Delightful Lemon Coconut Cake with Light Whipped Cream and Fresh Berries: The Ultimate Spring Celebration Dessert
Experience the exquisite taste of spring with this elegant Lemon Coconut Cake, generously topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream and an abundance of fresh, vibrant mixed berries. This simple yet sophisticated celebration cake is bursting with flavor and comes together surprisingly quickly, making it the perfect showstopper for any gathering.
This post is proudly sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill, a brand dedicated to quality ingredients.
As the days lengthen and temperatures warm, our palates often crave something bright, fresh, and utterly delicious. If you’re searching for that quintessential festive dessert, perhaps a stunning Easter centerpiece or a delightful treat for a spring brunch, look no further! This spectacular Lemon Coconut Cake offers a harmonious blend of zesty lemon and tropical coconut, crowned with a cloud of whipped cream and a jewel-like scattering of fresh mixed berries. It’s designed to be effortlessly elegant and remarkably easy to assemble, ensuring you spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying your celebration.
While the grandeur of a towering, old-fashioned layer cake holds a special place in many hearts, this simple lemon coconut cake proves unequivocally that you can achieve an equally stunning and sophisticated dessert with just one beautifully baked cake layer. The beauty of a single-layer cake lies in its understated elegance and its approachable nature, making it ideal for home bakers of all skill levels. It’s less intimidating than a multi-tiered creation but delivers just as much “wow” factor, especially when adorned with such delightful toppings.
To elevate this cake from delicious to absolutely divine, we’re pulling out all the stops with a simple, airy whipped cream frosting. This light and luscious topping provides the perfect counterpoint to the rich cake. A generous sprinkling of mixed berries adds a burst of freshness and tartness, while perfectly toasted coconut flakes and delicate grated lemon zest contribute delightful texture, visual appeal, and an intensified flavor profile that hints at the delightful experience to come. Every bite is a symphony of flavors and textures, promising a truly memorable dessert.
My enduring affection for the delicate sweetness and luxurious texture of whipped cream frosting knows no bounds. Unlike heavier buttercreams, whipped cream offers just the right touch of sweetness—a traditional frosting would be far too overpowering for this particular cake, obscuring its nuanced flavors. The light, airy quality of the whipped cream perfectly complements the cake’s fluffy, yet slightly denser, crumb, creating a balance that is truly irresistible. More importantly, it acts as an exquisite canvas, allowing the vibrant, fresh lemon and rich coconut flavors of the cake to remain unmistakably front and center.
The addition of fresh mixed berries, even if they’re a little bit out of peak season, introduces a crucial fresh and tart element that brilliantly cuts through the cake’s sweetness and creamy frosting. This bright burst of flavor is simply unbeatable and makes the dessert feel incredibly special. My infatuation with these types of fruit-forward, lightly frosted desserts is a well-known secret! You might remember the irresistible raspberry roll cake or the stunning berry pavlova. Clearly, I just can’t quit crafting these beautiful, berry-topped creations.
Lemon Coconut Cake: A Deep Dive into Key Ingredients
Crafting a truly delicate and tender crumb is paramount for this lemon coconut cake, and it all begins with the right flour. This recipe specifically calls for unbleached all-purpose flour, meaning you won’t need to make an extra trip to procure any specialty flours. While I enjoy experimenting with whole grain flours for their nutritional benefits and unique textures, unbleached all-purpose flour remains a consistent staple in my pantry for its versatility and reliability in producing consistently beautiful baked goods.
As its name aptly suggests, all-purpose flour is masterfully designed for use across virtually all types of baking applications. It excels at delivering incredibly consistent results, which is why it’s a go-to for so many recipes. My personal favorite, and the one I heartily recommend for this recipe, is Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour. The reason for this specific recommendation is twofold: it is always unbleached (a significant detail, as many flour bleaching chemicals are actually banned outside the United States), and it is produced from certified organic red wheat. This guarantees that the wheat used has not been treated with any harsh chemical pesticides, ensuring a purer, cleaner flavor in your cake.
