Lemon Coconut Cake
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Moist, flavorful homemade Lemon Coconut Cake! A homemade loaf cake bursting with lemon and coconut flavor that’s topped with a lemon cream cheese frosting and shredded coconut. It’s a quick and easy dessert, yet impressive. No layering or hassle so anyone can make it!
Today’s recipe is a burst of fresh flavor. That tangy lemon mixed with coconut is irresistable in this quick and easy Lemon Coconut Cake.
It’s made in a loaf pan so it’s such a quick and easy dessert recipe perfect for spring and summer. The cake is completely from scratch and has a mix of lemon and coconut flavoring.
Then you top it with homemade cream cheese frosting with lemon zest and shredded coconut for the finishing touch.
My mouth is watering just thinking about this cake again!
Why You Need to Make this Cake!
- Completely from scratch
- Perfect for any occasion
- Moise and Soft
- Easy to make, yet impressive
- Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting
- Garnished with lemon zest and coconut
Ingredients Needed
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Shredded coconut
- Coconut yogurt
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Lemons
- Coconut oil
- Almond extract
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Almond extract
- Milk or half and half
This cake gets its amazing lemon flavor from a combination of lemon zest and lemon juice.
It’s so flavorful with three types of coconut flavoring from coconut yogurt, shredded coconut and coconut oil.
My mouth is watering just thinking of biting into the cake with that amazing lemon and coconut combination!
Steps to Prepare Cake
- First you will combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another.
- After that you will then combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Next step is to pour into the loaf pan and bake.
Steps to Prepare Cake Cream Cheese Frosting
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.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Make sure it’s smooth!
- Add milk, extract and lemon zest and beat until combined. If the frosting is too thick add additional milk to thin it out.
- Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with shredded coconut and lemon zest.
You could also toast your coconut and top it with toasted coconut to mix up the flavor profile a bit!
Storage Tips!
You can prepare this ahead of time. We wouldn’t recommend more than 24 hours.
Store it in an airtight container in refrigerator to keep it fresh longer.
The same rules apply for leftovers!
Whether you whip this up for a special occasion or any regular day, I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
Love Lemon? Check out these favorites!
- Grab a hot cup of coffee, some friend and a slice of this Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Frosting!
- Start with a box cake mix and turn it into Lemon Poppy Seed Cake!
- With only 6 ingredients any one can make these Lemon Cream Turnovers that start with a puff pastry!
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Lemon Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Lemon 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
Cream Cheese 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°F. 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 too thick add additional milk to thin it out.Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with shredded coconut and lemon zest.
Tips
- You could also toast your coconut and top it with toasted coconut to mix up the flavor profile a bit!
Melissa says
Wow – not only a beautiful cake but delicious too!
Julie says
One of our favorites! So glad you loved it!
stephanie says
I love lemon and coconut together, this lemon coconut cake sounds delicious!! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Julie says
You won’t regret it!
Ricardo Vargas says
Great flavor great recipe, thanks Julie,
You’re wonderful
Julie says
You’re welcome! Thanks for your comment and review, Ricardo!
Lisa says
Made this yesterday, but cake did not rise much. Tastes great, but feels heavy/dense. Any suggestions to get more rise?
Julie says
It could be a number of things, sometimes this happens from over-mixing the batter or using old/expired baking powder.
Rose Neal says
Can you make these as cupcakes?
Julie says
I haven’t tested it but I’m sure you could! The only difference would be the bake time. Start with 15 minutes at 350 degrees and go from there, do a toothpick test to check them. Let me know how it goes!
Sherry says
I would love to make this cake with a lemon cake mix. If I add all the ingredients to a cake mix except the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, do you think it would work?
Julie says
I’m not sure whether or not that would work. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!
Ru says
What can I use instead of coconut yogurt?
Julie says
I’m not sure what a good replacement would be besides plain yogurt, but you’ll lose some of the coconut flavor in the cake.
Ru says
Hi Julie, thanks for the response. I found coconut yogurt in the end. I want to try and make this again. Can I substitute lemons for limes?
Julie says
You certainly could, I have never tested it but if you wanted a coconut lime cake, that would be the way to do it!
Lori says
Hi Julie, I just made this cake today! I turned out delicious. It’s fluffy and light, sweet and bright! I only had 1/2 cup of coconut Greek yogurt, so I added a 1/2 cup of sour cream. It was amazing. I can’t wait to try it with the recommended amount of yogurt. Sooooo good!!!!! Thanks!
Julie says
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Julie says
Yummo
Julie Evink says
So glad you enjoyed it Julie! Thanks for commenting and rating the recipe!
Nellie Tracy says
Such a beautiful and delicious Spring Cake! Will make again!
Julie Evink says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Beth says
This recipe looks amazing! I too, would like to see how this would work in a 9 x 13 pan as one loaf would just not be enough for me! Delish!
Kerrie says
WOuld you keep this cake in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting or is it ok in an air tight container kept at room temp? Thanks
Julie Evink says
I would keep it in the fridge.
Danielle says
Just made a double batch!!
Looks and smells delicious and cannot wait to frost and eat it!
Bhav says
What is all purpose flour ?
I couldn’t find in supermarket
They had plain flour or self rising flour,
Julie Evink says
I would guess you need plain flour. All-Purpose is in the US.
Theresa says
can this be made in a 13×9 inch pan? Do I need to double or do 1 1/2 times the recipe?
Julie Evink says
I’ve never tested it in a 9×13 inch pan but I would start by doubling it and watching the bake time!
Rebecca says
My sister made the cake and it came out very dense. How can we fix this for the next time?
Julie says
It could be a number of things but the two that pop into my head is over-mixing the batter and/or expired baking powder. Would either of these be the issue?
Sue says
Did you try the 9×13 pan? I want to make this as a bday cake for my daughter this weekend .
Julie says
I think it would work if you double the recipe!