I’m over the moon about this vegan coconut cake! It came out like a dream.
It has heaps of coconut flavor as well as texture from two cups of dessicated coconut in the cake batter. And then the frosting has a bit of naughty coconut flavor via a quarter cup of coconut rum!
It’s gorgeous and it’s super easy to make too!
I had a minor snafu at first because when I was first trying to formulate the recipe I knew I wanted to put actual coconut in the batter, but I kept on thinking of it as a wet ingredient, which I know (now!) was silly!
So I was trying to replace some of the wet ingredients thinking that the coconut, being dessicated, would surely (or at least, possibly) break down in some way during the baking process and then leave me with a cake that was too wet.
Of course that didn’t happen and I had a cake a that was way too dry! So then I realized what I’m sure all you clever people already knew – of course it’s a dry ingredient because it’s like nuts, it’s a dry ingredient until such time as you process it into something like coconut butter, and then it becomes a wet ingredient, but if you don’t process it, it’s a dry ingredient, like putting nuts into a cake.
So then I stopped trying to compensate for it and used enough coconut oil and coconut milk to create enough moisture for my cake not to come out like a dry brick and then the beauty happened!
I will say though that, as you can see above, the batter is still quite dry, and this is because there are two cups of dessicated coconut that go into the batter, so it thickens the batter up a lot.
As you can see above, the cakes come out quite firm on the tops, I would even say a little ‘crispy’ I was comparing them to cookies. But don’t be put off, it works.
The dessicated coconut bakes into the cake but in the same way that if you added crushed walnuts to a carrot cake they would add delicious crunch to the cake, this adds a crunchy coconut texture and flavor to each bite.
Probably as a result of the added coconut, it’s not a super light and fluffy cake, not like you get with our vegan vanilla cake, or our vegan lemon cake, but what you lose in light and fluffy you gain in delicious coconutty texture and flavor.
And while it may not be super light and fluffy it’s definitely not overly dense either, I think you can see that from the photos. But it has more density than the other cakes mentioned above because of all the added coconut. So it’s sort of dense and fluffy, if that can possibly make sense!
And then it’s topped with the most delicious velvety coconut frosting that gets its coconut flavor from coconut rum and just a dash of coconut milk. And of course loads more dessicated coconut sprinkled everywhere because why wouldn’t you?
So I hope you will love this vegan coconut cake! It is:
- Super coconutty
- Two Layers
- Rich and Decadent
- Topped with Coconut Rum Frosting
- So Easy
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay deliciously fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where it will stay fresh for up to a week.
So let us know what you think of this vegan coconut cake in the comments and please rate the recipe too! Thanks!
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Vegan Coconut Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 10-12
Description
Fabulously coconutty two layered vegan coconut cake topped with a decadent coconut rum frosting. Super easy, moist, fluffy and dense at the same time (I know!) this delicious vegan cake is a total delight to the tastebuds!
Ingredients
For the Coconut Cake:
- 2 and 1/2 cups (312g) + 2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) White Sugar
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 2 cups (160g) Dessicated Coconut
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) Full Fat Coconut Milk*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Coconut Oil (Melted)
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Coconut Rum Frosting:
- 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Malibu Coconut Rum*
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Milk
For Decorating:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Spray two 8 inch cake pans with non stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar, baking soda, salt and dessicated coconut. Mix together.
- Then add in the coconut milk, melted coconut oil, vinegar, and vanilla and stir into a thick batter. Make sure it’s well mixed but be careful not to overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans and spread it out to the edges of the pans with a spatula or the back of a spoon, the batter will be too thick to spread out on its own.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, coconut rum and coconut milk to a mixing bowl and mixing with an electric mixer starting off slow and then gradually increasing speed until thick and smooth. If your frosting is too thick, add a tiny bit more coconut milk, a drop at a time until you reach the right consistency, if it’s too thin add more powdered sugar.
- Frost your cake and decorate it with plenty of dessicated coconut.
Notes
*Use full fat canned coconut milk.
*If you prefer not to use coconut rum, then you can sub the rum for coconut milk.
- Category: Dessert, Cakes, Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 12)
- Calories: 664
- Sugar: 70.7g
- Sodium: 432mg
- Fat: 29.4g
- Saturated Fat: 22.3g
- Carbohydrates: 95.3g
- Fiber: 3.2g
- Protein: 4.3g
I just made this cake and loved it!!! I had used a small container to cut out the middle and made a bundt cake and then colored my frosting pink and recreated a Dunkin Donut pink frosted donut but in cake version. 100% recommended!
Sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Made this to use up a bag a desicated coconut but now, we’ll be buying another bag! Fancied Lemon topping rather than Rum. Lovely, thank you 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy to hear that Fay! 🙂
I made this recipe today and it was fabulous! I made it into cupcakes instead of cake and I also made it gluten free. What a treat! The taste was so intense and the cake was so moist! I cooked the cupcakes for 24 minutes and the came out perfect!
So happy to hear that, thanks Stacie!
