This amazing paleo lemon crumb cake is deliciously sweet/tart and bursting with fresh lemon flavor! It starts with a perfectly moist lemon cake layer, topped with lemon curd, piled with crumb topping and drizzled with lemon glaze. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo will become a favorite dessert with the first bite!
As promised, it’s recipe #2 of our unofficial lemon-dessert weekend! Hopefully you didn’t miss yesterday’s Perfect Paleo (and nut free) Lemon Bars, but if you did – you know where to go for double the lemony fun 🙂
This has been a MUCH anticipated recipe since I made it, um, 4 days ago. I surprised myself with just how incredible it turned out, even though I had pretty high hopes in the first place.
I posted my results on Instagram stories, and I immediately received tons of requests to get the recipe up ASAP! So, here we are – with an absolutely perfect paleo lemon crumb cake (with a creamy layer of lemon curd!) on a Sunday – just in time for brunch!
You’ll notice that I didn’t write out the recipe for the lemon curd, but linked to it – since I used the exact same lemon curd recipe that I used for my lemon curd tartlets.
You’ll only need about 1/2 cup lemon curd for this recipe, so you’ll have to decide what to do with your leftovers! (A few suggestions – spread it on banana bread, or dollop on a blueberry muffins, or, if you’re brave and bold, eat with a spoon.)
Back to the cake though. The cake recipe is similar to the recipe I used for my cranberry orange coffee cake and orange poppy seed muffins. Lots of citrus, some coconut oil, and maple sugar to sweeten to keep the color light and lemony.
If you prefer, you can use coconut sugar, however, the color of the cake will be significantly darker! I also used maple sugar for the topping, so the same rule will go for that, too.
As long as you use a granulated sweetener (and not honey or maple, which would impact the liquid/dry ratio) the cake will be just fine.
You can see how I layered the lemon curd over the unbaked batter in the above photos, then covered with lots of crumb topping to bake.
It will probably seem like you have a ton of crumb topping, but it will all bake together well and make for tons of flavor and texture in each bite.
I decided to give you options for the icing/glaze, since there are SO many ways to create a white icing, but everyone has their own preferences about what ingredients they use/have on hand.
The simplest icing (and what is shown in the photos) is organic powdered sugar mixed with lemon juice.
While not technically paleo if you use organic powdered sugar, you can also make your own powdered sugar by putting your maple sugar in a food processor until fine like powder, then mixing that with your fresh lemon juice.
I also tested a honey-sweetened icing – super simple – using raw honey, lemon juice, and tapioca flour. The consistency completely mimicked the traditional icing, however when tasting it, I noticed more of a “powder” in the texture. However, once on the cake, this is something I doubt you’d notice at all.
And because I might be crazy, I’ll give you 2 more icing options! If you’re a coconut butter fan, you can’t go wrong with gently melted coconut butter with a bit of honey or maple syrup mixed in.
You can also add lemon juice (room temp) to this mixture, although it occasionally becomes a problem for the texture of the coconut butter, making it clumpy instead of smooth.
Lastly, I made a great glaze for my cinnamon rolls that is essentially sweetened condensed coconut milk. It’s more work (since you have to cook it!) but once it cools it’s perfect for drizzling and would work well on this cake.
To sum up:
1.) You MUST make this cake! There are many steps involved and yes, it’s more work than other crumb cakes, BUT, it’s easy (promise) and the results are well worth it.
2.) You can make the lemon curd right before preparing the cake, OR up to a day ahead of time.
3.) The cake has 3 layers which all bake at the same time – cake batter, lemon curd, and crumb topping.
4.) Fresh lemon juice is a must for this recipe (and all lemon recipes, in my opinion!) Again, it’s a bit more work, but WELL worth it.
5.) This recipe will be LOVED by everyone in your house, and anyone you serve it to. I don’t care how picky they are – seriously – my 6 year old WHO EATS NOTHING NOT EVEN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES really enjoyed this cake!
So there, I think I’ve gotten my point across. Let’s get our aprons on and ovens preheated, oh and start squeezing those lemons – let’s go!
Lemon Crumb Cake with Lemon Curd {Paleo}
Lemon Crumb Cake with Lemon Curd {Paleo}
This amazing paleo lemon crumb cake is deliciously sweet/tart and bursting with fresh lemon flavor! It starts with a perfectly moist lemon cake layer, topped with lemon curd, piled with crumb topping and drizzled with lemon glaze. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo will become a favorite dessert with the first bite!
