Our little lemon tree.

When my dad passed away in 2014, I took upon myself to get into gardening. It was cathartic and reminded me of my dad. It was a hobby he loved and I felt it brought me closer to him. Dad would spend hours every day weeding, planting, spraying, picking and nurturing his plants. Fruit trees were his specialty. He would bring bucket loads into the house of plums, mandarins and lemons to name a few. That’s why I bought a number of plants, including a little lemon tree that I’ve been growing in a big pot. After nearly seven years, the tree has finally borne fruit. This called for a celebration-worthy cake to be made… this lemon & coconut sour cream cake.

I’ve had this recipe for years. I’ve made it a couple of times but not recently. I don’t do a lot of cake baking unless I really have to. That means cakes are often left for birthdays and special occasions, not just for fun. Up to now, I’ve found it quite painful to cream butter and sugar together. I don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer. However, I did buy not too long ago a hand mixer which I now love to bits. It’s compact so stores away nicely under the bench. Plus it works a treat on doing things like whipping cream or creaming butter and sugar together. Now that I have this, you’ll see more cakes get added here!

The lemons from our little lemon tree were perfect. Grown with love. I felt it was only fitting to make a cake in honour of my dad who I miss terribly every day.

This is a fluffy cake full of zesty flavour. If you love lemon, you’ll definitely love this cake.  I recommend using a full-fat sour cream for this recipe. You can also substitute this for full-fat Greek yogurt. However, use sour cream if you can.

Lemon & Coconut Sour Cream Cake

If you're after a zesty lemon cake recipe, don't pass this one up. This lemon & coconut sour cream cake is fluffy and flavoursome making it perfect for a celebratory afternoon tea.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

 

• 150 g butter, at room temperature
• 220 g caster sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 300 g sour cream
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 75 g plain flour
• 40 g desiccated coconut
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated
• 60 ml lemon juice
• lemon zest, to decorate

LEMON ICING

• 160 g icing sugar mixture
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• Grease a loaf pan and line with baking paper with all four sides longer than the height of the tin itself.
• Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the sour cream and stir to combine. Combine the flour and coconut together in a separate bowl. Gradually add into the sour cream mixture, stirring to combine. Add the lemon rind and lemon juice, stirring to combine.
• Add mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

• Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Stir in enough lemon juice to make a runny paste. Spoon the icing over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with lemon zest. Put aside until the icing sets. Cut into slices to serve.

Notes

• As this cake has icing, you need to allow additional time for the cake to cool as well as for the icing to set.
• You can store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature as the icing doesn't contain any dairy. If you prefer to store in the fridge, just be mindful that this can dry the cake out.