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.
I love this recipe ! It’s super moist & delicious 🤤
Thanks so much for the great review!
Hi Alison! Is the coconut oil refined or virgin? Can I use vegetable oil instead if no coconut oil available? Thanks!
Hi Francis, I use virgin coconut oil in this recipe, but you can also definitely use vegetable oil.
Can I make this recipe in one loaf tin?
Hi Dane, I haven’t tried it that way, but the main thing would be a much longer baking time, probably in the region of 60 minutes. You would need to keep a close eye on it, and also if it shows signs of over-browning then consider tenting with foil at about the 40 minute mark.
I made this coconut cake recipe for my husband’s birthday, and it was wonderful – we all loved it, and I will be making it again! Thanks for the recipe!
Wonderful to hear that! Thanks so much Ruth!
I made this for Christmas Day dessert! I made it the day before. It was a breeze to follow the instructions and the cake turned out absolutely perfect! I used coconut milk – as in the stuff you’d use in your cereal (not the tinned stuff in a can), and that worked out fine.
Thanks so much for the recipe. One of the yummiest cakes I’ve made for sure.
So happy to hear it came out great and you found it easy to follow, thanks so much for sharing Katey!
Hi! Looking forward to trying this for Christmas. Question though: which type of vegan butter should I use for the icing: salted or unsalted?
Hi Dave, I usually use salted vegan butter, but unsalted is also fine, you could just add in a pinch of salt.
I made these as cupcakes and put a spoon full of Marioberry spread in each one. Everyone has said they’re the best cupcakes they have ever had. I also used cake flour and baked them for 28 minutes.
Awesome Jessica! Thanks so much for sharing!
Can I use apricot jam instead of icing to decorate
Sure!
Hi I am Liliana, I am ten years old and I tried this recipe and my family loves it!
Awesome! So happy to hear that!
Turned out amazing! Substituted 1:1 GF flour in the cake batter with no additional modifications, was light and tender. Used lemon juice in frosting as it was being served to children, as per reader comment. This is the third cake recipe I’ve baked from your site with fantastic results and is now the first place I come to for baking.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Donna!
The cake is really good:) but the cake gets really hard in the fridge..is that because of the melted coconut oil in the dough? I guess this won’t happen if I would use a different oil?!
Hi Leoni, it’s a good idea to let the cake come back to room temperature on the counter before serving. This is because most cakes will harden in the fridge. You can definitely use a different oil, but it will still be best to bring to room temp on the counter before serving.
Hi there..can I substitute the coconut oil for butter?
No, but you can substitute it for a different oil! 🙂
Hi, can I freeze this before buttercream and decorating?
Yes you can. 🙂
Hi, I love your recipes and I’ve tried the coconut cake a few times. It’s fine when it’s left outside but as soon as refrigerate the cake it hardens too much? I’m making a wedding cake soon and they want coconut cake with buttercream so I will have to refrigerate it. Any advice please? I definitely used the right ingredients.
Hi Rani, it may just be that you’ll need to bring it out to room temperature before serving. It often happens with all cakes that they get a bit too firm/hard in the fridge so are better coming back to room temperature before serving.
No way! I made this recipe into big cupcakes. If you are faint of heart don’t make it. They were so off the chart amazing I almost had a heart attack!!! I tweaked it a tiny bit because I only had 1 cup of coconut. I also used some coconut and rum extract in the frosting. All your cake recipes are superb!
Hahaha that’s awesome Bonnie! Thanks for the awesome review.