Ingredients
Crumb topping:
- 3/4 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup organic refined coconut oil solid
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp maple sugar coconut sugar will work too, but the color is much darker
- finely grated zest of one med lemon
Cake:
- 3 eggs room temp
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice about 2-3 lemons
- Grated zest of 1 medium lemon
- 3 Tbsp organic refined coconut oil melted and cooled to almost room temp
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
- 2/3 cup pure maple sugar coconut sugar will work too, the the color will be much darker
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup homemade lemon curd**
Icing:
- 2/3 cup organic powdered sugar Paleo option***
- 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8” square baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sides, for easy removal.
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Prepare the lemon curd, then set aside to cool to room temp while you prepare the cake. Lemon curd can also be made ahead of time, if preferred.
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Next, make the crumb topping by blending all ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until a texture is crumbly, chill in the fridge while you prepare the cake batter.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon juice and zest, coconut oil, vanilla and almond extract, and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the dry mixture into the wet until well combined and smooth.
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Using a silicone spatula, transfer cake batter into the parchment lined cake pan and smooth out evenly. Using a Tbsp, dollop the lemon curd over the cake batter, leaving 1/2” around the perimeter, then gently swirl with cake batter.
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Sprinkle crumb topping all over the top to cover completely, then bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 mins until cake is set in the center.
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Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving. For toppings, you can dust with organic powdered sugar (not paleo), drizzle on icing and garnish with grated lemon zest.
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While cooling, prepare the icing/glaze of choice. Whisk together ingredients until you get a consistency that you can drizzle (if making your own powdered sugar, do this ahead of time) then use a spoon to drizzle icing over the cake as desired. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*The glaze for my cinnamon rolls would also work well - find the recipe here. **Find my easy recipe for lemon curd here.
***You can make your own powdered sugar with maple sugar by blending it in a food processor until powdery, and using it in place of organic powdered sugar. Note, the color will be darker.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Lemon Crumb Cake:
Want More Paleo Baking Recipes? Try One of These!
Key Lime Pie with Coconut Pecan Crust
Orange Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
Carrot Cake with Coconut “Cream Cheese” Frosting
Lemon Blueberry Muffins {Nut Free}
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Hello, this sounds delicious . If I used regular flour do you think it would change the cake mix a lot? Have you tried regular flour ? Thanks !
This recipe is something special! I made two of the cakes without the crumb topping so I could layer them for a birthday cake. The lemon curd (holy smokes – it’s amazing) was in between layers. I put some strawberries & blackberries on top with a bit of the powdered sugar and lemon juice glaze. When mixing, I separated my eggs and whipped the whites separately. I folded them in at the end which gave this cake s light texture. Everyone loved it – especially the birthday girl!
That sounds totally incredible! So happy it worked out that way 🙂
Wow! this is a great recipe, easy and delicious
AMAZING!! Moist and delicious. If you like lemon this is defiantly the recipe for you. My entire family loved it and couldn’t even tell it was paleo
Amazing cake! I’m making it again for my birthday this week.
We did not love the cake recipe. We did use coconut sugar because that’s what we had on hand. The cake has more of a graham cracker tasted than anything else. The lemon flavor was not strong enough for us. The curd is excellent, just didn’t love the cake….
I have now made this multiple times and it is a winner! I don’t go the extra mile and run the lemon curd through the mesh strainer and trust me, it turns out fine! Whenever I take this to a party, I always get asked for the recipe! And finally, I use avocado oil in place of the coconut oil in the cake layer. It’s just easier! Thank you Michele for another winner!!
Another great recipe! This cake was great although next time I will leave out the almond extract. Even just that small amount overpowers the lemon flavor. If you really like a strong lemon flavor, and we do, then leave it out. It’s still a great cake with it just not as lemony as it could be. My solution – add an extra dollop of lemon curd on top when serving! I did find it hard to tell when it was set though and ended up taking it just a bit too far but it was still pretty moist. Will definitely make again. I bought a pretty clean lemon curd instead of making it. One of these days I will try making it myself.
Hi I’ve made this a couple of times. It’s spectacular.
I was wondering if I can freeze it?
Is there any way to substitute the flours in the recipe and us the King Arthur paleo flour instead? Just trying to minimize how many different flours I buy for various recipes. Thanks!