A lovely light and lemony cake. This Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake would be welcomed at any breakfast, brunch or snacking table. Made with basic ingredients and fresh lemon juice and coconut. Got lemons, make a cake!
Originally published on April 7th, 2017. Updated on March 19, 2022 to include all new photos, recipe notes and more relevant information.
If you follow the blog, you’ll notice that I’m a huge fan of lemon treats. Since I have a lemon tree, I seem to make lemon sweets almost more than any other kind. Yes, I’m lucky to have that tree! A little while ago, I made this delicious Cream Cheese Lemon Danish and it was amazing. And not to mention easy to make. You guys should check it out if you get the chance.
And this Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake was a great way to use up more of those lemons. This was delicious straight out of the oven after it cooled down. I honestly think it would be even extra if you served it with Lemon Curd, why not!
Here’s What We Need To Make The Loaf Cake
- 1 1/2 Cups flour
- 1/2 Cup shredded coconut
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 3/4 Cup sugar
- 3 Eggs
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 Cup Greek yogurt
REMEMBER, The full recipe and ingredients is always found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
How To Make The Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake
- Preheat oven and prepare loaf tin – Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and a line with parchment paper a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin.
- Combine dry ingredients – In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, shredded coconut, lemon zest, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Mix butter, sugar and eggs – In the bowl of your electric mixer, mix on high speed the butter for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat for a further 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scraping down the sides as you mix. This will take a further 2 -3 minutes
- Add flour, Greek yogurt and lemon juice – Add half of the flour mixture and fold in until incorporated Mix in all the yogurt with the lemon juice and fold in. Fold in remaining flour until just incorporated.
- Bake the cake – Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and take off parchment paper. Leave to cool completely. Will store in an airtight container on the counter for up to three days.
Notes About The Lemon Coconut Cake
- Measure ingredients correctly – It’s easy to incorrectly measure ingredient and this often leads to undesirable baking results. If you can, use scales when baking. If not, make sure you measure all the cups correctly.
- Beat the butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy – This step is very important. When you are finished mixing these ingredients should be very light, pale yellow and fluffy. The process could take up to 6 minutes or so. This is what helps give the cake a lighter and fluffier texture, so make sure to mix properly.
Can I Make Any Substitutions to This Cake
- Greek yogurt – you can subsitute plain natural yogurt, sour cream or even buttermilk.
- Lemon juice and zest – this cake can be changed using other citrus flavours like orange, lime or grapefruit. They will all work.
- Shredded coconut – I used fine shredded coconut for this recipe. It worked really well. You could use a bigger flake, just keep in mind it won’t incorporate as well into the cake.
Frequently Asked Questions
A common problem with flat cakes is over mixing of the flour. Flour needs to be gently folded in until it’s just combined.
Cakes that include acidity like citrus or even buttermilk generally need a little more raising agent. It could be possible the baking powder wasn’t measured correctly. Also, another reason could be over mixing the flour.
Make sure you are using room temperature ingredients. The butter and sugar needs to be whipped until light and fluffy. This is really important to create a lift for the cake when baking. And flour needs to be folding in gently, not mixed in with a mixer.
Recipe Here!
Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour/plain flour
- 1/2 Cup shredded coconut
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Cup butter unsalted
- 3/4 Cup granulated white sugar
- 3 Eggs at room temperature
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 Cup Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and a line with parchment paper a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, shredded coconut, lemon zest, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, mix on high speed the butter for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat for a further 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scraping down the sides as you mix. This will take a further 2 -3 minutes
- Add half of the flour mixture and fold in until incorporated Mix in all the yogurt with the lemon juice and fold in. Fold in remaining flour until just incorporated.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and take off parchment paper. Leave to cool completely. Will store in an airtight container on the counter for up to three days.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Notes
- Can dust the cake with extra powdered sugar and lemon zest if desired.
- Baking time can vary on loaf cakes anywhere between 45 – 55 minutes. I recommend checking the cake at around 45 minutes to check for doneness.
Thanks For Stopping By And Hope To See You Soon!
