This Lime & Coconut Cake evokes the very best of those tropical island flavours. Tender coconut lime cake layers with a tangy lime curd and silky coconut buttercream.
Has anyone seen Practical Magic? You know that scene with the Midnight Margaritas? The entire time I was working on this cake, I had that and the Put the Lime in the Coconut song in my head. Love me a good Sandra Bullock movie. I watch that one every year around Halloween!
After my last cake recipe, I’m happy to report that all components of this cake came together without issue. I basically merged parts of my Lemon Elderflower, Key Lime Pie, and Coconut Cakes to form this Lime & Coconut Cake. The decorating though, that went as badly as you can expect when filling a cake with a soft lime curd.
How Do You Make Lime Curd?
Lime curd (any curd really) is super simple to make. You just mix some eggs, sugar + zest and juice from whatever citrus fruit you’re using. Cook it over low heat on the stove, stirring constantly until it thickens. Add butter, stir to melt, and you’re done. It will thicken a bit more as it cools.
You can strain your curd if you like, but I prefer to see the little bits of zest in there. If you’re worried you might have cooked some of the egg too much though, you can strain it to get any of those bits out.
I prefer to use whole eggs in my curd rather than just egg yolks. This is a matter of preference. I just like the look of a pale yellow curd vs. a rich yellow one. It just looks more natural to me, don’t ask me why! But if you have an egg yolk only curd recipe that you use and love, feel free to use that instead. Since the buttercream uses egg whites, you’ll have a bunch of yolks left over that you can use for it.
The lime & coconut cake layers baked up without issue, and I made my favourite Swiss Meringue Buttercream to go with the cake, flavouring it with a good bit of coconut milk powder. The trouble for me came with the assembly.
It’s been cold (and snowy) here, and we tend to keep our place warm – like 23°C (73°F) warm. This doesn’t usually have a huge impact on my cake baking/decorating, but in this case I had made the frosting the day before and just left it on the counter overnight. It was the perfect texture after rewhipping in the morning, but a bit on the softer side.
I frosted my cake, making sure to use a buttercream dam around the edges to hold in the lime curd on each layer, and gave it a good crumb coat all around. In hindsight, I may have put in a bit more curd than I should have, but it’s seriously too good not to!! All was going well, until I went to transfer the cake into the fridge.
I bumped the damn cake board on the fridge shelf, and the layers shifted because the frosting was so soft. They only slid slightly, but enough that the curd stared to ooze out the sides. Many expletives were thrown about. I took the cake back out, recentered the layers, stuck bamboo skewers through the top of the cake (in hindsight, I should have done this in the first place) and worked quickly to try and patch the leak(s). I had to put huge spackles of buttercream on my perfectly crumb coated cake to stop further leaks. It looked like a mess, not gonna lie, but it seemed to be holding.
For fear of another curd leak disaster, I chilled the cake much longer than I normally would before giving a final frosting pass — maybe like an hour instead of 20mins. I did not want to risk any more sliding. That seemed to do the trick. I removed the bamboo skewers and got to frosting the cake.
Unfortunately, the extra long chilling time and the chunky spackled sections made the cake difficult to frost. Well, difficult to get perfectly smooth, anyhow. The frosting was setting very quickly and firming up, so it made it harder to smooth out. I ended up having to use a heated (under hot water) metal scraper to even it out. It did an okay job.
You can’t see the imperfections in the pictures because I’ve edited them out via the magic of Photoshop! Ryan says no one would have noticed them, but a discerning cake decorator’s eye surely would have.
The rope border technique I used on the top of this cake is still my favourite. I’ve used this a few times before with a variety of piping tips.
If you want to see how I do it, you can check out the Baking Tips story highlight on my Instagram page.
Cake decorating issues aside, this Lime & Coconut cake was totally worth the effort because it is SO good. The coconut lime cake layers are delicious on their own, but get taken to a whole ‘nother level when paired with the best lime curd and coconut buttercream you’ll ever have.
I love lime and coconut together, but you could also do lemon or even orange instead if you prefer. Key lime and Meyer lemon are also great options!
If you don’t love the texture of shredded coconut in your cake (Ryan doesn’t) then you can leave it out. The coconut flavour will still shine through from the coconut milk and frosting.
Looking for more Tropical Desserts?
