Lemon Coconut Vanilla Sheet Cake. (2024)

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Sweet, simple, and delicious, Lemon Coconut Vanilla Sheet Cake. Light and fluffy lemony vanilla cake swirled with a lemon coconut topping. Then generously frosted with creamy whipped vanilla buttercream. Make it pretty for spring and summer by swirling in freeze-dried berry powders or berry jams to create ombre shades of pink and purple. It’s a simple sheet cake that’s lemony, sweet, light, fluffy…and pretty too!

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Happy Friday, happy almost Easter Sunday! Hoping today’s sweet cake brings a little spring pep and cheer into your weekend! I’m currently looking at a photo of this cake with its light colors and dainty little chamomile flowers. Thankfully, it’s cheering me up on this cold and snowy day.

Which if being honest is the reason I made this cake. Ever since I returned from my almost 2-weeks of travel, it’s been windy, cold, and snowing almost every day. I’ve really needed to physically brighten my days and this cake did just that for me.

The bonus, of course, is that it’s delicious. But I made it because I wanted to create something light and colorful for spring. So happy that it turned out even better than I’d envisioned!

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Here are the details

When it comes to vanilla cake I like to keep my recipes pretty straightforward. I always go heavy on the vanilla, but I wanted this to have awesome lemon flavor too. So I used a mix of lemon juice and zest, which is key.

Mix the coconut oil with sour cream, eggs, sugar, all the lemon, and then that vanilla. Next add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a nice pinch of salt. Stream in a little milk and that’s it. Keep it simple.

Now pour the batter into a rectangle baker and pop it in the oven. You’ll smell the lemon as the cake bakes, it’s wonderful.

While the cake is baking, make the quick coconut topping. This is a mix of lemon juice, honey, and toasted coconut.

It’s boiled together on the stove until the lemon and honey form a glaze, then simply stir in the coconut. Just three ingredients, but wow so good. Spread the topping over the cake when it comes out of the oven, then let everything cool.

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The frosting

Cream cheese, butter, sugar, and a splash of vanilla. Beat that all together and you’ll have one of my favorite cake frostings.

No one ever knows there’s cream cheese in the frosting. But it’s what makes this frosting extra special and leaves everyone wanting more. It’s my go-to for cakes.

For decorating, I envisioned the cake to be light shades of pink and purple, but I didn’t want to use food coloring. I ended up using a combination of freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries to create different shades of pink.

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For the purple shade, I used blueberry jam, but you can’t see it as much. So I wouldn’t recommend this as highly as the freeze-dried berries. I didn’t try them, but I’m sure you could also use freeze-dried blueberries for that purple shade.

To blend the dried berries into a fine powder use a food processor or blender. Then stir the powders into separate bowls of frosting to create an ombre look. Super cute and easy!

What I love most about this sheet cake is how just pretty it turns out with minimal effort. The beauty of a sheet cake is that you don’t have to cut or layer anything. Just bake, frost, and enjoy!

This will be so fun for Easter this weekend!

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Looking for other sweet cake recipes? Here are some favorites:

Swirled Blueberry Lemon Thyme Cake

Double Strawberry Cupcakes

Retro-Style Chocolate Sheet Cake

Swirled Blackberry Lavender Sheet Cake

Lastly, if you make this Lemon Coconut Vanilla Sheet Cake, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings: 12

Calories Per Serving: 664 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

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Ingredients

Coconut Lemon Topping

US CustomaryMetric

Instructions

  • 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.

    2. In a large bowl, beattogether the coconut oil, sour cream, eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined, then slowly beat in the milk until fully combined

    3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool.

    4. To make the topping. In a small saucepan bring the lemon juice and honey to a boil over high heat. Boil 1-2 minutes, until just slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut. Evenly spoon the syrup over the cake, then let cool.

    5. To make the frosting: In a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese until whipped. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Frost the cake all over (decorating directions in notes).

Notes

Decorating: If desired, you can pulse the freeze-dried berries into a fine powder, then divide the frosting between 2-3 bowls and stir in the dried berries to create lighter and darker shades of pink. Frost the cake all over with both shades, or spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip (I use a 1M Wilton tip), then frost.

  • You can also use blueberry jam to make a purple shade, just use 1-2 teaspoons of jam.

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Lemon Coconut Vanilla Sheet Cake. (6)
Lemon Coconut Vanilla Sheet Cake. (2024)

FAQs

What happens when you add lemon juice to cake? ›

Lemon juice is strongly acidic, and will react with all the baking soda in the baking powder. This means you won't get as strong a leavening effect during baking. (Some people also feel that the un-reacted acid from the baking powder results in a metallic taste.)

How many servings are in a full sheet cake? ›

Generally, a full sheet cake can serve around 70 to 80 people, a half sheet cake serves about 36 to 48, and a quarter sheet cake caters to approximately 20 to 24 guests. Q: How much batter do I need for a sheet cake? A: The amount of batter depends on the sheet cake size.

What compliments lemon cake? ›

The best side dishes to serve with lemon pound cake are strawberry jam, apple muffins, cinnamon rolls, muffin mix waffles, cranberry sauce, lavender milk tea, lemon curd, fruit dip with Cool Whip, Bahama Mama Tropical Smoothie, vanilla bean ice cream, blueberry compote, spiced chai tea, coconut cream parfaits, candied ...

Can I substitute lemon juice for water in box cake mix? ›

Sprinkle in lemon or orange zest to give your box cake batter a hint of zing. You can also replace the water with lemon, orange or lime juice or soda. Use this method with any type of cake mix, but it works best with lemon, yellow and white cake.

How do you increase the flavor of lemon in a cake? ›

Combine lemon zest with oil or butter

Rub the lemon into the sugar, then add your cooking fat, like butter or oil. The tangy zest will infuse the whole batter, elevating the tart flavor of your dessert. For a shortcut, you can use lemon-infused olive oil.

What should you not mix with lemon? ›

Mixing lemon with buttermilk or yoghurt will have the same consequences as milk with lemon. They not only ruin the taste but can cause acidity. Do keep in mind that the strong citrus flavour of lemon does not mesh well with aromatic spices like cardamom or clove. It can affect the taste and texture of such items.

What two cake flavors go well together? ›

Other Classic Cake Flavor Combinations
  • Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Buttercream.
  • Apple Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream.
  • Sweet Potato Cake with Marshmallow Frosting.
  • Gingerbread Cake with Mocha Buttercream.
  • Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
  • Dark Chocolate Orange Cake with Chocolate Ganache.
May 26, 2023

What flavors go well with vanilla cake? ›

Mild fruit flavors, such as fig, pear, and strawberries, will act as a complement to vanilla. Lady Baltimore cake, for instance, is made with a light vanilla cake paired with a fig and fruit filling topped with a fluffy cloud of meringue buttercream.

What happens when lemon juice is mixed with baking? ›

When baking powder is mixed with lemon juice, bubbles formed because of evolution of carbon dioxide gas. This is a chemical change, because in this reaction new substances are formed.

Why is lemon juice added to cake batter? ›

If the cake is relying on baking soda for its lift, you might want to add a teaspoon or so of lemon juice to activate the soda in lieu of the orange juice's acids. If the recipe uses baking powder, you won't need to do that.

Does lemon cancel out baking soda? ›

Lemons and other citrus fruits are rich sources of naturally-occurring citric acid. When a person mixes lemon juice and baking soda, the citric acid reacts with the sodium bicarbonate to produce a buffer called sodium citrate. A buffer refers to a weak acid or base that prevents drastic pH changes.

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