I hope you enjoy the deliciousness of this Meyer Lemon Coconut Cake as my friend The Dusty Baker shares her recipe with us.
My blog – The Dusty Baker – is home to gluten-free and allergy-friendly recipes, made with mess, love and a bit of silliness. I’ve been gluten and mostly dairy-free for about 20 years, and am so thankful and energized by the dynamic world of food and the open-mindedness of eaters out there.
I wanted to focus on one incredible ingredient: this features Meyer lemons, which are perfectly in season somewhere on the earth (certainly I’ve added some coconut milk to the frosting to make it even more dynamic and decorated the finished cake with large chunks of dried coconut, which give it a delightful crunch.
The result is a cake that’s dense and bright, buttery and rich and ridiculously yummy. The Meyer lemons give it an incredible zing that balances out the butter and sugar so well. After a bite, my roommate started “mmmmmm-ing” with her eyebrows cocked and asked which bakery I had bought it at. Score.
Now, here are my “notes”:
This is a great recipe for someone in the early stages of baking gluten-free. I used my favorite three flours in my general proportions for this cake – brown rice as a healthful base, tapioca for texture and binding and millet for sweetness – which I find to be both impossible to detect in regards to the cake tasting gluten-free. If you’re thinking of baking gluten-free more often, these are the three big guns I recommend having on hand. Xanthan gum is an expensive initial purchase, but it lasts forever. You won’t be able to tell that there’s no gluten in this recipe, cross my heart. It’s spot-on in taste and texture. You can try the equivalent measurements with regular all-purpose wheat flour or an all-purpose gluten-free mix and the recipe should hold strong.
Basic cake-making rules: warm ingredients, incorporate air into the eggs before adding flour, pour and put straight into a hot oven. Grease lightly so there’s little holding the cake back from rising fully.
Confession: I’m not a huge frosting fan, in general, preferring naked cakes with fruits and nuts so that I can eat more cake without guilt!!! So if you’re on my team I recommend brushing the cake with either more lemon juice, some melted jam or some Limoncello liqueur and sprinkling with ground nuts. My roommate, however, loved the frosting, so go to if that’s your preference. It chills well and will harden a bit to give the cake an almost fondant look.
If you like this recipe you may also like these:
Gluten Free Meyer Lemon Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 medium eggs 3oz.
- 6 Tbsp rounded sugar 3oz.
- pinch of salt
- 4 Tbsp brown rice flour 1.6oz
- 4 Tbsp tapioca flour/starch 1.2oz
- 2 Tbsp millet flour .6oz
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 7 Tbsp unsalted butter melted and cooled a bit (3oz.)
- 2 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice (about juice of 1 lemon)
- zest of one Meyer lemon
Frosting
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter soft
- 3 cups powered sugar
- ½ cup coconut milk full fat
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- zest of 1 Meyer lemon
- unsweetened coconut chips to decorate available at health food stores
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease cake pans and set on a baking sheet.
- Combine the flours, gum and baking powder in a small bowl and sift twice.
- Place a small pot of water on to simmer. In a bowl that will fit on top of the simmering water, whisk eggs, sugar and salt. When the water begins to simmer, turn off the heat and put egg mixture on top. Whisk until just slightly warm, about 10-15 seconds (do not cook the egg).
- Pour mixture into the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat until it triples in size and becomes light and creamy, about 4 minutes (or beat by hand on high speed).
- Fold in sifted flour mixture.
- Add lemon juice to the butter and fold in.
- Fold in zest.
- Pour equally into pans and bake for 18 minutes or until springy to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans and inverting onto a cooling rack.
Frosting
- Beat butter until light and fluffy.
- Add sugar and coconut milk, alternating wet with dry, and beating thoroughly in between.
- Slowly add lemon juice and ½ zest and beat to combine. Continue beating until light and fluffy.
- If desired, chill before frosting to thicken a bit.
- Layer frosting between cakes and decorate with remaining zest and unsweetened coconut chips.
Val
Hi !
Can I replace from the regular butter to the dairy free butter? I can’t have dairy.
Thanks!
Val
Chef Dennis Littley
I’ve never tried that, but if it’s how you normally cook and you’ve had success I don’t see why it wouldn’t work
Joan
Thank you!
Joan
Hi Dennis,
The Myer Lemon Coconut cake sounds amazing! I’m hosting a party and many of my guests are GF.
Can I make this cake in a 9×13 pan?
If so, would I double it?
Many thanks!
Chef Dennis
hi Joan
this was a guest post from one of my friends, but looking at the recipe doubling it should come pretty close to a 9 x 13 pan.
Cheers
Dennis
Libby
Thanks for this recipe! I’d like to make it for a birthday cake – what would be the best way to make this on a larger scale – would I double or triple the recipe? (cake for 12 people). Thanks!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
In general I just use the ratio of 1-1-1 (fat, sugar, flour). So in weighing out the ingredients, you’d want a close approximation of that. I don’t have this recipe in a full-scale, but size-wise tripling it should work. Please let me know how it comes out!
Christina
Is there something else I can use for Millet? I have Sorghum,potato starch and brown rice on hand.