In your notes you so say use scales if possible, but you don’t give any weights? As a baker in the UK, where we don’t use cups, it is difficult to get an exact conversion?
Hi Andie, In the recipe card you can change from cups to metric. It’s just the click of a button. You’ll see it if you go in there. I hope this helps😊
Thank you so much Julia! I never knew there was that option. I now feel very silly for trying to convert measurements all these years!
Happy it helps🥰
I really want to try this lemon cake recipe, it looks great but we get small ping pong ball sized lemons here, can you pls tell me the quantity of lemon juice and zest in tablespoons please, I’d appreciate it so much and thanks very much.
Hi Naila, Yes of course! It’s 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. I will make the edit in the recipe card so it’s clear for everyone. Thanks for letting me know!
Hi! Is it possible to substitute almond flour for the all purpose flour? Or do you feel this would simply not work? Thanks!
Hi Julie, This cake has only been tested with all purpose flour. If you were to use almond flour, you would have very different results. I hope this helps.
Is this unsweetened coconut, or is sweetened ok?
I’ve been on Christmas break and only back now. Yes, you can use either. Happy New Year!
I have made this cake several times with great success
and have been ask for the recipe when I have friends in
or give one for a gift , I find the flavour improves if the cake
isn’t cut until next day , but it’s light and wonderful flavour.
I made a couple for my daughters office and everyone
raved about it. It’s a winner
That’s great Irene! It makes me so happy to get your feedback and that the recipe was a success. Thank you!
Can I make this in 2 pans and make a layer cake?
Hi Margaret, I’m sure it would work as a layer cake. Usually 9-inch pans will bake in under 25 minutes. Just keep an eye on the baking time. Hope this helps.
Thank you
Hi Julia,
I’m new to baking and would like to bake this as a layer cake. Please can you share the recommended measurements for two 9-inch pans?
Hi, If you’re using 2 9-inch round pans, this should be enough better. Just keep in mind baking time will be much quicker. It will probably bake between 20 – 25 minutes. I hope this helps.
I always make it in 2 small loaf pans, but I don’t combine them- I just like having 2 little loaves, and they cook more quickly.
The smaller loaves sound like a great idea.
I just finished making this cake, it’s in the oven now. I’m sure it will be delicious, as I licked the spoon and the batter was gorgeous.
Made this cake and it was horrible. Very heavy I actually threw it out. Should have listened to my instincts and use s/r flour.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now, and going to make it again today. It’s delicious, and always a hit 😋
I made this lovely cake today.
I found it very light , lemony and deliciuse!
I will bake it again and again.
Thanke you Julia
Loved this cake. My husband loved it too. Definitely will make it again
Thank you Silvia, that’s really lovely to hear!
I tried to see the reviews at the top of the page and ended up adding a review by mistake by clicking on the stars. So sorry gave a 3 star review unintentionally
Don’t worry about it Iona. Have a lovely day!
Great recipe. The tips are very helpful. Thank you.
Hi Julia, just wanted to let you know how absolutely AMAZING your Coconut Lemon Loaf is!! I am so glad that I came across it! I followed the instructions to a “T”, except that it took about an hour to bake in my oven. I am going to make it as a thank-you gift for a friend today. I know she will enjoy it as much as my husband and I do! It’s definitely a 5-star KEEPER that’s going into my special recipe book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m so happy you loved this recipe Rosemarie! Your kind feedback means so much. Have a great day!!
Just telling the truth, Julia! 😁 What I can’t understand is why you’ve gotten only 4 stars for this loaf! It’s far better than a 5/5! 😋 Truly! It’s a keeper, plain and simple! 😋😁
Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes! 😁😋
It’s very kind of you Rosemarie! Thank you! Yes, the star ratings can be a problem when readers change things in the recipe and then rate the recipe lower because the changes didn’t turn out so well. But I really appreciate you kindness.
Baked this today and it came out perfectly. I didn’t have Greek yoghurt so used some plain yoghurt and cream mixed with extra lemon juice. Definitely a keeper! Thank you 😊