This Lemon and Coconut Cake has two layers of lemon and coconut cake, lemon buttercream with a lemon curd centre and is topped with desiccated coconut.

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Updated Recipe

This Lemon and Coconut recipe has been on my blog for over five years now. So, I thought it was about time I gave it a bit of an update.

A few things have changed with this recipe. The main one being that I have changed it from a three-layer cake to a two-layer cake. I prefer the size and look of a two-layer cake.

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Lemon Curd Cake

The flavours of the cake have stayed the same. I used both lemon juice and desiccated coconut in the sponge and a lemon curd centre.

One thing I did change was that I have made a lemon buttercream to sandwich and top the cake with, compared with a coconut buttercream in the original recipe.

I changed the decoration up slightly as well. Of course, you can decorate the cake however you want. But instead of spreading the buttercream in between the layers of sponge, I decided to pipe it onto the cake and onto the top too.

Lemon Recipes

Lemon is one of my favourite flavours to bake with in the summer. The zinginess and lightness of lemon are just absolutely delicious in the warmer weather.

Since posting this recipe originally in 2020, I have added so many different lemon recipes to my blog, including my Lemon Curd Cake, Lemon and Raspberry Trifle and Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins.

Cake Tins

My go-to tins when I make a cake are these 8” loose-based tins. I think that an 8” cake is the perfect size for sharing and normally serves around 12 people.

I prefer a loose-based tin when baking cakes as it just makes getting the cakes out once they have baked so much easier.

This recipe can be adapted for a smaller or bigger cake tin, but you will need to adjust the ingredients and the baking time to suit the bigger tin.

Sponge

So, as I said above, I decided to keep the lemon and coconut sponge the same and adjust the number of layers in the cake.

I decided to use lemon zest and lemon juice in the cake as I wanted it to be as lemony as possible. You can use lemon extract to replace the juice and zest, though, if you prefer.

For the cake mixture, I also used

Self-Raising Flour – Self-Raising Flour is a readymade mix of flour with a raising agent added.

Caster Sugar – I went with a simple caster sugar in this recipe.

Baking Spread – For the cake recipe, you can use either a baking spread like Stork or a supermarket’s own brand, or you can use unsalted butter. Both work perfectly.

Eggs – I used seven large eggs in this recipe. I use one large egg for every 50g of caster sugar.

Baking Powder – I added an extra teaspoon of baking powder to the recipe along with self-raising flour to give the cake a lovely rise.

Baking

The cake needs to be baked in the centre of a preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. The oven needs to be preheated to ensure food safety.

All ovens are different, even two ovens of the same make and model will cook things at different speeds.

If you are unsure how long your oven will take to bake the cake, pop it in and keep an eye on it after 25 minutes. Remember, don’t open the oven door, though, or your cake will sink in the middle.

You can tell the cake has baked because it will be golden brown in colour. If you press down gently on the top of the cake, it will spring back to its original shape when you remove your finger. If you end up with a finger-shaped dent in the cake, it isn’t ready yet. Put it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes are repeat.

Buttercream

For this cake, I decided to decorate it with a simple lemon American buttercream. American buttercream is, I think, the most commonly used buttercream. For the basic recipe, you only need two ingredients: butter and icing sugar.

The butter needs to be unsalted butter. The type that comes wrapped in foil, usually in 250g blocks. If you use a baking spread or margarine, it will give you a super sweet, runny buttercream. It won’t hold its own shape when piped either.

To make the buttercream lemon-flavoured, I added the juice of a lemon. This can be replaced with lemon extract if you prefer. I also added a tiny amount of yellow food colouring.

Alternatives

You can use lemon extract to replace the juice and zest in the cake and the lemon juice in the buttercream.

The lemon curd can be left out, also if you prefer.

Equipment

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If you do have any questions about this Lemon and Coconut Cake or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the left-hand side of this page.

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