This Lemon Coconut Pound Cake is made entirely grain free, sugar free, gluten free and low carb!
Learning to embrace and truly love coconut flour has it's challenges. If you love the flavor of coconut as I do it's not that hard to love recipes that include it. But what about those times when you don't want the taste of coconut and you just happen to have a child that has a tree nut allergy AND you want to eat low carb?
Options are limited since almond flour is out. Sunflower seed meal is great to sub almond flour and I've been happy with many recipes using it like my Grain Free Cinnamon Roll Muffins or my Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.
But when you want a light and bright and pretty colored pound cake sunflower seed meal will not work. Getting my predicament?
They're just aren't any low carb flours as light in color as coconut flour.
And my aim is to get my family eating low carb and loving it.
So by embracing the coconut flour I also must take on the very many experiments and failures of using a temperamental ingredient.
And I hate failure. And I really don't like having to make and buy triple the ingredients to get recipes perfect, but I must succumb to this fate as a food blogger.
At least the hubby is quite supportive when I go through more butter and eggs than anyone I know in a given week.
I think we need to buy ourselves some chickens so I can have all the organic eggs I want and need.
I'm quite serious. 🙂
So this recipe looks perfectly perfect doesn't it?
I mean it's beyond amazing when you can offer a pound cake like this to non sugar free, low carb friends and they leave you nothing to go home with on your plate.
That ALWAYS makes me smile.
I served it just like the picture above to a church event and it was gone within minutes.
Even if you're not a fan of coconut you can make this pound cake more lemony with the adjustments I mention in my notes.
Happy Baking to you!
Brenda's Notes:
- I've made this twice with similar fantastic results. The first time I used coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. The second time I had simply run out of coconut milk so using the heavy cream was just as delicious. I did notice less coconut flavor and more lemon flavor. You could also try unsweetened almond milk if you prefer.
- If you don't have Swerve and use a stevia baking blend or Truvia, I would suggest leaving out the liquid stevia in the recipe.
- If you want even more lemon flavor remove the vanilla extract and use ½ teaspoon of lemon extract.
Sugar Free Lemon Coconut Pound Cake {Low Carb and Grain Free}
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut flour
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut I use Let's Do Organic
- 1 cup Swerve sweetener
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut liquid stevia or lemon liquid stevia
- optional topping: unsweetened coconut flakes I use Let's Do Organic
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Generously grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan.
- Whisk the first 6 ingredients together. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer beat the eggs then add the remaining wet ingredients to the mixer.
- Once well blended pour half the dry ingredients into the wet and blend until combined.
- Pour the remaining dry ingredients and blend until just combined.
- Pour batter into loaf pan.
- Sprinkle with optional coconut flakes if desired.
- Bake 1 hour or until a skewer in center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool 1 hour then take a knife and run it along the edges to loosen.
- Carefully invert onto a serving plate or cutting board.
- Allow to completely cool before slicing.
- Best if kept refrigerated.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Susan
I followed the recipe exactly and when it just finished cooling I carefully turned it out of the pan. A small part stuck to the bottom of the pan splitting the loaf at it came out. 🙁
I like coconut so I took a nibble from the broken part. I was very disappointed. It is too heavy a cake and on the dry side. The taste wasn't what I expected either. I thought it would be a sweeter cake. I'll put it in the fridge so see if letting it sit overnight improves the taste. If not it's going in the garbage.
I won't bother experimenting with this recipe because of the overall cost of the ingredients.
Brenda
I'm sorry you had a bad experience with this recipe. I can tell you it will be more set once it's been refrigerated over night. What sweetener did you use? My family thought it was well sweet enough.
Susan
I used Splenda because it was the only one I had in the house.
Brenda
Did you use 1 cup like I did for the Swerve? Did you add anything to replace the 1 tsp of coconut liquid stevia? If not there's the problem of why it wasn't sweet enough for you. 1 tsp of stevia equals about another cup of sugar. Hopefully if you've refrigerated it and maybe slice and toast a piece with butter you will be able to enjoy it.
Mary
Just took this out of oven smells so delicious I'm worried about it though because to the touch it wasn't firm it almost feels soft and jello like all over. does it set after sitting for an hour. I even let it bake 10 minutes longer but it did come out clean when I inserted a knife. I did notice my eggs were a little large could that be the problem.
