A beautifully moist, coconut multi-layer cake sandwiched with a lemon curd buttercream – Lemon Curd Coconut Cake makes the celebration cake because it tastes wonderfully decadent & looks so impressive. Or wow everyone & serve this at the family Easter gathering. It’s also lovely served for afternoon tea on Mother’s Day.
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Don’t be daunted by the lofty list of ingredients – most of the ingredients are just butter & sugar! Being a mix-and-melt cake, the cake part of the recipe comes together easily although it does require almost 1 1/2 hours cooking time then it has to be completely cool before you halve the cakes & assemble them. The lemon curd needs to be completely cool before it goes into the buttercream or you’ll know what’ll happen – yeah it’ll melt the buttercream. If you make the cake & lemon curd a day ahead, then it’s a simple task of making the buttercream (which takes about 5 minutes), then you can assembling the cake. Either leave it plain or decorate with some spring flowers – although we opted for tulips, pansies would be really pretty.
Lemon Curd Coconut Cake is so perfect for spring time, this cake is moist with a creamy, sweet & tart filling that will appeal to young & old. Layer cakes might seem a little daunting to make at first but with a little care when you’re cutting the cooled cakes in half, they’re not hard to make. This is rather a statuesque cake so it’ll feed 8 to 10 people rather generous pieces.
lemon curd coconut cake
Ingredients
TO MAKE THE LEMON CURD
- 1/2 cup salted butter, cubed
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 large eggs
COCONUT CAKE
- 6 large eggs
- 2 1/4 cups milk (full-fat)
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) salted butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut extract
- 3 3/4 cups self-rising flour (self raising)
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups flaked coconut (preferably unsweetened) (desiccated coconut)
COCONUT BUTTERCREAM
- 1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar (icing/powdered sugar)
- 2 teaspoons coconut extract
- flowers to decorate, if desired
Instructions
To make the lemon curd:
- Place butter, sugar & juice in a medium saucepan. Whisk over low heat until the butter is melted & sugar is dissolved; remove from heat.
- Vigorously whisk in eggs. Whisk constantly over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened; strain through a fine sieve.
- Pour into sterilized jar; seal with sterilized lids. Chill for 8 hours or overnight until cold. Use in recipes, dolloped on berries or spread onto hot buttered toast or scones. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.
To make the cake:
- Grease & line 2 x 8-inch deep cake pans with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325F (160C).
- Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add milk, melted butter & coconut extract; whisk until well combined. Add flour, sugar & coconut; stir until combined. Divide mixture evenly between each pan. Bake in center of the oven for 1 1/4 hours or until cooked with tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cakes need to be completely cool before assembling.
To make the buttercream:
- Put butter, confectioner’s sugar & coconut extra in a large bowl of electric mixer. Beat for 10 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally, until light & fluffy. Add lemon curd & beat until well combined.
To assemble the cake:
- To assemble the cake – using a long serrated knife, trim the top dome off each cake & discard (or eat) – if there’s hardly a dome then you might not want to trim it. Cut each cake in half horizontally using the serrated knife. You will now have 4 cakes. Place the bottom cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread with 1/5 of the butter cream mixture. Add another cake & spread with another quantity of buttercream. Repeat layering. Spreading the top layer with buttercream. Spread remaining buttercream around the outside of the cake. Cut into wedges to serve.
More lemon recipes to tempt you: Luscious Lemon Tart & Honey Yogurt Lemon Syrup Cake.
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