- Pina Colada Cake
- Sangria Cake
- Key Lime Pie Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Mini Key Lime Pies
- Aloha Bundt Cake
- Raspberry Mango Cake
Tips for making this Lime & Coconut Cake
- Be sure to use canned coconut milk, not the stuff in the carton, and shake it well before use. Mine was quite smooth, but it can separate a bit, so be sure to shake it!
- The coconut milk powder worked extremely well in the frosting, adding great flavour without affecting the texture.
- You can leave the shredded coconut out of the cake batter if you prefer a smoother texture.
- If you like, you can add a couple of Tbsps of coconut milk powder into the dry ingredients in the cake batter to enhance the flavour even more, especially if you leave out the shredded coconut.
- My lime curd uses whole eggs, but if you have a yolk-only lime curd recipe that you love, feel free to use that instead.
- You can use key limes instead of regular limes if you can get your hands on some.
- To make cupcakes, all you need to do is reduce the baking time — start checking at 15mins or so.
- Be sure to check my Swiss Meringue Buttercream post for tips and troubleshooting.
- Learn how to keep your cakes moist using simple syrup.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, check out my Flat Top Cakes post!
Coconut Lime Cake
Ingredients
Coconut Lime Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 Tbsp lime zest from about 1 1/2 limes
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup coconut milk room temperature
- 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut medium or large
Lime Curd:
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup lime juice fresh squeezed, from 2 1/2 limes
- 2 tsp lime zest from one lime
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 6 large egg whites
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 6-8 Tbsp coconut milk powder to taste
Assembly:
- simple syrup optional
Instructions
Coconut Lime Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour three 8" cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and lime zest until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture with milk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition. Gently fold in shredded coconut.
- Spread batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
- Bake for about 35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
Lime Curd:
- Place eggs and sugar into a small pot, whisk to combine. Add lime juice and zest. Cook over medium-low heat whisking constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in cubed butter and whisk until smooth.
- Transfer to a glass bowl and lay plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for 2 hours to set. Makes a little over 1 cup.
Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.*
- Place bowl over a pot with 1-2" of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch or reads 160F on a candy thermometer (approx. 3mins)
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.**
- Add 6-8 Tbsp coconut milk powder (to taste) one Tbsp at a time whip until smooth.
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Poke holes into the cake using a bamboo skewer. Brush with simple syrup if desired.
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream on top of the layer and pipe a border around the outside to hold the lime curd in. Fill with about 1/2 cup of lime curd. Repeat with next layer.
- Place final layer on top and do a thin crumb coat on the cake. Chill for 20mins.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting. Smooth the sides and top and do a rope border with the remaining buttercream. Fill the center with large toasted coconut chips and sprinkle with lime zest if desired.
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Notes
** The buttercream may look like it's curdled at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
Diana P says
Hello,
Can you use coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
Olivia says
Hi Diana! No, I think it would be too thick. If possible you can try and thin it so it’s similar to the consistency of milk.
Angie Reneau says
Does this cake need to be refrigerated , it looks great
Olivia says
Hi Angie! It will be fine at room temp for a couple hours but otherwise I would refrigerate.
Ans says
Hi!! This sounds heavenly! Quick question: is there any reason. You can’t bake this at 350 – that’s my standard baking setting.
Olivia says
Hi Ans! 350 should work just fine too. I bake most of mine at 350, but sometimes experiment with lower temperatures to see if they bake more evenly. They won’t take as long to bake at 350 though so be sure to adjust accordingly.
arleene lewis says
Hi Liv , thank you so much for sharing . I live in the Caribbean and these are familiar flavors that I love…so I will be giving this recipe a try. Can this cake recipe work for a 9×13 pan?
Olivia says
Hi Arleene! I hope you love it! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html I think it should work just fine, but you may need to adjust the baking time.
Hannah says
Would this cake work as a 2 tier instead of 3? Or would I need to decrease the ingredients? I don’t have 3 cake tins.
Olivia says
Hi Hannah! Yes, it should work fine. Ideally your cake tins are 3″ tall though or else it might be too much batter. Don’t fill the pans more than 2/3rd full or so and make cupcakes with any excess batter 🙂
Tierney says
One more quick question! Would you start with a canola oil or non dairy butter sub in the cake if you were me? Thank you!
