Extra Moist Lemon Coconut Poke Cake

 

Meet my new cake-love! 

This lemon with coconut poke cake is what every good cake should be...

 

So Easy & fun to make

 

Incredibly moist and tender 

 

Surprise pockets of sweet filling

 

Frosted with buttery yet fluffy homemade vanilla whipped cream

 

Tart, sweet, & divinely delicious!!!

 

 

I made this cake for my brother's birthday he just had, because like us, he is a big lemon lover .  He absolutely loved it!!! 

 

It was definitely birthday cake worthy!

 

 

 

 

 

I love celebrating birthdays, because you are celebrating that person! 

 

 I LOVE my brother, and he is a blessing to me!  I'm really thankful he lives close-by although the rest of our family doesn't.  We always have a good time when we get together!

 

Needless to say, this cake was phenomenal and everyone enjoyed with with a big glass of cold milk.

 

 I love how easy it was to make, and the options for these poke cakes are almost endless.  I wanted lemon as the main flavor, but to add extra texture I thought the coconut was a great idea.  For even more of a coconut flavor, add cream of coconut in place of the sweetened condensed milk and it would be fab!  I think that's usually what goes in a cream of coconut poke cake.

 

I really can't convey to you how moist and fluffy this lemon coconut poke cake is, so if you're a lemon lover like we are please try this recipe out.  It would be the perfect dessert for Easter Sunday or anytime this Spring season!

 

 

Lemon Coconut Poke Cake

 

1 box Lemon Cake Mix

1 large Lemon, divided

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Jar Lemon Curd, or about 1 cup

1 c. Coconut, divided

(You can use frozen/fresh kind or dried, sweetened or unsweetened) 

 

Frosting Ingredients:

2 c. Heavy Whipping Cream

splash Vanilla extract

1/4 c. granulated Sugar

 

 

In a small bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, juice of half the lemon, and about 1/2 cup of coconut.  Stir together well and set aside.

 

Mix the cake up according to the package's directions.  Add the juice of half a (juicy) lemon to the batter when you're mixing it. 

 

Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan, and bake according to the direction.  Mine was about 35 minutes at 350 degrees F. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 As soon as the cake come out of the oven--before it cools at all!-- take the handle of a wooden spoon and poke holes all over the cake.  Don't poke all the way through the cake!

 

Immediately take the milk and coconut mixture and pour all over the cake.  Spread it out to all the edges and allow it to seep into the hot cake.

 

 

Allow the cake to completely cool! 

(I just left mine out on the counter, but if you want, pop it in the fridge.)

 

 Once cooled, spread out the jar of lemon curd all over the cake.

 

Take your cold heavy whipping cream out of the fridge and pour into a large bowl.  Add the vanilla.  Using a mixer, mix on medium until the cream starts to slightly thicken. 

 

Add the sugar and turn the mixer up on med- high until the cream has become quite stiff and turned into "whipped" cream.  Not butter...that would be too long!

 

Lift the beaters, and if you have a stiff mixture then you are good.  I like to whip mine stiffer in this recipe than I normally would since it's used as the icing for the cake.  YUM!

 

Dump out all the whipped cream onto the cooled cake.  Spread out evenly over the lemon curd.  It will be thick, fluffy, and delicious.

 

 

Sprinkle the remaining coconut over the top.

 

Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours and until you enjoy it.  It lasts in the fridge for 3 days.

 

Enjoy this ultra moist, lusciously delicious cake with a big glass of milk!

 

Thanks for bearing with all the dark pictures lately.  We've had cloudiness almost everyday for a while now! 

 

 

I'm linking up with Friends at:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Luscious Meyer Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze

Maria: I am Maria Portokalos, and welcome, welcome to our home

Harriet: (hands bundt cake to Maria)

Maria: Oh. Thank you... What is it?

Harriet: It's a bundt

Maria: Bun?

Harriet: Bundt

Maria: Bun, buh...bonk, bonk, bonk

Harriet: BUNDT

Maria: Bonnnnnnn...tt

Harriet: BUNDT, BUNDDD..TTT

(whispers)

Maria: It's a CAKE! I know! Thank you, thank you very very much.

Maria: ....(aside) There's a hole in this cake...

(We LOVE "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", and my husband insisted I add this dialog!  Hilarious. Now I always think of this scene when I see a bundt cake!!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have a big lemon sweet tooth around here, and this lusciously moist cake is my new addition!

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's lemon cake recipe, this is Meyer Lemon Cake with my own lemon glaze!!

Isn't she a gleaming sweet and tart beauty! 

I chose to use Meyer lemons because they are a treat that I look forward to every year around this time.  They are not so bright yellow and not so tart.  Basically, a cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon.  They are delicious in desserts or served with sweet tea.  I also made a lemon meringue pie with these last year, scrumptious!

I'm glad that I decided to use a bundt pan for this recipe!  Personally, I think cakes with a glaze look prettier in a pan where it can seep down the sides to show off the lovely curves of the cake. 

Incredibly moist and decadent, this luscious cake is sure to be loved by anyone who loves cake.

Or lemons.

Or dessert, for that matter!!!

It's a cold rainy night here, so I think I'm gonna get cozy in my favorite chair by the fire and help myself to a slice!

Have a wonderful night and stay warm!

Luscious Meyer Lemon Cake

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks), softened

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. buttermilk (or sour cream)

2 tightly packed Tbsp. grated lemon zest

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

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Lemon Glaze 

I don't go by a strict recipe:

Powdered sugar

Fresh lemon juice

Butter

Stir together about 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar and just a few tablespoons of lemon juice together.  (To make a glaze like consistency.)

