Many people have tried this now and no one thinks of it as a gluten free cake. It’s just a delicious cake! Love the coconut + lemon + almond meal combination, and the springy, moist crumb. BONUS: Just about the fastest, easiest cake recipe I know.
Lemon coconut almond cake
This is a cake that is as delightfully easy to make as it is delicious to eat. Just put everything in a bowl and mix! There’s no need to whip softened butter or pull out your electric beater.
It’s been likened to the fan favourite orange cake in texture – springy yet with an appealing moistness about it. And the flavour! Adore, adore, adore the coconut lemon combination. Idea swiped from my local coffee shop where I’ve been eyeing lemon coconut cake bars for years. This is my copycat.
I don’t actually know if theirs is gluten-free. Mine is, because I’ve never come across a flour-based cake recipe with a crumb as moist as you can make using almond meal.
What you need for this lemon coconut almond cake
Here’s what you need to make this lovely cake:
Almond meal (aka ground almonds) – This is raw almonds that are blitzed into a fine powder. Easily found nowadays, sold in the dried fruit & nut section and health food section of grocery stores. Or make your own by blitzing raw, unpeeled, unsalted almonds in a powerful blender (I use a Vitamix) until it becomes a fine powder.
Almond flour can also be used (not as common here in Australia). It’s finer so gives the cake a slightly fluffier texture and less almond flavour. Hazelnut meal can also be substituted though you’ll have lovely hazelnut flavour instead of almond.
Butter – The fat in this recipe, gives it a beautiful buttery flavour.
Baking powder – This is what makes the cake rise.
Eggs – Make sure they are at room temperature so they incorporate more easily into the batter.
Coconut – Desiccated coconut which is finely shredded, unsweetened coconut. Standard shredded coconut (which is like fine strands) will work but you’ll get more coconut texture in the cake. I don’t think coconut flakes (shavings) will work in this cake, it’s not absorbent enough.
Sugar – Use caster / superfine sugar if you can because it is finer so it will dissolve easier. Otherwise, regular / granulated sugar can be used.
Vanilla extract – For flavour. Not to be confused with artificial vanilla essence which is…well, artificial. So not as nice!
Lemon – We are only using the zest in this cake, for beautiful lemon flavour. Because the zest is where all the lemon flavour is – the juice is mostly just sour.
Flaked almonds – for sprinkling on the surface. Adds lovely texture to the cake, looks good and protects the surface from browning too much. But you can skip it you don’t have it!
Salt – Standard inclusion in most of my sweet recipes these days. Just a touch, to bring out the flavours in this cake. Doesn’t make it salty!
How to make lemon coconut cake
Put everything in a bowl and MIX! How good would life be if all baking recipes were this easy??? (Though, my waistline begs to differ).
Melt the butter in a bowl using your microwave.
Wet ingredients – Whisk in all the other wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, sugar – yes, sugar is considered a wet ingredient in baking because it liquifies when mixed with other wet ingredients).
Dry ingredients – Whisk in the almond meal, coconut, baking powder, salt and zest.
Pour it into a 20cm/8″ lined round cake pan. DO NOT skip lining the pan! Even greasing very generously is not enough to stop it from sticking to the pan, no matter how non-stick you think your pan is. (As you might have guessed, I’m speaking from first hand experience here).
Bake 40 minutes – Sprinkle the surface with almonds then bake for 40 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Cool for 1 hour before cutting to serve. I was a bit impatient in early versions and found that because the cake is quite moist, it can appear undercooked if you cut it while still warm. (But it’s not undercooked, it just looks that way if you cut while still hot!).
Serve it plain!
While some cakes I recommend serving with a dollop of cream, ice cream or other such accompaniment, this is a cake that definitely stands on its own two feet. Great flavour (lemon + coconut with a hint of almond) with a very moist crumb which is virtually impossible to replicate with flour-based cakes.
So it’s a great cake for taking places – such as for a work morning tea, book club, school bake sale. Just cut and serve. And those who are gluten-intolerant can enjoy it too. Though honestly, don’t just make this because you need a gluten-free cake. Make it because it’s just a really great cake that happens to be just about one of the easiest, quickest cake recipes I know. – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Easy Lemon Coconut Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 150g / 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs (55-60g/2oz each), at room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar, Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal (ground almond, Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup desiccated coconut (US: finely shredded unsweetened coconut)
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest (1 large lemon)
- 1/4 cup flaked almonds , optional (Note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Grease a 20cm/8” round cake pan (or springform pan) with butter then line with paper.