Unbleached all-purpose flour is classified as a refined flour, which means that during the milling process, the bran and germ of the wheat kernel are carefully removed. This refining process yields a flour with several desirable characteristics: a significantly longer shelf life, a lighter, more appealing color, and a delicate, neutral flavor that allows other ingredients to shine. Furthermore, it possesses a mid-level protein content, striking the perfect balance that lends itself exceptionally well to most baking applications, from cakes and cookies to breads and pastries.
For those eager to deepen their understanding of baking, you can explore more about the different types of baking flour and their unique properties right here.
Why You’ll Absolutely Adore This Lemon Coconut Cake: A Flavor Revelation
This Lemon Coconut Cake is a true flavor revelation, designed to captivate your taste buds with its vibrant yet comforting profile. While both star ingredients shine brightly, lemon takes center stage, delivering a dominant, refreshing zestiness that instantly brightens the palate. The glorious lemon flavor isn’t merely a hint; it’s deeply infused into the very fabric of the cake through a clever technique: fresh lemon zest is vigorously rubbed into granulated sugar before mixing. This simple step releases the aromatic oils from the zest, ensuring every crystal of sugar carries the essence of lemon, which then permeates the entire cake batter.
Coconut, in its role as a sophisticated supporting actor, provides a creamy, subtle sweetness and a tender richness that beautifully complements the lemon. This tropical depth comes primarily from using full-fat coconut milk in the batter, which contributes a luscious texture and authentic coconut flavor. To further enhance this, a touch of coconut extract is added, ensuring the coconut notes are present without overpowering the delicate lemon.
The garnishes are not merely for show; they are integral to the cake’s overall experience, offering a delightful interplay of texture, color, and reinforced flavor. The cake is elegantly adorned with toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, which add a pleasing crunch and a nutty aroma. Freshly grated lemon zest is also sprinkled on top, not only for a visual clue to the cake’s primary flavor but also for an extra burst of aromatic freshness.
While I personally adore using a colorful medley of various berries—typically a delightful mix of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries—you have complete freedom to customize the decoration. Feel free to embellish this cake with just one type of berry, two complementary varieties, or any other combination of fresh fruits that tempt your fancy. However, a crucial tip for successful garnishing is to avoid fruits that possess higher moisture levels, such as strawberries, as they can sometimes lead to unwelcome seeping into the whipped cream, potentially compromising its texture and appearance. Opt for firmer, less watery berries for the best results.
Essential Tips for Baking Success: Achieving Perfection Every Time
This exquisite Lemon Coconut Cake is an all-butter cake, a type renowned for its incredible richness and depth of flavor. While this makes for an undeniably delicious dessert, it also means the cake is at its absolute best when served on the very same day it is baked, ensuring peak freshness and texture. As with nearly all cake recipes, a critical foundation for success is ensuring that all your ingredients—particularly the butter, eggs, and dairy—are at room temperature before you even begin mixing. This seemingly small detail makes a world of difference in the final outcome of your cake.
If any of your ingredients are too cold (for example, butter straight from the refrigerator or eggs directly from the fridge), they will not emulsify or incorporate evenly into the batter. This inconsistency can lead to a less desirable cake, often resulting in a denser, tougher crumb rather than the light, delicate texture we aim for. Room temperature ingredients blend much more smoothly, creating a uniform batter that bakes up beautifully and evenly.
Pay close attention to the creaming stage, where butter and sugar are beaten together. It is absolutely vital to cream the butter and sugar for the precise duration specified in the recipe. This physical beating process is not just about mixing; it’s about incorporating a significant amount of air into the mixture. These tiny air pockets are what ultimately contribute to the cake’s light, delicate, and airy texture. Undercriminating will result in a flatter, denser cake, while overcreaming can sometimes lead to a greasy texture. Sticking to the recommended time will yield a perfectly structured and tender cake.
