Almond Flour Lemon Cake that is bursting with citrus flavor! Grain-free, refined sugar-free, and dairy-free, this moist and decadent cake is ideal for anyone who enjoys delicious lemon desserts!
For my friends who eat a grain-free diet (or a paleo diet) and love lemon desserts, this easy Almond Flour Lemon Cake is a must-make!
It is seeping with luscious lemon flavor, is just the right amount of sweetness, and has a glorious texture.
I love how easy this cake is to prepare and the fact that is is just so loveable.
Serve it with breakfast, brunch, or for birthdays and special occasions!
You can easily turn this into a lemon poppy seed cake or a lemon blueberry cake by adding in poppy seeds or blueberries (or both!).
Let’s discuss the basic ingredients for this tasty almond flour recipe.
Ingredients for Almond Flour Lemon Cake:
Almond Flour & Tapioca Flour: A combination of almond flour and tapioca flour takes the place of regular all purpose flour in this lemon almond flour cake recipe. Together, the two flours generate an amazing fluffy texture with a moist crumb.
You can replace the tapioca flour with arrowroot flour, or just use more almond flour if you’d like.
I recommend using finely ground almond flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour) for the best results, but almond meal works too.
While it can be tempting to replace the almond flour with coconut flour, I don’t recommend it as coconut flour is much more absorbent and requires more eggs and liquid. In essence, the whole cake recipe would need to change.
Fresh Lemons: We need three large lemons for zest and fresh lemon juice. The lemon zest is what is responsible for the big lemon flavor, so a little patience pays off when it comes to thoroughly zesting the lemons. Just be sure to only zest the yellow part of the peel and stop once you reach the white peel, as the white part can be very bitter.
I use regular lemons but meyer lemons work too, provided you’re able to get over 1 tablespoon of zest from them.
Avocado Oil: Adding decadent flavor to the lemon cake, we need a substantial amount of fat. I like using avocado oil because it contains healthy fats and also has neutral flavor so the lemon flavor shines through.
The avocado oil can be replaced with olive oil (if you like the flavor of olive oil cakes), melted coconut oil, full-fat canned coconut milk, or melted butter.
Pure Maple Syrup: Keeping this lemon cake refined sugar-free, pure maple syrup is the sweetener here. If you prefer using cane sugar, replace the pure maple syrup with 2/3 cup of regular sugar and increase the amount of oil to 1 cup.
Large Eggs: In order to fluff up the cake, we use large eggs. If you have the forethought to bring the eggs to room temperature before you begin baking, you can do so but chilled eggs are fine too.
Vanilla Extract: A little vanilla extract goes a long way in offsetting some of the citrus flavor with a little warmth. If you don’t keep vanilla extract on hand, feel free to skip it.
Sea Salt: A pinch of salt enhances all of the luscious flavors in the cake and also makes it taste sweeter without the need to add more sweetener. Don’t skip it!
Baking Powder: The leavening agent here. We use baking powder to bring rise to the cake and ensure the slices hold together nicely. I love that the texture of the cake is light and fluffy with a nice little crisp around the edge.
Optional Additions:
- Stir 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds into the batter to make lemon poppy seed cake.
- Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the cake batter to make lemon blueberry cake.
Now that we’re familiar with the simple ingredients for this lemon cake using almond flour, let’s bake it!
How to Make Almond Flour Lemon Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch springform cake pan with a circle of parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract until everything is well-combined.
In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt) until combined.
Transfer the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well until a smooth batter forms.
Note: if you like preparing cake batter in a blender, food processor, or electric mixer, feel free to toss all of the ingredients into either option and process until the cake batter forms.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and cover it with foil (this will prevent the top of the cake from getting darker than golden brown).
Bake for 30 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, or until the cake tests clean.
Cake is fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. you can check the temperature by inserting an instant read thermometer into the center of the cake.
Allow the cake to cool completely before releasing it from the cake pan.
If you’d like, you can make a lemon glaze by combining 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. For a sugar-free glaze, use a sugar-free confectioner’s sweetener such as besti sweetener or powdered monk fruit sweetener.
You can also whip up a batch of my Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting for a creamy, tangy frosting.
