VEGAN COCONUT CAKE
Moist and creamy vegan coconut cake with a coconutty sweet potato frosting which reminds of Raffaello! The recipe is dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, nut-free, and furthermore easy to make. This vegan dessert is the perfect cake for all coconut lovers out there and also a great birthday cake.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups instant oats (gluten-free if needed) ground into flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut ground into flour (*see recipe notes)
1 cup coconut sugar (or use 150 g of regular sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients:
2/3 cup apple sauce or 160 g peeled zucchini
1 1/3 cup ml) coconut milk canned
4 tbsp maple syrup or agave syrup
1 tbsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Frosting:
340 g (1 medium or 2 small) Japanese sweet potato (*see recipe notes)
2/3 cup coconut butter (*see recipe notes)
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave syrup
1/2 cup coconut milk canned
4 tbsp coconut rum or use more coconut milk (*see recipe notes)
Instructions
- For the best results, I recommend measuring the ingredients in grams. Simply click on the word “metric” right underneath the ingredients.
- Peel the Japanese sweet potato and chop into 1-inch cubes. Boil in water until fork tender. For this recipe, you will need 340 grams of cooked sweet potato (about 1 medium Japanese sweet potato or two small ones).
- Meanwhile, process the oats and shredded unsweetened coconut in an electric spice/coffee grinder or blender. Then add all dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Preheat oven to 356 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Grease two 8-inch (20 cm) or 7-inch (18 cm) cake pans (or springforms) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Process the wet ingredients in a blender and pour the mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Whisk until combined.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean. It can still be a little bit crumbly but shouldn't be wet! If you use just one cake pan the baking time will be much longer (about 50-55 minutes) but I definitely recommend 2 cake pans.
- While the cake is in the oven, you can prepare the frosting. Simply process all frosting ingredients in your blender until completely smooth and creamy.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, frost it and decorate with coconut flakes. Chill in the fridge for about 3 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- Please use shredded unsweetened coconut, also known as desiccated coconut. Do NOT use coconut flour, as it's completely different and dries out the dough! You could use 130 grams of ground almonds (or other ground nuts of choice) though.
- Frosting: You need to use Japanese sweet potatoes for this recipe. Japanese sweet potatoes have white flesh and are much drier than orange sweet potatoes. They are furthermore sweeter and perfect for desserts. If you don't have access to Japanese sweet potatoes I would recommend making the frosting of my No-Bake Carrot Cake but make sure to increase the amount of ingredients by about 50%.
- The recipe calls for coconut butter, not coconut oil, not cocoa butter. The coconut butter can be store-bought or homemade. If you want to make it yourself, you will need to process about 3 cups of shredded unsweetened coconut in a food processor until it turns into coconut butter and has a creamy texture (which takes about 20-30 minutes, therefore I would recommend store-bought coconut butter.
- If you don't want to use coconut rum, then use more coconut milk. You could also add a little of coconut extract for an enhanced coconut flavor.
- Nutrition facts are for one slice (of 12).
Recipe Adapted From ELA VEGAN