- Melt butter – Place the butter in a large microwavable bowl and melt in the microwave. Let cool for a couple of minutes.
- Wet ingredients – Add egg, vanilla and sugar and whisk until combined.
- Dry ingredients – Add almond meal, salt, baking powder, coconut and lemon zest. Whisk until combined.
- Bake 40 minutes – Pour into pan. Sprinkle over almonds. Bake 40 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan then carefully turn out onto cooling rack.
- Cool at least 1 hour before cutting slices to serve. Moist enough to serve plain – doesn't need cream or anything!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Eyeing end of day remnants in a glass cabinet like it’s a big juicy steak.
Planning on making this today. Must buy coconut first.
But, used metric and it says 70g baking powder. 1 tsp = 5 ml = 4 g. I actually checked!
Fixed!! Sorry Masja, typo 🙂 70g is for the coconut in metric!! baking powder stays at 1 tsp! N x
Agree!
I replied to Nagi below in another comment.
Hope she sees and updates.
Ooh yes that’s definitely wayyyy too much baking powder in this metric conversion. Hopefully others will also realise this
Fixed!!! Thank you for flagging it! It’s 70g coconut and the baking powder stays at 1 tsp 🙂 N x
You’re welcome!
Would it be possible to make this cake dairy free?
My daughter is lactose intolerant so u substitute butter with Nuttlex buttery (a nut based spread in Australia) and it works well. I imagine there would be similar spreads in other countries.
Thanks Diane.
Hello Nagi!
The cake looks delicious, I can’t wait to try it.
However there’s a mistake in the amount of baking powder given in metric (I think 70g would be way too much)
Thank you for your recipes ❤️
Dana
Thank you for pointing that out Dana! The 70g is for the coconut 🙂 Baking powder stays at 1 tsp!! N xx
Allergic to almonds – what would you sub? hazelnut meal?
Yes! Perfect sub from a baking perspective and lovely with coconut in my opinion. Will update the recipe! N x
Can something replace the eggs to make it vegan?
Also interested to know this.
Am I misreading the total prep & cooking time? I think it said 1 day + +
But when you look at the prep, cooking & cooking it doesn’t add up. I think I am making a mistake in how I interpret the directions. Appreciate a clarification. Thanks
Ha ha ha – imagine waiting a whole DAY for a cake!! Oops sorry, updating now, it’s 40 min bake, 10 min prep, 2 hrs cooling – N x
Will you correct the metric baking powder as well?
Metric definitely says 70gwhich seems an awful lot, compared to one teaspoon non metric
Am really pleased to see this recipe as my daughter is gluten free and not keen on the orange flour less cake I make. So I will definitely give this a go
(She is also lactose intolerant, making life more difficult, but I just sub the butter with Nuttlex buttery which works quite well
YIKES! Fixed 🙂 70g is for the coconut!!! Thanks for picking that up – N x
This looks like a real keeper Nagi. Delicious.
I’ve been making this (or something very similar) for ages. I use monk fruit sweetener instead of sugar and it’s keto!
Hey hope you (or Nagi) can help, my husband is diabetic and I was looking for ways to make this cake sugar free! If using monk fruit sweetener, is the amount the same replacing sugar?
Hi Nagi, can you put a “like/heart” button for Dozer? 😁
Can this be frozen
Fabulous, thank you
I’m freezing a piece right now to check!! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi… I make your orange almond cake weekly for my dr Gundry lifestyle, it’s fabulous!.
Now I was going to hold back on this comment as you are a superstar in the kitchen. But here it is and I hope it helps someone.
I’m looking at your Lemon Cake and the outer edge of the cake is brown… meaning dry. What I’ve always done is wet thoroughly a long 10cm wide strip of toweling, secure it around the outer tin with string and that will be the end of the dark dry cake edge keeping the tin outer cool while the centre cooks through.
The edges of the cake look perfect to me. They’re not burnt. The crunchy brown edges of cakes are my favourite bit! They give the cake some character. I can’t wait to make it, and I hope I get the lovely brown edges too!
Hi, This looks delicious. Has anyone / can this be made in a springform pan ?
Hi Renee! It will work fine, the batter is pretty thick, not the runny sort. 🙂 Updating recipe now! N x
Yep it works well in a springform – just line it well