Vegan Lumberjack Cake (Gluten-Free)
You’ll fall in love with the decadent, rich, and delicious vegan Lumberjack cake that’s gluten, soy, and nut-free. Perfect for special occasions or weekend baking.
I remember when I first had this cake. It was near a nursery in a cafe that is surrounded by a beautiful park. This was before I became vegan. I recall noting down the name of the cake mentally as I fell in love with it.
I wanted to have it again if I came across it the next time I was out in a cafe. That day never came. It’s been over a decade since that day, and I am yet to see anyone make this cake, vegan or not.
So as I was going through my Pinterest binge to get some inspiration for recipes, I came across a Lumberjack cake that wasn’t vegan, and it brought back those memories.
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I was on a mission to recreate it and do the flavours and texture justice, but make it vegan and gluten-free.
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Recommended flour for this vegan lumberjack cake
I tested it with a couple of different gluten-free flours to make sure that pretty much any blend that you use would work. The two that I used that had a great outcome were Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and The Source Organic Wheat-Free Plain Flour Mix.
So if you can’t get yourself a hold of either of these, find one that has a similar combination of gluten-free flours. This will give you the best results.
This cake is juicier than it looks…trust me!
This cake is moist, sweet, balanced, and has that bit of crunch from the coconut on the top, making it perfect. I may or may not have eaten about half of each of the test cakes, for quality control purposes, of course.
I’m addicted. If you love dates and coconut, you’ll love it (at the same time these ingredients do not dominate the flavour). I think that it’s such an underrated cake and I’m glad that I can share this vegan and gluten-free version with you. It will definitely be added to my list of top ten favourite cakes!
Other vegan dessert recipes you’ll love:
- Baked Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake
- Vegan Tufahije Recipe (Bosnian Walnut Stuffed Poached Apples)
- Easy Vegan Apple Burek (Posna Pita Sa Jabukama)
- Vegan Apple Crumble (Gluten-Free)
- Vegan Cherry Strudel with Cream Cheese
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.
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Vegan Lumberjack Cake (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Bake Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 slices
Description
You’ll fall in love with the decadent, rich, and delicious vegan Lumberjack cake that’s gluten, soy, and nut-free. Perfect for special occasions or weekend baking.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1½ cups (around 2-3) apples, peeled and grated
- 1 cup pitted dates, chopped
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 3 tablespoons aquafaba* (chickpea water)
- ½ cup neutral cooking oil (sunflower, grapeseed, or rice bran are best)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (plus more for the cake tin)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Topping:
- ⅓ cup vegan butter (plus more for the cake tin)
- ⅓ cup plant milk
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) and spread some vegan butter on the base and sides of a 21cm / 8.5inch springform cake tin. Add approximately 2 tablespoons of the flour to the pan and tap it around until it sticks to the butter. You’ve just created a non-stick surface. If you have any flour left over, save it for the batter.
- In a bowl, combine the apples, dates, bicarb soda and 1 cup /250ml of boiling water. Put a lid or plate on top and set aside for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, in a separate bowl, whisk the aquafaba for about 30 seconds to a minute until it goes white and a small peak forms. This is your binder.
- Add in the oil, vanilla, sugar, and whisk until well combined.
- Sift in the flour and salt and fold to combine. If you have any flour left over from doing the pan, add it in now.
- Add in the apple and date mixture to the main bowl and stir. It is going to be quite a wet batter. Don’t worry, it will bake fine.
- Pop in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.
- For the topping: While the cake is baking, combine and mix well all the topping ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Once the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and spread the coconut mixture on top evenly and return to the oven for a further 25-30 minutes, until the coconut is a light golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
- Remove cake from oven and let cool completely before removing from cake tin and serving.
- Serve with some whipped coconut cream, plain vanilla ice cream, or on its own.
Notes
Aquafaba: If you haven’t used aquafaba before, this is the chickpea water when you purchase a can of chickpeas. You can read more about it here.
- Diet: Vegan
So good! So soft! I used medjool dates instead of the packet / dryer ones so my cake was slightly TOO soft if that’s a thing! But it was DELICIOUS!
Hello! Do you have a preference for apple variety in this cake? Green apples have that tangy sometimes bitter taste, whereas red apples are generally sweeter.
Discovered your site today – I’m kinda thrilled about that 😉
Thank you
Hi Leonie,
Good question! I’ve personally used a few different red varieties for this recipe. Welcome 🙂
Masa YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY?????, in fact I Think you’ve made my year‼️‼️‼️Lumberjack cake= FANTASTIC!
Love all of your and Michaels posts-I look forward to them every week.
Hi Zlata! You’re the sweetest! That just put a massive smile on my face ? I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. Glad to hear you’re enjoying our posts xxx
Would you be able to recommend a binder other than aquafaba that you think would work for this recipe? I’ve had it in a couple of desserts before and I’m not a fan of the flavour. Otherwise, this cake looks delightful! 🙂
I can’t taste the aquafaba at all in this recipe as it’s a very small amount. I haven’t tried it with anything else as a binder but the next thing that I would try would be either applesauce or a flax egg. Let me know how it goes!
Lumberjack cake is made in my town, but always with banana, so I’ve never tried it. Looking forward to making this one; any cake with apple in it is my favourite ?
Oh with banana? That’s interesting! Haven’t heard or seen that version before. Hope you enjoy this one 🙂
Hi
I didn’t have any chickpeas so I improvised & used the liquid from a tin of cannellini beans instead.
The proof will be in the eating.
The Batter tasted fine!
I made this cake for my eldest son’s birthday tomorrow.
My youngest son announced he was going Vegan so hopefully it will be welcomed by both of them!
I have only ever made a traditional Lumberjack Cake before & it always went down well.
Thanking you
Kind regards
Lynne