Chef D
hi Christina,
sorry it took, so long I finally got a hold of the author of the recipe, she said out of those three that brown rice was the best choice.
DEnnis
kara
This is awesome…the opposite of dry gritty gluten free baking. Instead it’s a perfectly bright and moist little delicacy. I used 4inch tart pans because that’s what I had and I can’t do dairy so I substituted coconut oil for the butter, which worked without a hitch. Thanks so much!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Yay! So glad it worked out for you! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Happy When Not Hungry
Wow this cake looks fabulous. I love the lemon and coconut combo!
Amalia
Holy cow! This looks amazing! I would be asking which bakery you got this from too, I mean it just looks so moist and perfect! The color is beautiful and the zest is a nice final touch. I love this, great job Dust Baker, you did it again 🙂
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
{Blush}
Becky
I love Meyer lemons and especially in this GF cake, which looks so moist and yummy! I I even have 4 ‘ cake pans. will have to try this one.
Alyssa
That cake looks moist and delicious. You would never guess its GF. Great guest post!
Sprinkled With Flour
I have some brown rice and millet flours in my pantry right now, I’ll have to try this!
Daisy@Nevertoosweet
YUM!!! This looks amazing! Love the combination of Meyer lemon and coconut 🙂 Too bad I haven’t seen many Meyer lemons for sale here >_<
Jay @ LocalFood.me
The Dusty Baker and Chef Dennis–what a delectable pair! I’m with you on the little-icing rule. Cool idea to replace it!
jeralyn
Your photography is beautiful.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thank you!
EA-The Spicy RD
So, I’m a little upset I read this post today, because now I MUST make this fabulous cake {and I hadn’t scheduled cake making in to today’s plans}! I have all the ingredients on hand, including ripe Meyer’s lemons on my tree, so I have absolutely no excuses not to make this. Headin cover to The Dusty Baker to check out her blog now. Thanks for the introduction!
FreeSpiritEater
How exciting to see you here Jx!! Chef Dennis, she is truly a unique and beautiful person. Her writing style is friendly, funny and most of all lures you in to keep coming back for more! This gorgeous lemon coconut cake has all of my favorite flavors. I’ve never been a huge fan of cake, but coconut always gets my attention. Congratulations on such a great guest post. Have a great weekend you two! =]
Evan Thomas
This cake looks great! I usually worry about gluten-free baked goods coming out too dry; this looks nice and moist.
Brian @ A Thought For Food
What a fabulous cake! I still haven’t used meyer lemons this season. I had better get on that!
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons
Love Jacqueline, the Dusty Baker – her recipes and her sense of humour. This gluten-freen light lemon cake looks a fabulous recipe and loving the coconut combination, too.
Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love.
Wow, this looks fantastic! And I love that it only makes a small amount! Excellent guest post!
Lora ~ cakeduchess
Lovely cake, Jacqueline. I like that you call it gently GF. It looks rich and delicious! Wishing you and Dennis a wonderful rest of the weekend. 🙂
Liz
Wonderful guest post! A bit of sunshine in the middle of winner…such a lovely cake!
torviewtoronto
cake looks fabulously delicious and soft
Emily @ Life on Food
I love the idea of a 4 inch cake. Super cute! Once I have a house I am intrigued with the idea of having a Meyer Lemon tree. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to pick some whenever you want right from your own home?
Reem | Simply Reem
What a beautiful cake!!!
SO light and delicious and to top it all gluten free…
Lovely guest post.
Kelsey @ K&K Test Kitchen
Wow Jacqueline’s cake looks so moist and delicious! I wish I had seen this post before baking my boyfriend’s birthday cake this evening! He would have had a Meyer Lemon Coconut Cake instead!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
There are so many beautiful comments – thank you all so much and thanks again to Chef D for letting me share this recipe here! I love my world of gluten-free baking and am so happy to have been able to share with a wider audience. Please always feel free to shoot me over questions and thoughts!!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Yay – let me know what you think!
Marsha @ The Harried Cook
Hi Chef Dennis! I’ve missed your blog so much while I’ve been away from blogging! And when I got back a couple of weeks ago, I wondered why you were not posting, only to realize a couple of days ago that my feed for your blog wasn’t working! So I have resubscribed to your blog and I am glad it’s working! Just in time for this beautiful guest post! I love anything citrusy and this is so delicious looking! Thanks for sharing!
Great guest post, Jacqueline! And I love that it is cake-for-two… I’ve been doing that a lot too 🙂 Will hop over to visit you now!
anne
Oh that looks good thanks for introduction!! anne
Carolyn
Mmmm, so gorgeous for gluten free. And I love meyer lemons!
Culinary Cache
This looks like a beautiful recipe. You can see the perfectly moist texture and I love the combination of meyer lemon with coconut.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
Wow! What a gorgeous and moist cake — it’s hard to belief it’s GF! I love meyer lemons 🙂
Cucina49
I can’t believe this is gluten-free! This is just gorgeous, and the lemon zest gives it beautiful color.
Emily Malloy
Amazing!