Olivia says
I would use the non-dairy butter in the cake 🙂
Tierney Schatz says
Hello there! I’m going to *attempt this * as a dairy free recipe for my youngest Talulah Mae who will be one on the 28th! ( her favorite things in the world are limes, carnitas, and hats- so she’s having a first fiesta and I think this is just the cake!) She has a milk protein allergy- have you ever tried/ had success with a curd using dairy free butter? (we use one that is a blend of coconut oil/ cultured cashew cream and is actually pretty good). Any thoughts on the frosting- I think my first stab at it will be to half the butter with a non hydrogenated shortening and do the rest with our butter substitutes- is that an insane plan? Any advice? Will report back once I’ve had success in case anyone else is looking for a dairy free version- so far, I’ve sourced a dairy free powdered coconut at thrive market 😉
Olivia says
Hi Tierney! I haven’t tried any of my recipes as dairy-free, but here are some notes I have from my baking group on FB that might help:
MILK ALTERNATIVES:
In most cake recipes, you can replace the milk with any non-dairy milk (coconut milk, almond milk, etc.).
A buttermilk alternative is 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar) + 1 cup plant based milk. Combine and allow to sit for 10mins.
BUTTER ALTERNATIVES:
Replace butter with 50/50 earth balance and butter flavored crisco
Spectrum shortening was highly recommended
Nuttelex is a good dairy-free butter for those in Australia
For dairy free buttercream use half coconut oil and half either vegan butter or (higher quality) margarine.
You can replace butter or oil with solidified or un-solidified coconut oil.
Another alternative for people who want an oil free cake is applesauce. Replace 1 for 1 with butter.
Coconut cream frosting
Make a ganache with water or coconut milk. Use either vegan chocolate or 70% dark chocolate.
I think the biggest challenge will be the frosting. I don’t know how well non-butter does in a Swiss meringue. Maybe something like this would work? https://www.bakedbyanintrovert.com/coconut-buttercream-frosting/ Sub the butter for vegan butter and use coconut cream.
Here’s a vegan lemon curd that could work: https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-lemon-curd/
Let me know what you try and how it works out!!
Tierney says
Oh my gosh! I just now saw that you replied! Thank you so much! I made the lime curd with that exact recipe a couple days ago- I added a tablespoon of thrive markets whole coconut butter for a little added thickness at room temp. I swapped out the butter for half of the same thrive coconut butter / half of a coconut oil/ butter hybrid I’ve had good luck using in the past! I gave my shredded coconut a quick whirl in the vitamin to address your texture issues and finally I brushed it with a simple syrup made out of coconut milk/ sugar / pinch of salt & some steeped than strained shredded coconut. The results are AMAZING. My older daughter usually is a lick the frosting off the cake kinda girl and she wanted more! I didn’t really need to trim the tops but I did for a taste test – and then trimmed a little more for a snack! I gave myself a week to do any necessary tweaking but it’s totally not necessary. Going to pop these babies in the freezer for next week and get to work on the frosting! Highly, highly recommend this one for non dairy bakers out there!
Olivia says
Yay! That is awesome, thank you so much for sharing all your tips!! <3
Holly says
I just wanted to tell you that I made this recipe as the bottom tier of a wedding cake last weekend. It turned out perfectly and everyone thought it was delicious! The coconut SMBC is out of this world. Thanks for making me look good 😉
Olivia says
Hi Holly! I love that coconut SMBC, I’m so glad you do too! Happy to hear it was a hit 🙂
Clare says
Hi ! I found that the icing went quite a yellow colour while coming to room temp? Any suggestions on how to avoid this ? Thanks 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Clare! It’s possible the frosting needed a bit more whipping if it looked too yellow and greasy. Or that your butter is more yellow than others. To counteract this you can add a tiny bit of violet color gel into the buttercream itself. Head over to this post and search for “violet” and it will take you to the section where I talk about this: https://livforcake.com/swiss-meringue-buttercream-recipe/
Dee says
Hello. I made this cake yesterday and it is sooooo delicious! But, like you- I struggled a bit with sliding layers- even after following your instructions to a T. I used 4 dowels to stabilize the layers and refrigerated the crumb coated cake for 20+minutes. It still slid. And I had some oozing lime curd. That lime curd=amazing! Oh so yummy! And then my decorating scheme was disastrous. I should have stuck with yours! Instead, I played with some new tips and probably created my ugliest cake ever! Too funny. So, while I think the cake is super duper delicious, I think there may need to be a few adjustments (like a very thick icing dam and half the amount of lime curd????) to get this cake to come out well. I did learn some new skills though and am so glad for that!