I find the cake is plenty sweet on its own, but cakes are also lovely with glazes. Lemon curd is also a lovely topping for this gluten-free cake.
Use a sharp knife to slice the cake into individual slices and serve with fresh berries, whipped cream, raspberry sauce or Raspberry Chia Jam.
How to Store Cake:
Cover the cake in plastic wrap and store it at room temperature for up to two days.
As an alternative, transfer any leftover cake to an airtight container in the refrigerator and keep it for up to one week.
This flourless lemon almond cake freezes very well! Simply slice any remaining cake into individual slices, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze the wrapped slices in a large zip lock bag for up to 3 months.
I hope you love this luscious lemon dessert as much as I do!
The way I see it, this gluten-free lemon cake is a great recipe for sharing with friends and family. It is a vibrant dessert option for holiday meals or gatherings any time of the year.
If you enjoy healthy lemon dessert recipes, also try these tried and true favorites.
More Lemon Desserts:
- Creamy Lemon Oatmeal Crumb Bars
- Keto Lemon Bars
- Paleo Lemon Poppy Seed Blondies
- Keto Lemon Pound Cake
- Grain-Free Rosemary Lemon Olive Oil Cake
- Glazed Keto Lemon Cookies
Enjoy this delicious grain-free lemon cake the next time you’re entertaining company!
Almond Flour Lemon Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (158ml or 5.3oz) avocado oil*
- 2/3 cup (158ml or 5.3oz) pure maple syrup
- 3 lemons zested and juiced (about ⅓ cup (74ml) of juice and over 1 Tbsp of zest)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- 3 cups (340g or 12oz) almond flour
- ½ cup (65g or 2.2oz) tapioca flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Optional Glaze:
- 1 cup (120g or 4.2oz) confectioner’s sweetener**
- 2 Tbsp (15ml) lemon juice or water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8-inch springform cake pan with a circle of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the avocado oil, pure maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract until everything is well-combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and sea salt) until combined.
- Transfer the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well until a smooth batter forms.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and cover it with foil (this will prevent the top of the cake from getting darker than golden brown). Bake for 30 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, or until the cake tests clean.
- Cake is fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. you can check the temperature by inserting an instant read thermometer into the center of the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before releasing it from the cake pan.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Am interested if I can use a bunt or my heart shaped nordicware bundt pan?
How high does the cake rise?
If I remember correctly, the cake rises about 1 to 1.5 inches in an 8-inch pan 🙂
This recipe is a winner. The visual results are exactly as you see it. I however, left it in the oven about 3o more minutes to fully cook and get a little darker. I Also added blueberries.
It was moist inside and firmer outside.
I did not add the frosting or topping included in the recipe .
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Marie! This is super helpful to others who want to try the recipe 🙂
Has anyone used a loaf pan for this delicious looking cake? If so, how long did you cook it? Also, I think I will add blueberries as well.
Hi Carol! I actually have a recipe for almond flour lemon poppy seed bread, which you can check out here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/almond-flour-lemon-poppy-seed-bread/ If you aren’t into poppy seeds, feel free to omit them! When adding blueberries, note that the bake time might slightly increase, but otherwise, you should be good to go. Happy baking! xo
I’m interested in using a bunt pan or my heart shaped nordicware pan.
Hi Carole! The cake is fairly fragile, so I’m not sure how it will fare in a bundt pan. I have only tested it in a springform pan, so it’s difficult to say. I think as long as you allow the cake to cool completely, it may come out of a heart shaped pan intact, but again, I can’t be too sure. Let me know if you try it!
Loved this cake. It has a delicious lemony flavour and doesn’t make you feel bloated.I used powdered stevia and added some yogurt to balance it. My husband and I loved it.Thank you
The yogurt sounds like a lovely addition! Thanks for sharing your changes, Vanessa! xo
I love this recipe. I did substitute oranges for the lemons since that’s what I had on hand and it was amazing! Wondering if you’ve tried making this chocolate?
Orange sounds amazing, April! Thank you for sharing. I actually do have an almond flour chocolate cake recipe, which can be found here: https://www.theroastedroot.net/paleo-chocolate-cake/ Hope you enjoy it! xo