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Today I’m sharing a recipe for the Lemon Coconut Tea Cake I baked for my mom for her birthday.
It’s not your typical birthday cake since she prefers plain unfrosted cakes like pound cakes, bundt cakes and coffee cakes. Last year I made her this lighter homemade pound cake from scratch.
As I was scanning cookbooks for ideas, I came across this recipe for lemon coconut tea cake, which I thought sounded perfect (Mom’s a lemon and coconut fan), in Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan, a beautiful book I don’t use nearly enough.
Instead of baking a large (10- to 12-cup) bundt cake, I divided the batter and made one small 6-cup bundt cake pan for her and a few mini bundts for us using a bundtlette pan (affiliate link).
Moist and plain but very satisfying in it’s simplicity, it’s the kind of cake both she and I like best. I gave it a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar to dress it up just a bit for the photo.
What Makes a Bundt Cake Different?
Bundt cakes do not conform to any single recipe; instead, their characterizing feature is their shape. A Bundt pan (affiliate link) generally has fluted or grooved sides, but its most defining design element is the central tube or “chimney” which leaves a cylindrical hole through the center of the cake.
Bundt cakes are a great choice for Weight Watchers because they usually forgo a heavy layer of calorie laden frosting or icing. Usually a sprinkling of powdered sugar or drizzle of icing will suffice.
How Many Calories and WW Points in Lemon Coconut Tea Cake?
According to my calculations, each slice of cake has about 221 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
11 SmartPoints (Green plan)
10 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
10 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
6 PointsPlus (Old plan)
Recipe Notes
To decrease the points in this lemon bundt cake, you can substitute your favorite zero calorie sweetener for the sugar. I like Truvia Baking Blend (affiliate link), but other popular choices include Swerve, Stevia in the Raw, Monkfruit and Allulose.
If you’ve made this Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Lemon Coconut Tea Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into several pieces
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 4 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons dark rum (optional)
- 3/4 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Grease a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan (affiliate link). ( I used a 6-cup Bundt pan (affiliate link) and 5 mini 1-cup bundt pans instead)
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Pour the coconut milk into a small saucepan. (Be sure to stir it well before measuring it.) Add the butter and heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk is hot and butter is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the zest and lemon juice. Keep the mixture warm until ready to add it to the cake batter.
- Place the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. (Or in a large bowl, if using a hand mixer.) Beat the eggs and sugar at medium-high speed until pale, thick and almost doubled in volume, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in the vanilla and rum, if you are using it.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and stopping as soon as the flour disappears.
- With the mixer on low, add the coconut and mix until it is just blended into the batter. Add the hot milk and butter mixture in a slow steady stream. When the mixture is smooth, stop the mixing and stir gently a couple of times with a rubber spatula (affiliate link) to make sure everything has been well blended.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan (or pans) and shake the pan back and forth a few times to even it out.
- Bake for 60 to 65 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. (My smaller 6-cup Bundt was done in 40 minutes and my mini 1-cup cakes in 30 minutes.)
- Remove the cakes from the oven place on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 11 SmartPoints (Green plan) 10 SmartPoints (Blue plan) 10 SmartPoints (Purple plan) 6 PointsPlus (Old plan) To decrease the points in this lemon bundt cake, you can substitute your favorite zero calorie sweetener for the sugar. I like Truvia Baking Blend, but other popular choices include Swerve, Stevia in the Raw, Monkfruit and Allulose.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan
If You Like this Lemon Tea Cake, You Might Also Like
- Easy Lemon Supreme Pound Cake (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- WW Low Fat Lemon Bars (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Lightened Up Lemon Cream Cheesecake Bars (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake (Weight Watchers)
- No Bake Strawberry Lemon Pie (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Crock Pot Lemon Poppyseed Cake (Simple-Nourished-Living)
What kind of coconut do you use? Sweetened or unsweetened?
Hi Paula, I used sweetened coconut.
Thank you
Made these this past weekend for Easter and they were incredible! We don’t have mini bundt cake pans so I just went the cupcake route, everyone loved them despite the smaller serving size. My family will definitely be making them again. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi Jamie, so lad you liked them!!