Lemon Coconut Cake
69 Comments
Posted: 06/13/20
Updated: 10/28/21
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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!
Contents
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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!
WATCH THE STEP BY STEP VIDEO FOR THIS RECIPE BELOW:
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Lemon Coconut Cake
Tender, Fluffy Lemon Loaf Cake Topped with Cream Cheese Frosting, Coconut and Lemon Zest!
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!
Video
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1, Calories: 480kcal (24%), Carbohydrates: 67g (22%), Protein: 6g (12%), Fat: 21g (32%), Saturated Fat: 15g (94%), Cholesterol: 86mg (29%), Sodium: 157mg (7%), Potassium: 219mg (6%), Sugar: 47g (52%), Vitamin A: 380IU (8%), Vitamin C: 1.9mg (2%), Calcium: 108mg (11%), Iron: 1.6mg (9%)
Susan Armstrong says
Wonderful recipe. I might use a bit of lemon juice in the icing next time to boost the lemon flavour. Baked in just over 45 minutes.
Julie Evink says
More lemon flavor is always great! Thanks for commenting and rating the recipe!
Jay P says
I tried to use what I have in the pantry. At the time I substitute almond extract to vanilla extract, I didn’t have buttermilk so I substitute to yoghurt.
For the icing I whipped butter cream icing and add lemon juice 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. Nice cake 🙂 my family really like it.
Julie Evink says
So glad it was a hit Jay! Thanks for coming back to comment and rate the recipe!
Jackie says
What can I substitute for coconut oil?
Julie Evink says
You could use butter, but it won’t have that coconut taste!
Kate says
Can’t wait to try this! Do you have any alternative flour suggestions to make it gluten free? Thanks!
Julie Evink says
Hey Kate, I’m sorry I’ve never tested it with gluten free products.
Keef says
This turned out fantastically well, everyone loved it and it was preferred it even to the cheesecake! I personally added a bit more flour (200g) to the cake mix to get the right batter consistency, and cheese (200g mascarpone) to the frosting to get that layer of cream topping like in the picture. It does get denser as it cools, but that doesn’t hinder the taste (perhaps add a little more oil to avoid?). Will be one for the recipe book.
Julie Evink says
Awesome to hear!
Kristen says
Maybe leave out the extra 200g of flour and the cooled
cake would have the right consistency.
Jo Sarno says
Mine came dense, heavy & didn’t seem to rise. Not of a pound cake texture either – followed directions so ?????
Angela says
Lose the almond extract!! It overpowers the entire loaf. I followed the recipe exactly and even though it’s made from scratch it tastes fake. Gross!
Julie Evink says
I’m sorry you didn’t like it.
Angela says
I just received the link for this recipe from an acquaintance of mine who lives in Nova Scotia so I have not tried it yet. I asked for it because I love all things coconut. Not sure if I will be able to find coconut yogurt but in the event that I cannot I was thinking of adding a very few drops of coconut extract to plain full fat yogurt…what do you think?
Michelle Sperr says
Hi Angela! I’m glad you found the recipe and I hope you enjoy it. I think some coconut extract would work quite nicely! Let me know how it turns out!
Ruthie Corliss says
This is great but a smaller loaf pan is better. In the 9×5 pan the cake didn’t rise very high.
Mo Watt says
Hi can you recommend a cake recipe to make as a birthday double layer cake please? My husband likes both lemon and coconut but I hoped you could suggest a lighter recipe
Julie says
This would be my best double layer cake – it isn’t lemon or coconut but it is strawberry!
https://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/strawberry-cake/
Louis says
Thank you for the recipe! Overall, I enjoyed the flavor or the cake but found it to be very dense. I first baked it in a round 9″ pan but found that the cake was very dense and the surface was tough. I though that I, perhaps overbaked it so I baked it in a loaf pan as directed but still found my cake to be fairly dense / heavy. Is that to be expected? If not, any suggested corrections?
Julie says
Yes, this is a denser cake. Almost like a pound cake when done!
Althea W says
Really great tasting and simple to prepare. I opted for toasted coconut on the top and the entire cake was great taste, texture and flavor. Will make again when my coconut lovers come into town!
Julie says
Excellent! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Leslie Smith says
Can sour cream be used instead of yogurt?
Julie says
Yes, you’ll lose a little bit of coconut flavor but sour cream should work just fine.
Jozie says
I made it without the almond essence as a tray bake and it was a hit! Toasted coconut on top adds an instant touch of gourmet 😉
Julie says
Perfect! I’m so glad they were a hit!
Toni says
This is absolutely amazing! My kids can’t stop eating these!
Julie says
Thanks for sharing, I’m glad it was a hit!