moment no dry flour streaks remain visible. The batter starts thick and loosens as you mix. Don't overmix. Overmixing develops gluten and produces a tough, dense cake rather than the tender crumb you're after.
Step 4 - Fold in Half the Blueberries
Add half of your blueberries (about ⅔ cup) to the batter. Use your rubber spatula to fold them in with 2–3 gentle strokes you want them distributed through the batter, not mashed. A few streaks from the blueberry juice are completely fine.
Step 5 - Fill the Pan and Top with Remaining Blueberries
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the surface. Scatter the remaining blueberries across the top, then gently press some of them into the surface with your fingertip. Pressing them in anchors them so they don't roll off the surface as the cake rises. Some can sit on top without pressing a mix of pressed-in and surface berries creating the most visually varied, beautiful topping.
Step 6 - Bake
Place on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check at the 50-minute mark with a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake. If wet batter comes out, give it another 5–10 minutes. If clean or with a few moist crumbs, it's done. This is a moist cake by design. A few crumbs on the toothpick is correct, completely clean means it's slightly overbaked.
Step 7 - Cool and Serve
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge and turning it out onto a wire rack. Don't skip the 10-minute rest. A hot cake is structurally fragile and tears easily when unmolded too soon.
Cool completely before slicing for at least 30 minutes on the rack. Dust with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

Notes

Full Nutritional Breakdown (Per Slice 1 of 10)

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	338 kcal
Carbohydrates	54g
Protein	4g
Fat	12g
Fiber	2g
Sugar	28g
Sodium	153mg
Calcium	102mg
Iron	2mg
Vitamin C	7mg