Reduced Sugar and reduced oil vegan lemon blueberry bread?!
How can it even be possible? LOL
As many of you may already know applesauce,bananas and pumpkin are great oil replacers in many recipes.
And I am doing exactly that by making this entire vegan lemon blueberry bread with just four tablespoons of oil total!
That means that if you cut this loaf into eight slices it’s less than 1½ teaspoons of oil per serving!
With monk fruit sugar in place of half of the granulated sugar I am really asking for trouble!
Somehow I eat way too much when there is less sugar and oil in a recipe!
Also if you are staying low sugar you will probably want to omit the sugar glaze or use a powdered monk fruit sugar instead!
Alternatively this recipe also makes great muffins too!
Just fill the paper liners 3/4 full and bake for about 25 minutes or when springy to the touch when you gently press the centers
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Notes for Success:
If you don’t have applesauce you can use mashed banana in the same quantity as listed.
However your cake will taste slightly of banana
Sugar free baking deserves a quick read
So be sure to check out my article with video tutorial so you can decide which sugar alternative works best for you!
Of course if you are not interesting in sugar free/low sugar baking just use regular sugar in place of the sub as I have listed below
Frozen berries are my choice in almost all my baking but you can use fresh just the same
NOTE: The recipe listed below is for 2 loaves
If you don’t want to make 2 loaves be sure to carefully divide all the ingredients in half and then double check your math!
The most common reason for baking failures is incorrect math and measuring!
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Bread
Ingredients
For the bread/cake batter:
- Plant Milk 1½ cups (355ml)
- Lemon Juice 3 Tablespoons (45ml)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- Lemon Zest from 2 large lemons (approx 4 teaspoons zest)
- Vegan Butter or Coconut Oil 8 tablespoons (113g)
- Applesauce ½ cup (113g) *see note above
- All Purpose Flour 3 cups (375g)
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cups (150g)
- Granulated Sugar or Monk Fruit Sugar 1 cup (200g) *see notes
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
- Salt 1 teaspoon
- Fresh or Frozen Blueberries 2 cups
For the optional sugar glaze icing:
- Confectioner's sugar 1 cup (120g)
- Lemon fresh squeezed Juice 1-2 tablespoons adjust as need for consistency
- Lemon Zest 1 each *optional for garnish
Instructions
- Melt the vegan butter or coconut oil and reserve
- Combine the soy milk with the lemon juice and then add the vanilla extract and the lemon zest, let stand to thicken for about 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and whisk together to incorporate all the ingredients very well.
- Add the liquids: the mock buttermilk, vanilla and the melted vegan butter or oil and the applesauce and whisk smooth.
- Fold in the blueberries and then divide the batter evenly between your prepared pans.
- Bake immediately in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 minutes then turn the oven temperature down to 350°F for another 25 minutes.
- The loaves should be almost baked by 35-45 minutes but definitely check them at the 30minute mark just to be sure, as all ovens bake differently.
- I like to do the "toothpick" test to make sure there is no raw batter, if there is you will want to turn the oven down even farther to 300°F to continue baking all the way without risking over browning or drying of the edges of your bread.
- Cool the loaf pans on a wire rack until you can safely touch them with your bare fingers and then flip them out carefully to cool the rest of the way.
- Once the breads are completely cooled, whisk together the confectioner's sugar with the lemon juice to smooth.
- Pour over the bread and then zest a lemon over top. *Obviously if you are keeping this bread low sugar you will omit this glaze OR use a powdered monk fruit sugar glaze
Grease TWO standard loaf pans (9" x 5" x 4.5") and preheat your oven to 375°F
If you do not want to make 2 loaves of this bread just divide all the ingredients by half and double check your math! The most common reason for recipe failure is incorrect math & measuring!
Notes
Lemon Blueberry Bread will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 2 days. I would not leave it sit out for longer as it could risk getting moldy quick.
If it last longer than 2 days put it in the refrigerator loosely wrapped for up to 1 week
can you freeze the extra loaf (like most baked goods)? Please advise
thx
pat
yes definitely, wrap well airtight for about 1 month (longer if you have a better freezer than me, which I kinda think EVERYONE has a better freezer than me LOL)
Hello,
My wife is searching for a recipe that she had saved to her phone. She got a new phone and the recipe was lost during the transfer.
The name of the recipe is “Swiss Meringue Buttercream”. Can you perhaps help out with this?
Thanks
Yes CLICK HERE for SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
Hi,
I just want to say how much we love this recipe! It’s moist with an incredible flavour and it’s so easy to make.
YAY! thanks for the comment! I agree! I love this recipe too!
Used this recipe to make a birthday cake for my son. Filled the layers with blueberry compote and lemon curd, and frosted with vegan Cool whip. It was a big hit, thank you!
YAY! thanks for the feedback!
Hi Gretchen,
I made this recipe yesterday, using a kitchen scale that can measure both grams and ml. While the recipe turned out pretty good, I noticed while making it that some of the ml measurements weren’t quite lining up with the tbsp/cup measurements– e.x., the 90 ml of lemon juice ended up being roughly double the number of tablespoons stated. I stuck to the ml measurements for accuracy sake, but I’m wondering if the tbsp/cups measurements are the correct measurements for the lemon juice and sugar, or if the ml quantities are the correct amount?
Anna thank you for pointing out that error! You are 100% correct, the lemon juice ml measure did not convert down from the larger recipe I originally had!
Thank you & I’m sorry!
No problem! Thank you for the clarification! The recipe still tasted great, even with the extra lemon juice, so I’m excited to test it out again.
Can I sub date paste for sugar??
While I have not tried that- I think it could work because this is a one bowl mix method, so I would whisk that date paste thought he other wet ingredients then add it all to the dry, please let me know if it works!
Hi Gretchen…I really want to make this but concerned about your comment of the loaves possibly becoming moldy after 2 days if stored at room temperature. What specifically warrants this outcome since most cakes/loaves can stay at room temperature for several days. Thank you! <3
Hey there, So hot humid conditions in the environment and also in the bread (moist cake = humidity) will be a perfect condition to start mold growth. This one is a specifically moist cake & the blueberries will add to that as well. Then most people will wrap a bread loaf like this in plastic wrap creating a perfect environment for mold growth too. (I’ve seen this in my bakery happen all too often in summer months) While I highly doubt this would happen in a matter of 2-3 days it is more of a disclaimer and a warning to those who may expect to have this cake/loaf around for a week or more (since many people are used to grocery store cakes & pastry where the shelf life is much longer due to preservatives)
Just wanted to come back and say this recipe was a hit with everyone who tried it! You can’t even tell there is less oil and sugar. It’s so soft and moist. I used half coconut oil and half butter but kept everything else the same. I was asked to keep this on regular rotation…lol. Another hit Gretchen!
YAY! awesome I’m glad you went for it!