Brenda
It should firm up after cooling and then I place mine in the fridge and is wonderful the next day.
Lynn
I dont really want to have a full sized loaf cake around cooking for just hubby and me. If I cut the recipe in half and use a smaller pan, what would you suggest the baking time be?
Brenda
If you cut the amount in half I would say check the time after just 30 minutes with a toothpick, let me know how it goes.
joda
sounds amazing but to be sugar free those calories are crazy almost a 1/3 of my calories for the day
Heather
I am making this and I have never used coconut flour before. Like a previous comment above, mine was more of a "glop" into the baking pan. I hope I did everything correctly. I didn't wait long enough for the butter to come to room temp, so that was kind of a disaster, but hopefully this doesn't waste any ingredients lol. I guess if anything I can break it up and make a trifle of sorts....maybe....
Ctinkam
I have never heard of swerve. Is it powder or liquid. If it is liquid, could I use Apple Juice instead? I realize this is higher in carbs and calories, but my main thing is eating natural, unprocessed foods.
Thanks.
Brenda
Actually Swerve comes granulated or like confectioners sugar, so apple juice wouldn't be a good sub for that. If you are using natural sugars maybe use honey in the same amount as the swerve I used.
Sydney Lee
I can’t wait to try this! My boyfriend and I love lemon anything. I’ve been looking for a Keto friendly lemon pound cake. Thank you sooo much! I usually have Swerve on hand but am out right now. I haven’t been able to find it in any stores for 2 weeks. I do have Swerve confectioners. Could this be used in place of the granular? I guess in worst case I may have to buy online but it’s more expensive that way because of shipping.
Brenda
The confectioners Swerve will work just fine.
Sabra
Could you use honest instead of swerve?
Sabra
Honey not honest?
Brenda
You could eliminate both the Swerve and the stevia i used and try it with honey. I've not made it with honey but without the stevia as well you could use the same amount I used of the swerve. Let me know how it comes out.
Jen
Can I subscribed erythrithol for the swerve? Swerve doesn't agree with my stomach.
Brenda
Swerve is erythritol.
Carole
In regards to your comment about getting chickens so you will have lots of eggs....It is probably cheaper to buy them. My husband has several chickens and I joke with him between the cost of the coop and feed (he also feeds them lots of lettuce and cabbage), that these are the most expensive eggs we've ever bought!
Louise
Made this today and although it has a great flavor..it's very, very dry! I did have to leave it in the oven a bit longer to insure it was cooked, but you can barely get it down w/o drinking something!
Brenda
Did you change any ingredients in the recipe? Because I've made this over 3 times and it's always super moist.
Sonya
Can these be made into cup cakes?
Amy Darlington
Looks absolutely delicious. I wonder, though, if there is a way to reduce the fat in this. Butter, sour cream, heavy cream, AND eggs? Yikes, as a borderline diabetic I'd like this even more if it were more heart healthy (fat is good, but not quite so much), and more lightly sweetened. If you used natural unsweetened applesauce could you cut back on fat and use slightly less of the sweetener? How would I take steps to do this?
Brenda
I wouldn't be able to suggest any subs without remaking it and trying to purposely lower the fat. This recipe was made more than 3 times to get the right texture using coconut flour which absorbs liquid like a sponge. COconnut flour is quite tricky. The only suggestion I would feel confident in making might be to remove heavy cream and use unsweetened almond milk in it's place.
Kate
I have been grain free for 3 years and struggle to find good sugar free low carb cakes. This was amazing it exceeded all my expectations. I swapped the butter for coconut oil, sour cream for cream cheese, and cream for light cream all lactose free. I also added 1/2tsp butter extract. I can't believe how it held together and actually tastes like cake! I do think it needs a bit more lemon . Can't wait to make this again hoping it wasn't a one off fluke
Jennifer
I am putting this in the oven now, but I'm nervous. The recipe says "pour" the batter into the loaf pan. I had to "glop" it in, it was so thick, and it filled the pan to the top, so I hope it doesn't rise much! I will let you know how it turns out! I am not new to using coconut flour, and this seemed like a LOT of coconut flour for a recipe to me, but then again, there is a lot of fat (cream, butter) so maybe it'll turn out OK. I'm used to recipes using eggs to sop up the coconut flour...
