Vegan Coconut Cake with Coconut Rum Frosting

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!

For more awesome cake recipes check out these awesome recipes:

1. Vegan Carrot Cake
2. Vegan Chocolate Cake
3. Vegan Banana Cake
4. Vegan Vanilla Sheet Cake

Sign up to our email list for a fabulous recipe ebook containing 10 delicious vegan dinners (entirely free!) and to stay updated with all our latest recipes posted to the blog!

Vegan Coconut Cake

---

★★★★★

4.9 from 20 reviews

• Author: Loving It Vegan
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 10-12

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

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:

• Dessicated Coconut

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Spray two 8 inch cake pans with non stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and then add the sugar, baking soda, salt and dessicated coconut. Mix together.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
7. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
8. 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.
9. 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