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This Vegan Lemon Coconut Layer Cake combines a soft, flavourful lemon sponge, whipped coconut vanilla frosting and has a toasted coconut coating on the sides. It is the perfect cake for a birthday or Spring gathering.
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Vegan Lemon Coconut Layer Cake

This Vegan Lemon Coconut Layer Cake combines a soft, flavourful lemon sponge, whipped coconut vanilla frosting and has a toasted coconut coating on the sides. It is the perfect cake for a birthday or Spring gathering.
Course Dessert
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 12
Author Annie N

Ingredients

  • FOR THE CAKE:
  • 1 cup (200g) caster sugar, I used Tate and Lyle, make sure yours is vegan!
  • 1 stick (113g) vegan butter, at room temperature
  • Zest of 2 large lemons
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) sunflower/vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
  • 2 1/2 cups (350g) plain/all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/4 tsp lemon extract, optional
  • 1/2 cup (120g) coconut cream, see note*
  • 1 tbsp coconut milk, or other non dairy milk
  • FOR THE FROSTING:
  • 2 stick (226g) vegan butter, at room temperature (not vegan spread, but a vegan butter block)
  • 3 cups (360g) icing/powdered sugar, I used Tate and Lyle
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp desiccated coconut, optional
  • 1-2 tbsp coconut milk
  • 1 cup (90g) desiccated coconut
  • Slice of lemon for garnish, optional
  • 2 tbsp vegan lemon spread/curd, optional

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line two round 8 inch cake tins with grease proof paper.
  • Place the vegan butter, caster sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, and beat until smooth and fluffy - around 2 minutes on med-high speed.
  • Add in the lemon juice and oil, mix on medium speed until it becomes pale and creamy. At first it will look a bit chunky/split, then it will come together and become smooth and creamy.
  • Add in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, lemon extract (if using), and coconut cream. Mix on low until everything starts to come together, then add 1tbsp of coconut milk/milk of your choice.
  • Continue to mix, this time on medium-high speed, until everything is well combined and smooth.
  • Divide your batter between your prepared cake tins and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until risen, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The cake should be yellow/pale golden, not golden brown all over. It may look/feel soft in the middle, like it's under done, but it's not. If that skewer comes out with no crumbs, it's done. Mine took 22 minutes.
  • Leave the cakes to cool. While cooling, place 1 cup of desiccated coconut into a dry frying pan, over a medium heat. Stir continuously, until the coconut is golden brown. Be careful as it will go from golden to burnt quite quickly! Leave to one side to cool.
  • Once everything is cooled, make the frosting: Place the vegan butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and salt into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low speed until the sugar starts to incorporate with the butter. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until it becomes a smooth, thick creamy mixture.
  • Add in the desiccated coconut and 1 tbsp of milk. Mix on high and continue to mix for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture becomes pale and super light and fluffy. You may need an extra tbsp of milk, I needed an extra half tbsp, so 1.5tbsp in total.
  • You want a frosting that is easy to spread, but not so runny it won't hold its shape. It needs to stay where you put it, but not rip the cake apart while spreading!
  • Take 3tbsp of frosting and place in a separate bowl. Add in 2tbsp of vegan lemon curd, or lemon curd if you're not bothered about it being vegan. Set to one side.
  • Place 1tbsp of your frosting onto a plate/cake stand and place one of your cooled cakes onto it. Spread the top of that cake with your lemon curd and frosting mixture. Flip the second cake, so the base is your top and place on top of the frosted cake.
  • Spoon around 1/4 cup of frosting onto the top of the cake and smooth over the top of the cake. Using a small angle spatula, add frosting to the sides of your cake and smooth. Continue until the whole cake is covered in frosting, the sides don't have to be 100% perfectly smooth. Just get them as smooth as you're happy with. On the top, I took the tip of my spatula and did some curved lines across as decoration, you can leave little peaks, or smooth it completely, go in lines, whatever you want to do.
  • Place your plate/cake stand over a couple of pieces of kitchen paper, then gently apply the toasted coconut with your (clean) hands. Don't press too hard or it will go into the frosting, when you want it to just coat the cake instead. I took the coconut all around the sides and ever so slightly over the top edge. I left some of the coconut around the bottom edge of the cake too as I thought it looked nice. You can dust all of that away if you'd rather.
  • Take a slice of lemon and cut across through one side of peel, through the lemon slice and stop at the peel on the opposite side. Twist the lemon in the middle to make a swirl. Place this in the centre of the cake to finish, this is optional of course.
  • After that, your Vegan Lemon Coconut Layer Cake is ready to serve! It will also keep, covered, at room temperature for 5 days, or in the fridge for a week.

Notes

*Not a block of creamed coconut, but coconut cream, a thicker version of coconut milk, the stuff you see on top of your tin of coconut milk if you didn't shake it well.