Hi, I am very keen to make this! I note some people have stated they made it into cupcakes. Could you please indicate cook times and temperature for cupcakes – I have both a 12 cupcake tin and 6 muffin tin.
Thanks!
Hi Nicky, it would make between 18 and 24 cupcakes depending on how high you fill the cupcake liners. Bake time would be between 22 and 25 minutes at the same temperature.
OMG. Absolutely heavenly. I cut recipe in half and made cupcakes. Thank you!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Sandra!
Tried it.. It was super yummy.. I just love it. Thank you for the great recipe.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thank you so much! 🙂
Hey! I follow your blog for a while and you’ve awesome recipes!
Unfortunately, I tried this cake today, it rose beautifully and even had a small belly shape and in the last 5mins of cooking it sank a bit in the middle (nothing crazy, but it’s definitely not flat nor does it have a small belly) without opening the oven or anything.
I wanted to know what could have been the problem, I used the same recipe, same cake tin size, same oven temp, 32min cooking time, except minus 50gr of sugar and I measured in cups while checking the gr, which were a bit higher than what you wrote. Id love to hear a reply and tomorrow I’ll leave a rating when I frost and try it! Thank youuuu
Hi Rocio, not sure what caused that! But hope it tastes great! 🙂
It tasted good! Very moist and dense but in a good way! I think it’d be nice paired with vegan wipped cream or something light to balance it out. A good recipe after all! But since it had sunk in the middle, the slices would always fall in the middle when I cut them. I’d appreciate if you could tell me what I could try doing differently to ensure it doesn’t collapse in the middle
★★★★
Hi! Possible to bake this in 2 10-in cake pans instead of 8-in? If so, can you share adjusted temperature and bake times? Thank you!!
Hi Sophie, it would be double the recipe for a 2-layer 10-inch cake. Temperature and bake times would be the same.
Wondering if I can make this in two 7 inch pans?
Hi Caroline, it might be better to halve the recipe. I’m just thinking the layers might be super thick if you do this in 7-inch pans and they might take really long to cook.
Looking forward to making this for my daughters birthday this coming week. Do you know if it can be made in a Bundt pan? If so, how long would you recommend cooking it for?
Hi Janet, it would probably be around 50 minutes in a bundt pan, but just keep a check on it. All the best! 🙂
Hi, would it be ok if I use wholemeal flour and coconut sugar?
Coconut sugar will be fine, though the color will be darker. I’m not sure about whole meal flour, it might be okay but it would certainly change the texture, so it may be a more coarse texture.
What about almond meal? would it work for this recipe mixing all purpose flour and almond meal?
I don’t think so no.
Hi, I absolutely love your website, and all your recipes are delicious. I plan on making this cake in the next few days, but my canned coconut milk has been in the fridge for some time, and as a result the water and the solid parts have separated. Can I still use it? Or do I just use the solid part? Or do I buy a new one? Thank you!!!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much! So happy you like the recipes! You can absolutely still use that one, just pour it out into a measuring jug and mix it up again. You want to get it all mixed up again as if it didn’t separate. If you have a mini whisk that will work great to incorporate it all again. 🙂
Great results. I used sweetened shredded coconut instead of desiccated. I suppose you could toast it at 350 for 7-10 min. and pulse in food processor to get some moisture off but I didn’t and the cake turned out fine. Texture of cake was good but it stuck on the bottom which usually never happens. I used 9 in dark coated pans so I reduced oven temp to 325 and after 25 min. it was done. For the frosting, instead of coconut rum I used rum extract 1 tsp. and extra canned coconut milk 1/4 cup.
★★★★
Awesome, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi, When i sub the rum for coconut milk, does it have to be full fat coconut milk or just ‘normal’ coconut milk, and can I sub it 1:1?
It can really be any coconut milk either canned full fat or not, and yes it would be 1:1.
What if I use coconut cream instead of full fat coconut milk? Would that significantly change anything? I’m hoping it would add to the flavor and moisture of the cake.
That would be fine! 🙂
Hi, I was wondering if I could just use 7 inch baking pan and bake half of the batter and then the other half after so the middle will be cook properly and join them together? I only have 7 inch pan and I need it for tomorrowwwww
Hi Ruby, that might work! You may still need a longer baking time since this was designed for larger cake pans.
Made this with 6-muffin tin & regular pie plate as I don’t do layer cakes since only for 1 person. I substituted canola oil for coconut oil (due to expense) & slightly reduced amount of white sugar. Turned out great. I used a confectioner sugar glaze for icing.
★★★★★
Hi, I will be trying this recipe next week! I was wondering if its okay to sub white sugar with brown sugar instead?
Hi Ruby, it would work, but it would change the color of the cake, if you’re okay with that then it will work fine. 🙂
I made this delicious cake on Thanksgiving day and it was quite popular. In fact it tastes even better after two days. I am just wondering about the caloric intake for this cake….Is it really 664 calories per slice? Please let me know ….a sincere fan!!!
Hi Hans, so happy you enjoyed the cake! Yes, coconut is very calorie dense, you can always cut the slices a little smaller if you want to reduce it a bit. 🙂