The idea to make this cake came from the fact that my extended family is going to get together on Sunday and have a cake that we had my whole childhood. Since I can’t have any, I thought this Toasted Coconut Cream Cake would be the perfect replacement. The only thing better would have been adding the toasted pecans. So if you plan to make this cake, I highly recommend you coat the outer edge of the cake in toasted pecans. YUM! Oh how I miss nuts!!! (my oldest is allergic).
If you can tolerate dairy, remember that all of my recipes can be made using dairy. In this recipe I call for 1 cup of coconut milk beverage and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar as a make your own dairy free “buttermilk”. If you plan to bake this cake using dairy just replace those 2 ingredients with 1 cup of real buttermilk.
I also made this Toasted Coconut Cream Cake using my SGF All Purpose Flour blend. My flour blend plus the addition of a little more arrowroot really make the perfect cake flour. Keep this in mind with any recipe you bake that calls for cake flour. Usually you can make cake flour by adding corn starch to all purpose flour, but I started adding arrowroot because of my son’s corn intolerance and I loved my results.
There isn’t any coconut cream in the frosting. I was going to add some, but it is so creamy as it is I didn’t want to thin it out any more. In fact, if you find that it is too creamy, just add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (or a little more) to stiffen it up a little.
I’ve never been good at photographing cake, so please don’t let that stop you from making it. It’s so moist and the flavor is incredible. I really hope you love it.
I’ve written everything in the instruction so you should be all set.
As always, please let me know if you make it. You can leave a comment below or tell me in my Stay Gluten Free Community.
Talk soon!
Paola Anna has helped thousands of people live a delicious gluten free life. Her gluten intolerance and her boys’ food allergies have inspired her to be an advocate for the gluten free community and create recipes that the whole family will love. You can sign up to be a Gluten Free Insider at her website stayglutenfree.com
Toasted Coconut Cream Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- shortening for pan
- 80g (1 1/2 cups) Sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
- 1 cup So Delicious Coconut milk beverage
- 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 250g (2 cups) SGF All-Purpose Flour Blend (recipe is linked in the post)
- 62g (1/2 cup) Arrowroot
- 1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup Avocado or canola oil
- 48g (4 tbsp) Shortening (I prefer palm shortening)
- 350g (1 3/4 cups) Organic Cane or granulated sugar
- 5 Large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups Pecans chopped and toasted (optional)
Frosting
- 12 Tablesooons Earth Balance butter sticks Softened to room temperature
- 8 oz Dairy free cream cheese Daiya or Tofutti brand
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 270g (2 1/4 cups) Powdered Sugar Sift if necessary
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the coconut on top of the parchment paper and toast it for 5-7 minutes.
- Pour the 1 cup of coconut milk beverage into a measuring cup and add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Stir them together and let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir it again and add the toasted coconut and vanilla to the mixture. Let the coconut soak and soften it for about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9-inch round cake pans with shortening.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour blend, arrowroot, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl beat the oil, shortening and sugar together until combined using an electric mixer with paddle attachment for about 3 minutes. Mixture will look fluffy.
- Add the eggs one and mix until combined.
- With mixture on low alternate adding the flour mixture with the coconut/buttermilk mixture. Scrape down the bowl as needed and give the mixture a final stir using a spatula to ensure all of the ingredients on the sides and bottom of the bowl are incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans and bake 28-32 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of one cake comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool completely and make the frosting.
Frosting
- Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter, cream cheese and vanilla together.
- Add the powdered sugar and pinch of salt and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Frost the cake as desired. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- The recipe for my SGF flour blend can be found HERE
- If you choose to use a different GF flour blend, I have had the best luck using King Arthur's Measure for Measure in my recipes. This blend already has xanthan gum so you would not need to add anymore. I would suggest still adding the arrowroot to make it more of a cake flour.
- Optional to put coconut in a food processor first before adding it to the "buttermilk" to soak.
- Optional to place a round piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of the cake pan. Make sure you also grease it. This can make it really easy to remove cakes from the pan. I really like using springform pans with the removable bottoms.
- As with all of my recipes if you can tolerate dairy you are welcome to use it. In this recipe I make dairy free buttermilk using the 1 cup of coconut milk beverage and the 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. If you use dairy, replace those 2 ingredients with 1 cup of real buttermilk.