Toni from Boulder Locavore
This is making my mouth water! Gluten free baking is not difficult once you get the hang of it but seems so ‘other worldly’ until you get in the trenches with it. Great post Jaqueline and love seeing both of you in one place!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Exactly!! It’s not as scary as most believe. I am quite happy to be in the trenches 😉
Anna
With the Valentine’s Day approaching fast, this recipe is perfect! A cake for two that looks amazing! Now, try to stop yourself from eating the whole thing 🙂
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
I hoisted it on my roommate and then ran away 😉 I have no restrain, especially when convincing myself that it’s fruit and therefore healthy 😉
Rachel @ My Naturally Frugal Family
Oh this is gorgeous (of course this is what I would expect from Jacqueline).
The cake indeed looks so light and moist (just like “normal” cake).
I have been wanting to do more gluten free baking (as I am in the beginning stages), and I think I will have to put this cake on my list.
I just love that it is made for 2 people (keeps you from over-indulging)
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Aw, thank you! It definitely keeps me from over-indulging, though when I made three batches to test it I wasn’t exactly saved 😉
Paula
This cake screams *Refreshing and Tasty* Thanks for sharing some more of your notes on gluten free baking and this recipe!
Joy
The cake looks wonderful.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thank you!!
RavieNomNoms
I have to show one of my closest friends this! She has to eat gluten free and I am sure she would go bonkers over this cake! Nicely done!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Aw, thanks! Let me know if she makes it and what she thinks!
Sommer J
I must try this for my husband!!
Kim Bee
This is really spectacular. I am gluten sensitive and am always afraid to delve into the GF world. But with treats like this I think I need to take the plunge. I could not find meyer lemons yesterday. Was so bummed.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
I’m sure regular lemons would work well, it’ll just be a bit tarter of a cake. And these really are my basic go-to flours that are great for initial experimentation. Feel free to fire any questions over!
Kiri W.
Oh wow! This looks soooo amazing! I am on a huge coconut binge, so this would fit right in 🙂 Looks glorious and indulgent, and I love the frosting recommendation, since I prefer naked cake, myself. Great guest post as always!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Ha – nice to know I have a naked cake buddy for this one! The coconut flakes are divine either way – I’m usually not a fan of dried coconut but they really add a punch to this recipe.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thanks all! The cake is incredibly moist and dense while not being heavy. And nope – no trace off cardboard here! Just follow basic cakemaking steps and it’s a winner! Tested it several times so it’s pretty tight. And let me know if you have any ideas for toppings!
Maureen
I have never made a gluten free cake from scratch and I have a really good friend that can’t eat gluten. If this is a beginner’s cake, then it’s for me.
It looks like normal cake. Perhaps I haven’t seen enough gluten free cakes but the ones I saw her eat looked like cardboard. I’m thrilled to try this.
Thanks Chef Dennis for having this guest post!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Aw, I’m sure your friend would be so touched if you made her/him something! It still means so much to me when friends make things I can have, since I never suspect it. I have several yummy cake recipes on my site too – let me know if you have any questions / thoughts!
Tiffany
Great post! And can’t believe this is gluten free! The texture of the cake looks moist and silky!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
It is moist and silky – really a decadent cake. I was so happy it worked out so well 🙂
Tina@flourtrader
Delicious tropical post here, glad to see the Dusty Baker guest posting here. While I do not have any dietary restrictions, I do enjoy great taste. The words gluten free in recipes does not deter me from making them. This one looks like one I need to make-yum!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
I’m so glad “gluten free” doesn’t deter you! It’s such a fun world to explore – lots of flours to be trading 😉
Burwell General Store
What a great post! Two of my favorite bloggers. This takes a lot of the “otherness” out of gluten-free baking, which I love.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Hi CM! you introduced us 🙂 This is one of my easiest cakes to make gluten free. The size of it is only making me want to make it again!
anne
Ohhhh !!! That looks great ! Love the moistness of the cake 😉 Delicious post , Dusty Baker 😉 Great guest post , Chef !
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thanks! It is especially moist – I was so pleased with how it turned out 🙂
balvinder
I am glad through Chef Dennis I met another gluten free blogger. the cake looks soft and moist.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
I love your site too! So glad to have found you through Chef D as well!
Regan
This is so lovely- and I have Meyer Lemons right now! One question, I’m allergic to tapioca, is there another flour I could substitute?
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Yes! You can use arrowroot starch for the exact same results. It’s a tad more expensive which is why I usually list tapioca – but no difference in the results!
Sharyn Dimmick
Beautiful cake! I love all the lemon zest flecks in the cake and frosting. I can eat gluten, but I wouldn’t mind trying this.
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thanks! You can’t tell that it’s gluten free. Nope, no not at all!
Ann
What a STUNNING cake! It is so light I can hardly believe it’s gluten free! Amazing….
It looks delicious and congratulations on a terrific guest post with Chef Dennis!
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker
Thank you! It’s my new favorite and gently gluten free (though no one would guess)!
samantha
Hi i am new to the gf foods i am getting married and i have celiac how can i turn the myer lemon coconut cake into a wedding cake