Fabulous two layered vegan coconut cake topped with a coconut rum frosting. It’s moist, packed with coconut flavor and super easy to make!
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 (finely shredded 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.
How To Make Vegan Coconut Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add sugar, baking soda, salt and dessicated coconut. Mix together.
- Add 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 two 8-inch 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 at 350°F 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.
The Frosting
The frosting is the most delicious velvety coconut frosting that gets its coconut flavor from coconut rum and just a dash of coconut milk.
And we decorate it with loads more dessicated coconut sprinkled everywhere. Because why wouldn’t you?
Recipe Tips
The batter is thick and seems dry. As you can see in the batter photo above, the batter is 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. But adding dessicated coconut to a batter is very similar to if you would add nuts or raisins or something to a recipe in the way that it thickens up the batter. But the end result isn’t dry at all. It’s just really coconutty and delicious.
Dessicated coconut is also called finely shredded coconut or finely shredded coconut flakes. It is dried coconut that is very finely shredded.
The cakes come out quite firm on the tops. I was even joking that they’re a little ‘crispy’ and comparing them to cookies. But don’t be put off, it works. Once it’s frosted it’s just a delicious cake. No hint of dryness or crispiness to be found.
It’s not a super light and fluffy cake. It’s not light and fluffy like you get with our vegan vanilla cake, or our vegan lemon cake because it’s weighed down a little by the added coconut. But what you lose in light and fluffy you gain in delicious coconut texture and flavor.
But 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!
Recipe Q&A
This cake can be made in either two 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans. If you make it in 9-inch cake pans the layers will just be a little thinner, but it still works perfectly well.
Yes you can make cupcakes. This recipe will make around 18-24 cupcakes. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
You should be able to make this cake gluten-free by swapping the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend. It must be a blend though and not a single type flour like rice flour or coconut flour as that will NOT work. If you find the cake is a bit dry using a gluten-free blend (gluten-free flours can absorb more moisture) then increase the oil slightly.
Storing and Freezing
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.
It is also freezer friendly either frosted or unfrosted for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Orange Cake
- Vegan Oreo Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Apple Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Coconut Cake
Ingredients
For the Coconut Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¾ tsp Salt
- 2 cups Dessicated Coconut (160g) Finely Shredded Coconut
- 1 ½ cups Coconut Milk (360ml)
- ½ cup Coconut Oil (120ml) Melted
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Coconut Rum Frosting:
- 4 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (540g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- ¼ cup Malibu Coconut Rum (60ml)
- 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
- Dessicated coconut is also called finely shredded coconut or finely shredded coconut flakes. It’s dried coconut that is shredded very finely.
- We used full fat, canned, unsweetened coconut milk, but I think any unsweetened coconut milk will work fine in this recipe.
- If you prefer not to use coconut rum, then you can sub the rum for coconut milk.
Can I use coconut sugar instead of white sugar? I want to make this for my baby’s 1st birthday, but I would prefer to substitute it.
Hi Carla, you can, but the color will be darker. All the best! 🙂
Hello!! I dont have 2 pans so was going to make it in one tin. How long do you recommend I bake it for? And do you think I could easily cut it in half to ice it and when is the best time to cut it? When its cooled completely?
It’s better to halve the recipe in that case. It won’t cook well if baked in a single pan.
Hi Alison,
Can I use any oil in this recipe?
Also can fresh coconut be used? Will I need to reduce the milk as the fresh coconut has liquid in it
Hi Tara, yes you can use any oil. Fresh coconut will throw out the ingredient ratios so it would be good to reduce the milk and experiment with that. All the best!
Hi
Will try it.
Many thanks
Hi Alison, I used 300 gr white sugar but I wonder if I could use just 100 gr?
You can definitely experiment with reducing the sugar and see how you go. Just remember the sugar isn’t just for sweetness, it’s also for texture.
Hi! I made this cake and the flavors were amazing! However, I think I did something wrong because the texture all the way through was hard like a shortbread cookie, instead of being soft on the inside. When I took it out of the oven at the 30 minute mark, it was still very moist but the toothpick came out clean. I left it in for 5 minutes longer, and it was still soft when it came out, so I let it cool and removed it from the pans. The next morning when I decorated it, the outside had hardened, but I saw you said that is normal to be “crispy”, so didn’t think much of it. Any idea where I went wrong? I used 9″ pans. I absolutely loved the flavors and the cake got great feedback, although it was more like a biscuit haha.
Thank you!!
Hi Amanda, is there any chance you used baking powder instead of baking soda? I have had this happen when I mixed them up! 🙂
Can I make this recipe into a loaf instead of a layered cake?
I haven’t tried it but you probably can. Baking time would likely be in the region of 50-60 minutes.
Great recipe!!!! I made it with GF flour and it worked beautifully. We only have one cake pan so I made 1 cake and 1 pan of cupcakes. I split the recipe in 2 and added some North African seasoning blend that had a sweet quality and it was amazing! Instead of frosting I used a vegan cream for whipped cream and blended fresh mango and some fresh orange juice and it was deeeeeeeelicious!! Thank you.
That sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing and the great review!
Hi Jennifer,
Which GF flour did you use and did you make any adjutments to the oil? TIA
hi alison big fan!!! i’m planning on make this cake as cupcakes for my boyfriend for vday. how long should i bake them for or can i do it for the same amount of time as if i were making the cake?
It will make 18-24 cupcakes depending on how high you fill the liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 🙂
I can’t find full fat coconut milk in my local store. Could I use any coconut milk instead
Yes it will be fine. 🙂
Hi want to make this cake however would like to remove the dessicated coconut from the batter. Can you sub with coconut flour? Just curious.
Thanks.
You can just leave out the coconut, it doesn’t need to be replaced with anything. It’s like if you added nuts to a recipe, you could remove them without having to replace them with something else.
I came upon this recipe when searching for a cake that didn’t need eggs. Bizarrely I did have coconut oil! The recipe was really easy to put together and I agree that the batter was delicious. I didn’t have any Malibu so I used some of my other half’s spiced rum for the icing. Oh my goodness, the whole thing is divine. Very rich and completely delicious. I will be making it for my parents soon and taking it to them for afternoon tea.
Awesome Tracy! So happy you enjoyed it!
Hi! Can I sub in honey as the sweetener? If so, how much should I use and do I need to make any other adjustments? Also, can I use sweetened coconut over the frosting or is unsweetened better? Thanks!
I wouldn’t use honey as it will throw out the balance of ingredients. You can use sweetened coconut on top of the cake if you like, but it may make the cake extra sweet.
Made this cake tonight and it turned out delicious!
If anyone is looking to used less sugar, I used only 1 cup of sugar as opposed to 1 1/12 cups. Also used 1 cup of shredded coconut instead of 2 cups, added tsp of baking powder.
Thank you for the tasty recipe!!
Hi! I would like to make this cake for Christmas! Can I add rum to the cake batter as well. If so, how much do you advise? Thank you!!!!
Hi Kim, I haven’t had success using alcohol in my cake batters, it tends to make them too crumbly, I’m not sure why!
I live in a tropical country, so I used freshly grated coconut for this. The cake turned out perfect without any other modification to the recipe!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Lainey!
Hi there, just put this cake in the oven. The batter tastes lovely. The white sugar grams measure is 100g too much.
Hi Rina, hope it comes out great! The white sugar measure is correct, 1 cup is 200g and 1 and 1/2 cups is 300g. 🙂