This fluffy and moist Almond Flour Lemon Cake recipe is flavored with fresh lemons and frosted with a creamy, dairy-free blend of coconut butter, honey, and lemons. It's a simple and classic dessert that's gluten free, grain free, dairy free, refined sugar free, Paleo and SCD!

Cake topped with lemon frosting and garnished with lemon slices and lemon zest.

I've had the recipe for this almond flour lemon cake recipe tucked into my recipe notebook since last summer.

I worked on it and worked on it and then before I knew it, summer had given way to fall and I'd moved on to sharing with you all things pumpkin.

Well, last week my little girl turned three (excuse me while I dry my tears) and was adamant about wanting a lemon cake for her birthday.

It gave me the perfect excuse to dig this paleo lemon cake recipe back up and with just a few little tweaks...here we are!

Lemon cake topped with frosting and garnishes with lemon slices and lemon zest.

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This lemon almond flour cake is moist and fluffy which can be difficult to achieve when baking with almond flour.

It also has a lovely, tart lemon flavor brought on by the use of fresh lemons that I absolutely love!

What ingredients are in the lemon almond flour cake?

coconut oil
honey
eggs
lemon zest
fresh lemon juice
vanilla extract
blanched finely ground almond flour
fine sea salt
baking soda

When it comes to the honey, I suggest using a lighter honey such as clover.

It tends to be sweeter and the baked cake will be lighter in color than if a dark honey is used.

Feel free to swap the coconut oil for olive oil.

How to make the cake

Put the mixers and whisks away...for this recipe you'll be using a blender!

Add all of the wet ingredients into the blender and blend for about 15 seconds or until frothy.

A blender filled with ingredients for the paleo lemon cake.

Add the dry ingredients and blend until all the ingredients are well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender jar as needed.

Pour the batter into a greased and lined 9 inch cake pan.

The batter being poured into a greased and parchment lined cake pan.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

Lemon almond flour cake tips:

All ingredients must be at room temperature. This is very important because if any of the ingredients are cold, then the coconut oil will solidify and won't be evenly distributed in the cake.
Submerge cold eggs in a bowl of warm water to quickly bring them up to room temperature.
The coconut oil should be melted but NOT hot!
The cake can also be baked in two 6 inch loaf pans or a muffin pan, although the bake time will need to be adjusted.

The frosted cake surrounded by an empty green bowl, lemon zest and lemons.

Ingredients for the lemon coconut frosting

coconut butter
fresh lemon juice
honey
coconut milk

My Homemade Coconut Butter is incredibly easy to make and is perfect for this recipe.

If you prefer store bought, then the Nutiva brand of coconut butter tends to give me the most consistent results.

If following the SCD or Paleo diets, I can't recommend the Native Forest Simple Coconut Milk enough.

It has only two ingredients (water and coconut) and is a very creamy milk. Just make sure to shake the can before adding the milk to the frosting.

How to make the frosting

This frosting is incredibly easy to make!

Paleo coconut lemon frosting in a green bowl.

Mix the coconut butter with a little lemon juice, honey, and canned coconut milk.

Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking. That's it!

Spreading the coconut lemon frosting onto the almond flour lemon cake.

Once the cake has cooled, spread the frosting on top.

Lemon coconut frosting tips:

If the frosting is too firm, place in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds to help it soften.
Serve the cake at room temperature for a soft, creamy frosting.
Place the cake in the refrigerator for 60 minutes for a firm, shell-like frosting (which is my personal preference).
I have to be perfectly honest with you, if I hadn't been making this for my daughters birthday I probably would have left the frosting off altogether, it's so good without it! But she reminded me that "a bibday cake needs fosting mama"! So the birthday girl got her frosting and I actually really love it on the cake! Moral of the story, if you decide NOT to make the frosting, the cake is still delicious and almost reminiscent of a lemon pound cake!

A slice of cake on a white plate with the rest of the cake in the background.

How do I store the cake?

Leftovers can be covered with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

If you would like to freeze the cake, begin by slicing the cake into single servings.

Make sure the cake has been chilled in the refrigerator and the frosting is firm before wrapping each individual slice a few times with plastic wrap.

Then wap each slice with aluminum foil and store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To thaw, simply unwrap the aluminum foil and all but one layer of plastic wrap from the cake and place in the refrigerator or on the kitchen counter until fully thawed.

More almond flour dessert recipes!

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NOTE: If following the SCD diet, I suggest contacting the company to verify ingredients before using any prepackaged products.

Post was updated on 6/27/19 to refine directions and add additional recipe tips.

Recipe

A decorated lemon cake on a glass serving dish.

Lemon Almond Flour Cake

by: Jennifer Brown

4.77 from 17 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Total Time 50

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings slices

Calories 388 kcal

Ingredients

Lemon Cake

2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
¾ cup honey
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons lemon zest about 1 large lemon
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups finely ground blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Lemon Coconut Frosting

½ cup coconut butter, softened
¼ cup full fat canned coconut milk, shake the can well before using
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Optional:

lemon slices and lemon zest for garnish

Instructions

Lemon Cake

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan with coconut oil. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature before beginning.
Place all wet ingredients; coconut oil, honey, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla extract into a blender and blend for about 15 seconds. The mixture should be frothy.
Add the dry ingredients and the lemon zest to the blender. Blend until all ingredients are well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and bake on the middle rack for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. The top and sides of the cake should be a golden brown.
Allow the cake to cool completely before turning out of the pan.

Lemon Coconut Frosting

Place all ingredients for the frosting in a small bowl and mix using a spoon. If the frosting is too firm, place the bowl in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds until softened.
Wait until the cake has cooled to frost. Garnish with lemon slices and lemon zest. Keep cake stored covered in the refrigerator.
The frosting will firm up in the fridge. It can be served with the firm frosting (which is my preference) or take cake out to rest at room temperature 45 minutes before serving.

Notes

All the ingredients for the cake must be at room temperature before beginning to bake or the coconut oil will harden and won't be evenly distributed in the batter.
Make sure to use fresh lemon juice for the cake and frosting or the flavor will be "off".
The post above has more tips and suggestions.

The nutritional information calculated in the recipe are an estimate. The photos and content above are copyright protected. Please do not use my photos. Please do not copy this recipe and share it on your own website or social media channels. If you wish to tell people about this recipe, you can provide a link back to my blog rather than copying the recipe. Thank you! XO, Jen

Nutrition

Keyword lemon almond flour cake

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Lemon Almond Flour Cake

What ingredients are in the lemon almond flour cake?