An easy gluten free, dairy free and low FODMAP coconut lemon loaf cake recipe that is perfect with a cup of tea!

Yield: 1 loaf cake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Gluten Free Dairy Free Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake 

I am obsessed with lemon cakes--a refreshingly tart and moist lemon drizzle cake is the anecdote for righting a lot of wrongs in life. Most people say when life hands you lemons make lemonade. And while I do love a nice glass of homemade American-style lemonade, I love cake more. So when life hands us lemons in this house, we make decadent cake. This one, in fact.

Check out the crumb on that gluten free cake! Phwoar!

Look guys, this cake is easy peasy and oh-so-delicious. It's super moist thanks to a little cake baker's secret weapon and a trick I picked up here in the UK. But it's also nicely dense and it has a nice "crumb" as profesh bakers would say. All of that aside, here's what you really need to know about this babe of a cake: it's gluten free, dairy free and low FODMAP friendly. It's also not overtly sugary so the lemon really stands out and the hit of coconut you get when that unmistakable scent wafts toward you?

 

Ingredients:

For the coconut lemon cake
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 lemon, zest
2 eggs
50ml fresh lemon juice
100 grams gluten free coconut flour
190 grams all purpose gluten free flour
225 grams sugar, reserve 50 grams
350ml lactose-free milk
desiccated coconut (optional)
Need a conversion? Use this handy chart.

Low FODMAP Coconut Lemon Cake Recipe

Usually, I'm intimidated by cakes. My mother (she won't mind me saying this) has always had problems making cake--growing up I can remember having to tiptoe in and out of the kitchen when a cake when in the oven, lest our heavy-footed steps would cause the cake to "fall". No matter how much we tiptoed, the cakes almost always fell. Naturally, I'd assumed my mother's cake-making prowess (or lack thereof) would be a trait I inherited, but it's looking like the cake goddesses have been kind to me! One thing my mom gets right every time? Her sweet potato pie. Holy yum, y'all. And fair's fair: the pie goddesses left me in the lurch.

But this is one of those cakes that you need to whip up, whack in and fuhgeddaboutit. My cake making anxiety is usually through the roof and I spend most of the time mimicking those contestants on Great British Bake Off--with my nose pressed to the oven door, on hands and knees in the kitchen. But the day I made this cake I had a conference call, so I popped it in the oven, set the timer and said to my husband: "When the timer goes off, put this skewer dead in the centre. If it comes out with only a few crumbs on it, it's done. If not, put it back in for 5 minutes and repeat." Leaving that cake in the oven while I headed upstairs on a work call was nearly as nerve wrecking as leaving my son at his first day of nursery!

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 165c / 325f and oil a loaf pan well, rubbing oil into all sides and corners.
2. Combine the flours, sugar (save 50 grams), baking powder and salt together in the bowl and whisk.
3. Mix the eggs, oil and lemon zest in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the mixer and combine with a paddle attachment while gradually adding in the milk. You may not use all of the milk, just keep adding until you have a smooth batter.
5. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake for an hour or until the cake is cooked through. 
6. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack and let cool a further 10 minutes while you prepare the syrup.
7. Mix the lemon juice with the remaining sugar and whisk over a low heat to form a simple syrup. 
8. Poke holes all over the cake and use a pastry brush to brush on the syrup over the top and on all sides of the cake, letting it soak in and absorb. 
9. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut (if using), slice and serve! Moaning optional. 

Here are some gluten free cakes that'll keep ya sweet:

 Two Layer Gluten Free Brownie Cake

Gluten Free Blueberry Cream Mille Feuille 

Gluten Free Double Chocolate and Coffee Madeleines