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.
Absolutely delicious cake. Soooo easy and quick to make. It’s like a frangipane cake! Perfection. Will be a new go to cake for me and great to have a new cake option for my GF friends too. But you certainly don’t need to be GF to love this cake.
Everyone loves this cake. And no one believes it’s easy to make… until they try it. It really is my go to cake for any occasion and all my GF friends love it
Always keep my eyes open for flourless cakes as my mum has allergies and I have arthritis. I subbed the sugar for monk fruit and it was delicious. Thanks so much.
I made this yesterday for a lunch I was having with friends. The recipe was quick and easy and the finished cake was delicious. Thank you Nagi for another winner.
Delicious ! Is this coconut lemon almond cake freezable?
This cake is absolutely delicious! I have tried with orange as well and turns out so good. Just checking if i can add some lemon curd in middle layer so get some nice citrusy bits or would it change the texture too much? Thanks so much 🙂
Lamia, the lemon curd idea sounds delicious! I think it would work if you sliced the cake in half after cooling and spread it on then sandwich it together then served it. I might even give it a go myself, thanks for the idea.
DELICIOUS ! And oh so quick and simple. Nagi I have been cooking for 50 years and have learnt more from you (and now JB) in the four years I have been following you than from all the cookbooks, magazines, tv shows and websites of the previous 46 years. Thank you for my ever increasing list of foolproof impressive and downright scrumtious recipes. This one is now on the list.
So easy to make! Absolutely delicious, moist and crispy ontop with the almonds. I thought the lemon zest wouldn’t be enough but it is just right!
Loved this – VERY easy, and I didn’t change a thing
Absolutely delicious! I was looking for a recipe to use up ground almonds left over from Xmas! This was perfect! One I’ll do again with my 9yr old granddaughter! Thank you.
As usual, with all things Nagi and RTE, the cake was easy to make and turned out delicious! Thank you Nagi for sharing your recipes.
This time I substituted the sugar with honey for a sugar free cake and much to everyone’s surprise, they couldn’t tell and the cake was devoured in no time. What I did differently:
– Substituted sugar for 1/2 cup (125 mL) honey. I usually reduce the sugar in cake recipes to half or three quarter of the amount listed so 1/2 cup honey was perfect for our taste.
– Added two pinches of bicarbonate soda to the dry mix.
– Baked the cake for an extra ten minutes.
Adding honey resulted in a darker colour cake and not as yellow as adding the sugar.
Excellent. So easy, came out perfect, travels well. Loved it and will be in heavy rotation
We made it with a little change : we put apples on top of. Super !
No I didn’t say that before . We just baked it with apples now !
We made it with a little change : we put apples on top of. Super !
Can I use sunflower oil instead of butter?
Super easy ! I used Nutelex instead of butter making it dairy free, gluten free & low FODMAP & very tasty.popular with everyone.
Love this recipe, easy to prepare and the taste “yummo” this is my second bake of this cake , this week
I have made this cake 4 times in the last couple of months, I’ve halved the recipe a couple of times. It’s a beautiful cake.
I love this cake I’ve made it twice now! Perfect for my celiac husband.
I have made this several times and its been perfect every time but wanted to make it for a friend who isn’t keen on coconut. Has anyone omitted the coconut or subbed with anything else?