Olivia says
Hi Dee! I think one thing that might work well is chilling each layer after adding the dam/curd so that the dam can set/firm up. That’s what I’d do next time anyhow. I’m so glad you loved this recipe! I’m sure it didn’t look as bad as you think. It’s all about the flavour anyhow! 🙂
Cyn says
Hi
I was wondering if I can use 200g of sugar instead of 400 for the sponge cake ?
Thanks
Olivia says
Hi Cyn! I haven’t tried reducing the sugar by that much but you can certainly give it a go!
Fiona says
I just made this for my mum for her birthday – absolutely sublime cake! WOW! Thank you for this fabulous recipe.
Olivia says
Yay! So happy to hear you loved it 🙂
Janice Smith says
Janice says: I’m definitely going to try this soon, either for a special occasion or my church’s annual dessert auction, which we have to help finance the kid’s camp. It is so beautiful, and I really love taking ordinary ingredients that are used to make the cake and the decorator skills that I have to turn it into a work of art! I have a quite a way to go with decorating, especially flowers (still working on the rose before moving on), but I do really well with borders. Plus, I absolutely love coconut!.. Thank you, Olivia for sharing your cake and decorating secrets!
Olivia says
Thanks Janice! I hope you love this one 🙂
Cynthia Thomas says
What piping tip did u use pl
Olivia says
Hi Cynthia! Strange, I forgot to mention that, I usually do. It’s a 6B piping tip.
Krista says
I’d love to make this into cupcakes… any tips on how to make that happen?
Olivia says
Hi Krista! The recipe will work fine as cupcakes, you just need to reduce the baking time. I would recommend hollowing out the cupcakes and filling with the curd then topping with buttercream.
Nancy W! says
Hi Olivia! Is it okay to assemble and decorate the cake the day before a party, or is it best to do it on the day of… 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Nancy! Day before will be fine. Just store it in the fridge and take out 2-3 hours before serving.
Robbin Goff says
I am wondering where one purchase Coconut powder? Every other ingredient looks easy to find but that one seems very exotic!
Olivia says
Hi Robbin! I found it in the Asian section of my supermarket, but you can also find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2TikEep
Divya Malhotra says
Lovely recipe. But since I’m living in India so getting all the ingredients in-hand is not possible. Although I will try to find out the alternative. Can I order this cake online? Kindly help.
Also, kudos to the fine art.
Olivia says
Hi Divya! What ingredients are you having trouble finding? Maybe I can help suggest alternatives.
Melissa says
That cake looks amazing!
Olivia says
Thank you Melissa!
Cathy says
Good Morning,
This cake looks amazing!
Please share the type of coconut milk you use, is it the canned full fat or coconut milk, the more liquid type?
Thank you.
Cathy
Olivia says
Hi Cathy! Thanks for calling that out — I forgot to mention it! I used canned coconut milk. Shake well before using!
Sara D says
How thick should the coconut milk be? I used AROY-D which I got from an Asian grocery store. I know from my previous experience with canned coconut milk that the amount of fat varies can to can. I noticed my batter was thick so I added 1/4 c. of water… The cake tastes good, but it is super dense. I’m guessing it’s because my milk was too thick.
Should I have watered down my coconut milk to be more the consistency of cow milk?
Oh, I made two 6″ layers and 12 cupcakes. The cupcakes were less dense than the cake layers.
Olivia says
Hi Sara! Mine is quite liquid, but I do shake the can to make sure it’s not chunky. I use the Grace brand. I always shake the cans in store to make sure I can hear the milk sloshing around in them. The density could be due to the thicker milk or is it possible that the batter got overmixed when you added water? You can certainly thin out your coconut milk with water next time!
Janet Southern says
Oh yum, i am so going to try this after i finish my challenging wedding cake in progress at the moment!
Thanks Liv.
Olivia says
Hi Janet! I hope you love this one 🙂
Elzbieta says
Wyglada pieknie i pewnie jeszcze lepiej smakuje
Olivia says
Thank you!! xoxo <3