This Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cake is moist and fluffy, sweet and creamy and wonderfully coconutty! It's made in one bowl, is easily customisable and is refined sugar free too. Perfect for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, baby showers and bridal showers!
You can add coconut extract to this cake if you like, but I didn't find it necessary. Plus, not many other recipes require coconut extract, so I didn't want to buy it just for this cake only for it to never be used again. Instead, I chose to use desiccated coconut and coconut whipped cream for coconut flavour.
You can use toasted desiccated coconut if you prefer, although if going down this route I'd definitely recommend using a frying pan on a low heat rather than the oven to toast your coconut. That way, you can stir it very regularly and make sure it doesn't burn, which can be harder to do in the oven, which can burn it very quickly!
You can also get coconut flavour by using coconut flour in the sponge. But be careful with the amounts! To do this, you can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
How to make this cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer into two 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tins.
Tip: Line the tins with greased baking paper to make the sponges easier to remove afterwards.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Transfer onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely before applying the frosting.
Tips for making the frosting
- Keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight (or for at least 12 hours) for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom.
- Make sure you use full-fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to whip it up.
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid.
- Save the watery liquid you pour off for adding to soups or smoothies.
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl along with the other ingredients (maple syrup, lemon juice and vanilla extract).
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip until light and fluffy.
- Make sure not to over-whip as you don't want it to be curdly.
- Make sure the sponges have cooled completely before applying the frosting, otherwise it will melt!
How to assemble the cake
- Once the sponges have cooled completely, place one sponge on a large plate or cake stand, and use a palette knife for frosting to cover with just less than half of the frosting.
- Place other sponge on top and use remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
- Cover the top and sides of the cake with the desiccated coconut.
How long does this Coconut Cake keep for?
This Coconut Cake tastes best fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
More gluten-free vegan cake recipes
- Tropical Carrot Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Matcha Strawberry Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Orange Cake
- Strawberry Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Almond Cake
- Olive Oil Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Yogurt Cake
- Ginger Cake
- Blood Orange Cake
- Lemon Olive Oil Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice *
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the frosting:
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk ***
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
To decorate:
- 6 tablespoons desiccated coconut ****
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture between two small greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins).
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once out the oven, immediately remove cakes from baking tins and transfer onto a wire rack to cool.
For the frosting:
- You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl.
- Add the maple syrup and vanilla extract.
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
To decorate:
- Once the sponges have cooled completely, place one sponge on a large plate or cake stand, and cover with just less than half of the frosting.
- Place other sponge on top and use remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
- Cover the top and sides of the cake with the desiccated coconut.
- Best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
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Silvia
I followed the recipe and although it baked it didn’t rise. What could have gone wrong you think?
Rhian Williams
Hi - I'm so sorry to hear that! Did you use enough baking powder? What type of gluten-free flour did you use? And did you use coconut milk from a carton? Sorry for all the questions!
Olivia V
The same thing happened to me. I used the exact measurements of baking powder (heaping teaspoons) as listed on the recipe. For the gluten-free flour I used coconut flour and I did use coconut milk from a carton. 🙁
I would like to know what I need to do for next time.
Rhian Williams
Hi! Sorry you’ve had trouble with the recipe, the problem is that you’re using coconut flour - you need to use a gluten-free flour blend as in store-bought gluten-free flour, or your own blend. So sorry it wasn’t clear and hope that clears things up. If using coconut flour, I would use about a fifth of the amount specified, though not completely sure if it’ll work as haven’t tested it with coconut flour.
Philippa
Hi Rhian,
Thanks for this lovely recipe, I tried it with half the quantity of ingredients, and had to use cashew nuts to top up the almonds as I didn't have enough, but it all worked well, and is yummy! To suit my personal tastes (not a sweet tooth) I think I'll add a bit more lemon juice next time to cut the sweetness further.
Rhian Williams
Hello! Thank you so much for sharing, I'm so glad it worked out well! And thanks for sharing about the lemon!
Amy weir
Hi,
I was wondering if you would know how much coconut flour i would use instead of the gf version, as some recipes say add less coconut flour as its highly absorbent.
Rhian Williams
Yes definitely add less - I would guess about 1/4 cup of coconut flour instead of 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour but can't guarantee results as I haven't tested it this way. Please let me know if you try anything out! Thank you!
Vaani
Thank you so much for this recipe🙏🏻!! I used coconut butter instead of coconut oil and used coconut flour and all purpose flour this time. It turned out simply Devine!!! Next time I plan to add more gluten free flour.😁
Rhian Williams
Yay thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked it. And thank you for sharing about your substitutions!
Flora
Made this and topped with cherries - was great thank you!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!