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This Coconut Pound Cake is an easy loaf cake with triple the coconut flavor! It’s soft and sweet and the perfect pound cake for coconut lovers.
Best Coconut Pound Cake
I absolutely love coconut, and this coconut pound cake recipe is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it. I love it all year, but especially when spring and Easter are just around the corner. This is a classic coconut bundt cake recipe but made as a loaf.
I’m no stranger to pound cake recipes on this blog (lemon and champagne are my two favorites), but this coconut pound cake with glaze is edging those out as the most popular in Dorothy’s dessert repertoire.
This easy pound cake is made in a loaf pan so it’s easy to make and it has triple the coconut flavor: coconut milk, coconut extract, and toasted coconut!
Ingredients in Coconut Loaf Cake
- Vegetable Oil: Keeps the cake moist, but you can use melted butter
- Eggs: Be sure to buy large eggs.
- Extract: I used a combination of vanilla extract and coconut extract – the coconut is necessary to give it tons of flavor.
- Baking Powder: Helps with a moist and tender cake.
- Coconut Milk: Canned unsweetened coconut milk can be found in the Asian foods aisle. Shake before pouring.
- Shredded Coconut: We’ll add toasted coconut flakes on top of the cake, but you can also add some into it!
How to Make a Coconut Pound Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and coat an 8×4” loaf pan with baking spray.
- Mix the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the extracts, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and flour until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes. Leave the pound cake in the pan to cool before turning out.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting. Whisk the powdered sugar, vanilla, coconut extract, and milk in a bowl. Drizzle the frosting over the cooled cake and then top it with the toasted coconut.
- Let the frosting set before slicing and serving.
Expert Tips
- I like to use vegetable oil because it gives the coconut pound cake a lovely light texture. You can also use melted butter if that’s what you have on hand.
- The key to the best coconut flavor is to use coconut extract in the batter and the frosting. Please don’t skip it!
- I love to top the cake with tons of toasted coconut. It adds color, texture, and flavor! Learn how to toast coconut – it’s really easy.
Storage & Freezing
Store the cooled cake loosely covered or in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. You can also freeze the cake whole or in slices. It’s easiest to freeze it before frosting.
Coconut Pound Cake Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
For the cake:
- ½ cup (119 ml) vegetable oil (or melted butter)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (119 ml) canned unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
For the frosting:
- 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- 2-4 tablespoons (30-60 ml) canned unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 cup (64g) toasted coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 8×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. (I like using the kind with flour in it.)
- Stir oil and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, one at a time, then stir in extracts, baking powder, and salt. Add the coconut milk and flour and stir just until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool completely before removing from pan.
- To make frosting: whisk powdered sugar, extracts, and coconut milk in a medium bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake and immediately top with toasted coconut. Let set, then slice and serve.
Recipe Notes
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- Coconut milk in a can is found in the Asian foods aisle. Be sure to shake before opening.
-
- I like to use vegetable oil because it gives the coconut pound cake a lovely light texture. You can also use melted butter if that’s what you have on hand.
-
- The key to the best coconut flavor is to use coconut extract in the batter and the frosting. Please don’t skip it!
-
- I love to top the cake with tons of toasted coconut. It adds color, texture, and flavor! Learn how to toast coconut – it’s really easy.
Recipe Nutrition
Every bite of this cake is tropical coconut bliss! It’s seriously the best coconut loaf cake recipe so try it soon. I know you will love it!
Thank you for sharing your recipe Dorothy. I never do a review unless I’ve actually made the recipe. We really LOVED the icing, but the cake itself (we thought) was very dry. And we really did follow directions exactly. Any suggestions for next time?
It may have been baked too long? Did you make any substitutions?
We followed the recipe exactly. The oven is calibrated accurately.
Making it right now!!! Hope it turns out well
Have never had coconut pound cake. Sounds yummy and we love coconut.
It looks so moist…yum!
This looks amazing and I love that you used oil. I know butter fans will disagree but I find butter-based cakes to be drier than oil-based ones and dry anything doesn’t work for me!
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