Lemon Coconut Cake – Moist, flavorful homemade cake topped with lemon and coconut cream cheese frosting!
Spring is brunch season! And who loves brunch? This girl! As soon as the weather starts warming up, I begin dreaming of tasty recipes that are perfect for Easter, Mother’s Day, and outdoor entertaining.
Brunch is my favorite meal to host. I love the mix of sweet and savory items, I love that we can drink coffee and champagne (hello, mimosas!), and I love the casual laid-back vibe of a late morning meal.
When I made this cake last week I immediately thought of how great it would be as part of a brunch spread. The flavors of lemon and coconut make it perfect for Spring. It’s bright and fresh, yet satisfying and indulgent.
In addition to brunch, this cake is also perfect as a dessert, breakfast, or snack cake. My family found plenty of reasons to enjoy it without a special occasion. A skinny slice of this cake and a strong almond milk latte are my current kryptonite.
This recipe is simple and straightforward; you don’t even need a mixer. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another, and then combine the two, pour into the loaf pan, and bake. This cake gets its lemon flavor from a combination of lemon zest and lemon juice. It gets a triple dose of coconut from coconut yogurt, shredded coconut and coconut oil.
Now, we must talk about the best part of the cake (in my opinion) – Cream Cheese Frosting! That golden cake gets smeared with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting, and then sprinkled with shredded coconut and bright flecks of lemon zest. That creamy, sweet and tangy frosting really takes this cake over the top. I absolutely love the combination of lemon and coconut with cream cheese frosting.
Whether you whip this up for a special occasion or any regular day, I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
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Lemon Coconut Cake
Moist, flavorful homemade cake topped with lemon and coconut cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup coconut yogurt I used full-fat coconut Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Finely grated zest of 1 medium-large lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Frosting:
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or half and half
- Shredded coconut and lemon zest optional garnish
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and shredded coconut.
- In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, coconut oil and almond extract until well combined. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until well combined, the batter will be thick.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a rack to cool.
Frosting:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon milk, extract and lemon zest and beat until combined. If the frosting is to thick add additional milk to thin it out.Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with shredded coconut and lemon zest.
This post originally appeared on Julie’s Eats & Treats where I am a regular contributor.
This is indeed a beautiful spring dessert! I’ve never heard of coconut yogurt but it seems you have the perfect use for it with this beautiful dessert. I can’t wait to try this in our own kitchen; lovely job!
You have just combined my two favorite flavors into one unholy love child — be still my heart!
Ooohhh!! What a pretty dessert for Easter!! Not to mention it’s a great way to use some of the lemons from my tree.
What a beautiful cake! It looks so light and fresh…. perfect for spring. I have a lot of coconut so this would be a great recipe to try. I love the lemon too so I’ll have to give this a try.
What a beautiful dessert, Allison! I love that you don’t need a mixer to make it!
I love coconut and I am drooling over this recipe! I need to try this ASAP! I wish I could smell it too. Thank you for sharing! Yummy! Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Made this today. Although good in theory, the cooking time is way off. Either use a cooler oven or reduce cooking time. Used the 45-min time and the loaf was very dry. It also dropped in the middle … easily camouflaged with extra icing but the dryness took away from the taste. Perhaps because the batter is so heavy and relatively dry increase oil, egg, yogurt quantity. The icing was good, tho.
I’m so sorry to hear that. I will have to retest it, as I didn’t have any trouble with it. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you.
Looks delicious, I was wondering if the yogurt can be substituted out in the recipe. Thanks.
Hi, Andrew. I would not recommend it. The yogurt imparts moisture, as well as sweetness and coconut flavor. If you have to swap it out, you can try substituting sour cream, but you’ll need to increase the sugar a bit (maybe an extra 1/4 cup?) to balance the tartness of the sour cream. I have not tried that, so I can’t say for sure.
I just made this and it is really delicious and not dry at all. I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s so good, I am debating if it even needs the frosting! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed it. Take care!
I do not have the coconut oil. Can applesauce be substituted?
Linda
usal2012@gmail.com
Hi, Linda. Substitute with a neutral oil – canola, vegetable etc.
I’m about to make this cake for my husband, and I’m just curious, since it’s a coconut cake, why did you use almond extract, instead of coconut extract?
I like the combination of almond and coconut; the almond is very subtle. Feel free to swap coconut extract for a stronger coconut flavor.