Jennifer
OK, I'm back. It finished cooked and I refrigerated it overnight (it was almost 9pm when it finished. Had some for breakfast this morning. It was not bad. Very heavy, like a brick, and definitely has the "coconut" taste and mouth feel where it sucks the moisture out of your mouth lol. But not bad when you don't have a lot of low-carb dessert options. I ended up putting chunks of it in stevia sweetened greek yogurt with a few blueberries and topped with whipped heavy cream.
Pretty sure I followed the directions exactly, but let me know if you can think of something I did wrong. I used the "dip and sweep" method to measure the coconut flour. Is it possible that my brand is more dense than yours? The only thing I can think of to make it less dense is less coconut flour or possibly more eggs.
Brenda
It is a very dense cake but we didn't feel it was a problem and rather liked it dense. As far as the coconut flavor, add more lemon if you don't want so much coconut flavor. I can't be sure if the measuring method you used measures out the same. If you want it more moist reduce the coconut flour by a 1/2 cup.
Jennifer
Thanks for the reply. I think I'll have to try it again with a little less flour. I have used several brands of coconut flour in the past and I've noticed that they are not all consistent in how baked goods turn out with them.. I guess some brands are finer than others or measure differently.
Stacey
I just made this today and my batter looked more like a cookie dough than cake batter. I followed all the instructions exactly. It was so dry that I decided to just do a test with a mini loaf pan so I could modify the rest of the batter if it didn't turn out right. Well, it is hard to explain how the test loaf turned out. It was moist yet dry at the same time. It was hard to eat without having a big glass of liquid because it was very dry in my mouth. I added more cream to the rest of the batter but honestly I can't say it made much difference. If I were to make this again I would definitely use a lot less coconut flour.
Dottie
Brenda, I was sad to see a single slice carb count was so high. When on a 20 carb a day eating plan, I can't justify 12.7 g carbs. per slice. When checking the ingredients I couldn't see where that high count could have come from????
Brenda
Do you not count net carbs but total? I count net and the net carbs are 5. I cut pretty good size pieces, maybe if you slice thinner pieces and get more than 14 slices you can enjoy this for less carbs.
Malainie
Years ago I made low carb bread out of coconut flour. I didn't like it. It reminded me of pound cake. So I bet this will be great! Thanks!
Patti
Firly new to grain and sugar free. I love to bake so I am experimenting trying to find some go to favorites. Unfortunately I didn't have all the good luck everyone else did! Boo hoo 🙂 Mine took forever to bake. I mean like over 2 hours! I could not get it out of the loaf pan after 1 hour, several hours and overnight. The flavor was so wonderful but the loaf was like a big eggy, heavy, soggy sponge. This has happened to me before with a pumpkin zuchinni loaf that had a lot of eggs in it. I was so sad to lose all of those wonderful and expensive ingredients. Has this happened to anyone and what should I do in the future? Thank you!
Leslye
Oh my goodness! Just made this and it is awesome!!! I have been sugar and grain free for a year, feel amazing, but sometimes miss the old favorites! I also have a child with tree nut allergies so all the almond flour recipes out there don't work for us. I had a lemon pound cake recipe that I adored, that had a lemon glaze. I was inspired to experiment with the glaze - sugar free - since I would only be sacrificing 4 1/2 tsp lemon juice and 2 tblsps of Swerve! (Nothing compared to all your eggs and butter!) I put the lemon juice and Swerve in a sauce pan and reduced it until it was a syrup and brushed it on the warm loaf as it cooled in the pan. Heaven. Don't know how that changes things but can't be too tragic! Thank you so much for all these wonderful recipes! This journey would have been impossible without them!
Brenda
That glaze sounds fantastic! Would you ind if I used it and I will mention it came from you Leslye?
Leslye
Absolutely! The original recipe is in the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, for Lemon Loaf. I just subbed the sugar for Swerve so can't take the cred! 🙂 Hope you like it! It looks like it could burn easily so watch it and stir constantly. After I zested the lemon I was wondering what to do with the bald lemon when I remembered the glaze from the lemon loaf. I would imagine you could do something like this without the heat - doesn't Swerve have a powdered version? Instead of water to make a glaze you could add juice?