Add 1 Tbsp. butter and microwave just until the butter nearly melts.

With a whisk, stir everything together until very smooth.

As I say in the directions, whenever I add the "final glaze" I also add more sugar for it to really thicken, so it will very slowly drizzle down and not completely get soaked up by the cake.

You can alter this recipe to suit your taste.  It's a very simple, but delicious glaze for this cake!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 10 in. tube or Bundt pan.

(Here's all the ingredients minus buttermilk)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  

Beat in eggs one at a time, blending well after each one.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.  

Stir in dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Add lemon zest and juice.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan. 

Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 1 hr. and 5 minutes, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and tester pick comes out clean.

(Clean up your mess while it's baking.....here's just a portion of mine?!!)

Cool cake in the pan and set on rack for 10 minutes. 

Take cake out of pan and using a fork or toothpick, make holes in the top of the cake.  Pour half of the glaze on while it's still hot. 

Let it sit for a bit longer for the glaze to soak in and the cake to cool more.  About 15 minutes. 

(Here's where if you make it the day before, you can loosely wrap the cake plate with foil and refrigerate for the glaze to make the cake extremely moist and delicious.)

Add a little more powdered sugar to make the glaze thicker and drizzle the rest over the cake.

YUM!

 Eat immediately for warm from the oven taste although if you refrigerate it overnight it will be incredibly moist the next day!

( I had to "clean up" the reminder of the piece I cut.

Everyone knows the gooey goodness on the bottom is the best part! :)

If you are interested in this recipe, you have to check out a semi-homemade lemon cake family recipe that's a favorite of mine!



(Recently I've been having trouble linking up each linksy party icon to every blog, so I put them on the sidebar...but my husband is helping me figure out another way!  Sorry Linsky host friends for the confusion!!)

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Sweet Treats Thursday

 

Patriotic Lemon Berry Trifle

I hope that everyone had a blessed and fun Fourth of July!!!  I have always loved this holiday, not only because it's our country's birthday and a celebration of freedom, but because it's packed full of family celebrations.  Parade, street fair, fireworks, grilling, great food (surprise), relaxing outside and just having a blast with the people I love!

I have always wanted to make a trifle dessert, but until this weekend I didn't even have a trifle dish!   As soon as I bought one, I decided to make a festive patriotic trifle filled full of bright berries, lemony pound cake and a light and fluffy cream cheese filling.  (Wow, this is good.)  It was almost as fun to put together as it was to eat!

I tried to layer everything with red, white and blue to resemble the flag and just bring a little more celebration to the table.  I would also love to try this recipe with crushed pineapple and maybe even raspberries!  You can't really go wrong with the fruit combinations here.  This is one of those fun recipes that you can get creative with.  Trifles are basically all that way!  You know, I typed in "Patriotic trifle" on Google and after reading through several recipes I decided to just make it the way I wanted to--not adhering to anyone's recipe, but to our favorite flavors.  Two being lemon and cream cheese!  Whalla!  My own Patriotic trifle is born!  

This is somewhat of a take on a strawberry shortcake. Kind of.  My favorite  thing to use for strawberry shortcake is a pound cake (although I mostly use angel food cake) and even better is a lemon pound cake.  Kroger has the most delicious and moist pound cakes, so yes, I took advantage of that convenience and bough one for this recipe.  Also making this much easier to whip together!  The berries are juicy strawberries and blueberries and the "cream" is a mixture of cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla.  

It is as good as it sounds!!!

I know this is a little late for Independence Day celebrations, but why not make it all summer long?! Like I said earlier, you can always substitute the red and blue fruit for other kinds if you don't want it so patriotic looking.  I have to warn you though--to get out your cutest paper plates and fluff up the patio pillows because your friends and family will want to be here when you make this cool and refreshing summertime dessert!  

Patriotic Lemon Berry Trifle

1/2 lemon pound cake (bundt cake)

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. strawberries, chopped

1 pt. blueberries, chopped

2 pkg. reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1 small carton of heavy whipping cream

1/3c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 can of whipped cream (or homemade.  i cheated.)

Put the chopped berries in separate bowls and add just enough sugar to allow the juices to come out of the fruit.  Set them aside for at least an hour. You want the strawberries to release their juices.

In a large bowl,  place the cream cheese and beat with a mixer until fluffy. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix well. Turn down the mixer to low and slowly add the whipping cream.  Once all of it is in, turn the mixer back on high and whip in the cream until very light and fluffy. This will take a few minutes.  Set mixture aside.

Take the pound cake and cut into 1 inch cubes.  Set aside and get ready to assemble your trifle.

Start layering, by putting a small amount of the creamy mixture on the bottom of the trifle dish.  

Next, add a layer of pound cake being careful to fill the side around the dish where it's seen.  

Next, add half of the strawberries once again, heavily around the edges.  You want to see the different lines of color.  

Spoon in and spread around a generous portion of the cream cheese mixture.  Try to keep the sides neat.

Add most of the blueberries.  Once again, being aware of the sides.

Pound cake, strawberries, then the rest of the cream cheese mixture.

I topped it off by pilling the remaining blueberries in the center.  Add the whipped cream 5 circles (like a star) on the top around the blueberries.  Place each whole strawberry on the whipped cream.  

Refrigerate until ready to eat.

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