Lemon Coconut Cake with Cream and Berries
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8
Servings (One 8-Inch Cake)
20 minutes
40 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
30 minutes
Ingredients
Lemon Coconut Cake:
-
1¾
cup (210 g)
Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All Purpose Flour
-
1½
teaspoons
baking powder -
½
teaspoon
kosher salt -
1
cup (200 g)
granulated sugar -
zest
of 1 lemon -
1½
sticks (6 oz; 170 g)
unsalted butter
softened -
2
large eggs
room temperature -
2
large egg yolks
room temperature -
1½
teaspoons
pure vanilla extract -
½
teaspoon
coconut extract -
½
cup (120 mL)
full-fat coconut milk
*mixed thoroughly before measuring)
Whipped Cream:
-
1
cup (240 mL)
chilled heavy cream -
2
tablespoons (24 g)
granulated sugar -
½
teaspoon
pure vanilla extract
Decoration:
-
9
ounces
mixed berries
such as 3 oz fresh raspberries, 3 oz blueberries, 3 oz blackberries -
toasted coconut flakes
as desired -
freshly grated lemon zest
as desired
Instructions
-
Prepare the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the center position. Generously grease one (8-inch; 2-inches deep) cake pan with baking spray. Set aside.
-
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the sugar and lemon zest together until fragrant and moist. Set aside.
-
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer), beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds or until smooth and creamy. With the mixer on, slowly add the sugar mixture and continue beating on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure all of the ingredients have incorporated evenly.
-
Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the eggs one at a time. Allow each egg to become mostly incorporated before adding another. Add the vanilla extract and coconut extract and mix until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. The batter will look slightly curdled and broken. Don’t worry.
-
With the stand mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of coconut milk , beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Once the last of the flour has just been absorbed, turn off the stand mixer. Scrape down the bowl and fold the batter once or twice to ensure all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated. The batter will be fairly thick. Transfer the batter into the greased cake pan. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
-
Bake for 36 to 42 minutes (*start checking the cake after 30+ minutes and watch carefully from this point on) or until the cake is golden and domed in the center, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
-
Let the cake cool in the pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully invert the cake onto the rack. Carefully flip once again and allow the cake to cool completely before decorating.
-
Prepare the Whipped Cream: Just before serving, place chilled heavy cream in a clean stand mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, or in a medium bowl using a hand-held mixer (*if you can, chill the bowl ahead of time as well; cold cream and chilled equipment will speed up the whipping time and improve the volume). Starting at low speed, start whipping the cream. Increase the speed slowly from medium to medium-high speed until the cream begins to thicken slightly. Add the granulated sugar and vanilla extract. Continue whipping until the cream reaches soft to medium peaks. Do not over whip.
-
Assemble and Decorate: *See notes below on ways to prep this cake in advance.* Top the cake with the whipped cream, keeping it in one thick, fluffy layer and creating swoops and swirls with an offset spatula. Garnish with mixed berries, toasted coconut flakes, and freshly grated lemon zest. Serve immediately.
Video
Tips for Success:
- How to Toast Coconut Flakes – Spread evenly on a sheet pan. Bake at 350 for 3 to 5 minutes, flipping and tossing the coconut flakes until lightly golden in color. Transfer to a separate container and allow to cool before using.
- This cake is best served the day it is made; however, if you wish to prep it ahead, you can bake the cake the day before serving (the whipped cream should be prepared very close to serving). Allow the cake to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap (two layers is best) and store at room temperature.
- The whipped cream should be prepared just before serving (or up to 2 hours in advance and kept in a separate covered bowl in the refrigerator). Decorate the cake with the whipped cream, berries, and garnishes just before serving.
Serving:
1
serving
,
Calories:
319
kcal
,
Carbohydrates:
43
g
,
Protein:
8
g
,
Fat:
33
g
,
Saturated Fat:
21
g
,
Polyunsaturated Fat:
10
g
,
Cholesterol:
100
mg
,
Sodium:
276
mg
,
Fiber:
4
g
,
Sugar:
37
g
Laura / A Beautiful Plate
Cakes and Cupcakes
American
This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. We extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support of the brands I genuinely love and confidently use in my own kitchen. Your support allows us to continue sharing delicious, wholesome recipes. To explore more healthy and inspiring recipes, snag valuable coupons, and locate stores near you stocking these fantastic products, be sure to visit BobsRedMill.com! Happy baking!