Jo Woodson
I just baked this cake .It just came out of oven smells delicious.My batter was thick so added little coconut milk to thin it a little.I baked it in my bunt pan made a big cake can't wait till it cools to try it thanks
Karen S
I love your recipes. Never had a bad one in the whole bunch! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Katie
This looks,delicious, I would like to sub coconut oil for the butter & Greek yogurt or kefir for the sour cream. Do you thi these substitutions would work? Do you think I would need to change any measurements?
Brenda
I think the coconut oil subbed for butter will be fine. Not sure about kefir, is it thick like sour cream in texture? If so it might also work fine.
Michelle
That looks great. I will try it for Easter Dinner/
Cynthia Hall
Does the Swerve have the same after taste as the Splenda? I made the muffins from here and I couldn't eat them because of the after taste. I would love to try more recipes if it wasn't for the after taste. Thanks for any help.
Brenda
I don't use Splenda so I can't say. When I served this to my husband who is very picky about the taste of stevia he loved it and didn't say he there was any aftertaste at all. I also served this to a bunch of no sugar free friends who ate it up without complaint.
JW
Hi. I know this is a three year old post but, I wanted to say to try using Xylitol or erythritol. Erythritol is a little safer but, they dont leave that nasty after taste. I'm a baker and I am starting to include cakes and baked goods that are "Keto" friendly and I am loving these sugar substitutes. I cant wait to try this recipe above!
Carolyn
Coconut really is a temperamental ingredient! You did great with this, though.
Brenda
thank you!
Michelle
Any chance this would work with PURE stevia extract? Or would the loss of bulk compared to a baking blend stevia cause problems?
Brenda
I used 1 cup Swerve so you would need to replace it with something else. Maybe a protein powder would work.
Rosemary
I wa wondering why you don't use any oil here. Or do you never use oil? This is a cake that I would want to be very moist. That's where the oil comes in. Is it moist?
Brenda
There's no need for oil and my first attempt it was TOO moist almost wet so the second try I added more coconut flour and it is just right! We were still able to eat the first one I made by letting it cool and once cooled I placed it in the fridge overnight. The next morning it was still delicious and moist. So you could do what I did for my first batch just reduce the coconut flour y 1/2 a cup. But i prefer the way I've shared it today and it is very moist.
Sara
Well, here I was wondering what to bake today and here came your email! This looks delicious, and I do love coconut and use coconut flour a lot! I've got half a gallon of almond milk open so I'm glad you mentioned subbing that for the coconut milk. Off to the kitchen I go!
Regina
Coconut milk? I didn't see that in the ingredients. Did I miss something? Mine is in the oven now.
LaShawnda
Would this work without the added coconut?
Sara
I'll let you know, I didn't realize I was out of coconut. So I made it without. I did have the flaked coconut for the top but no shredded for the bread. Mine's cooling right now.
Sara
Yes, it worked without the coconut. Also, when Brenda says to let the darn thing sit she means it! I took it out of the pan after an hour and wanted to flip it so the cockpit nut was on top while it cooled and I have chunks of cake. We're having Coconut Cake Chunks with Berries and Whipped Cream for dessert tonight!
Sara
Coconut. Not cockpit. Gotta love autocorrect (but not much).
Terry Schultz
LOL!
Deb Brooks
I'm still rolling in the floor laughing!!
Autocorrect does this to me all the time, it embarrasses me to no end !!
I typed my nieces name and it changed it to Hookah!!
Where in the world did it come up with that word?????
Ive Never typed it before in my life!!!!
Lololololol.
Brenda
Oh I'm so sorry that happened! It happened to me as well because I was impatient the first time!
Ayisha Williams
Hello Brenda
I'm from the UK and would like to make this cake (It looks soooo yummy) is there any chance that you could pretty please post the recipe in grams?
Thank you
Brenda
Just edited it for you. At the bottom of the recipe you click metric and it will show you the measurements.
Snarflee
So I did use the coconut but witheld most of it aside from one half cup, but I needed a cake to carve I reduced the liquid and poof I made a three batch cake 11x18 it’s a bit dry but I need to carve it so it’s yummy! I’ll moisten it with sugar free coconut water!