This Gluten Free Coconut Cake is the ultimate cake for coconut lovers. It’s made with coconut milk, coconut oil, and shredded coconut, plus it’s filled with coconut custard and topped with toasted coconut.
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Gluten Free Coconut Cake
YOU GUYS. It’s my birthday again!
It seems like I just celebrated 29 again with my Gluten Free Funfetti cake. I love birthdays, just not that added year every time it rolls around. I mean, I still kind of feel like I’m young. I still feel like that 22 year old that likes to have fun. Only now I have two little kids, two dogs, and a house to take care of so “fun” has an entirely different meaning.
And then when I’m actually around 22 year olds, I remember – oh yeah. I’m definitely NOT 22 years old anymore. They seem so young. So energetic. So responsibility-free. Their natural red highlights aren’t turning white. They can stay up past midnight and not pay for it for the next two-three days. They’re not constantly saying things like “Please don’t pick your nose with Elsa’s feet” or “Please stop licking the door” or even “Please don’t poke your sister with your popsicle”.
So basically, my mind says 22. My life says absolutely not. My candles say 29.
It’s a compromise I’m willing to accept.
Since it’s my birthday, presents are in order. I’ve lined up a great list of goodies FOR YOU this year. One lucky reader will win a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, a $100 Sweetapolita Gift Card, and a little package of my favorite products from Rodelle Vanilla. I have fallen in love with Sweetapolita’s gluten free sprinkles and I want to share that love with you!
You can enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter form at the very end of this post. Good luck!
Not only am I having a little (BIG!!!) giveaway, but so many blogging friends showed up to celebrate my birthday with me and they’ve all got sweet treats and cocktails to share because it’s not a birthday without cake, ice cream, or cocktails, amiright?! You can check out what everyone is sharing in the list just below my gluten free coconut cake recipe – be sure to click over to their sites to get the delicious recipe details!
And now, lets finally talk about this gluten free coconut cake, k? If you’re a coconut lover like me, you’re going to love this. This cake is packed with coconut flavor. The cake is gluten free and dairy free and made with coconut oil, coconut milk, and has a little shredded coconut mixed into the batter. But I didn’t stop there.
The filling is a mixture of my dairy free coconut custard and So Delicious CocoWhip (you could also use homemade coconut whipped cream). I frosted the cake with the same vegan vanilla frosting that I used for my gluten free frosted sugar cookies and then I coated the sides of the cake with toasted coconut.
This cake is the definition of coconut heaven. Your tastebuds will rejoice. Mine did. There’s no better way to celebrate then celebrating with a cake in your favorite flavor.
Cheers to another year, my friends!
Enjoy, you know I will!
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Gluten Free Coconut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 C coconut milk room temperature
- 6 large egg whites room temperature
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 C solid coconut oil measured then melted
- 2 1/4 C gluten free flour
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 3/4 C granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 C shredded coconut
For the Filling:
- 1 C prepared coconut custard
- 1 C So Delicious CocoWhip or homemade coconut whipped cream
For the Frosting:
- 1/2 C vegan butter I use soy-free Earth Balance spread
- 1/2 C shortening
- 3 1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp coconut milk
- 1 1/4 C toasted coconut
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 3 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, egg whites, vanilla extract, and coconut oil until well combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the shredded coconut.
- Pour in the milk/egg/oil mixture and stir until well incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- Transfer the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes (or until a cake tester comes out with moist crumbs. Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.
- ***See notes for storing the cake after baking****
For the Filling:
- Stir together the CocoWhip (defrosted if frozen) and the coconut custard.
For the Frosting:
- Add the vegan butter to a bowl of a stand mixer and beat at medium speed to soften. Add the shortening and beat until well mixed.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed. While the mixer is running, add the vanilla extract and coconut milk. If the frosting is too thick, you can thin it with a little more coconut milk.
- Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat the frosting until smooth and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
To Assemble the Cake:
- Place one of the cake layers on a cake stand or cake plate. Add some of the frosting to a piping bag and pipe a border along the border of the cake. Fill the icing dam with half of the cake filling and then top with the second cake layer.
- Pipe another border around the cake layer and then fill that icing dam with the remainder of the cake filling and top with the last layer of cake.
- Frost the cake with the remaining frosting. To decorate, press the toasted coconut along the sides of the cake.
Notes
Recommended Products
Nutrition Information
Disclaimers
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Facts are estimated and aren't always accurate. Please consult a doctor or nutritionist if you have special dietary needs.
This post contains affiliate links for products and/or ingredients used to make this recipe. Thank you for helping to support What The Fork Food Blog. Your support helps make this blog possible ♥
Be sure to check out all of the deliciously sweet desserts and birthday cocktails that my blogging friends made to celebrate with me
Gluten Free Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes – Gluten-Free Palate
Bourbon Tropical Peach Cocktail – Fearless Dining
Kir Royale Cocktails – The Heritage Cook
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes – My Gluten Free Miami
Gluten Free Cookie Cake – Flippin’ Delicious
Summer Beer – Vegetarian Mamma
The Best Gluten Free Cake – gfJules
Gluten Free Cookie Cake – A Mind “Full” Mom
Strawberry Lychee Panna Cotta – Brunch-n-Bites
Cucumber Moscow Mule – The Culinary Compass
Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting – Only Taste Matters
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes – Veggie Balance
Virgin Watermelon Margarita – Coffee With Us 3
Elderflower Mojito – Home & Plate
Summertime Lemon Cupcakes – For the Love of Food
Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Stacks – Simply Healthy Family
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake – Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt
Watermelon Mint Gin Fizz – Frugal Foodie Mama
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake – Raia’s Recipes
Tequila Sunrise Cocktail – All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
Gluten Free Fresh Apple Cake – My Gluten-free Kitchen
How far ahead can I put this cake together? I’m concerned that the filling will make the cake soggy. I’m taking this over to my daughters house for her birthday. It smells delicious.
Thanks,
Pam
You can make all the components ahead of time and I would assemble it the day you plan on serving it.
Is the gluten free flour nut free? I usually find almond flour as the main ingredient in most. Not good if you are allergic to nuts.
This is the flour blend I used in this recipe: https://www.whattheforkfoodblog.com/2015/01/05/white-rice-purpose-gluten-free-flour-blend/
No nuts 🙂
Hi! What a wonderfully excellent recipe this is! Hats off to you! Perfectly soft, excellent crumb, no chewiness due to Xanthan gum, bursting of coconut flavor. What can I say! I can’t thank you enough! Keep up the good work! Keep inspiring enthusiastic bakers like us! Thanks again!
Thank you Devisha, so glad to hear how much you enjoyed it!
I made this cake and filled it with a raspberry filling which I bought at a baking store. It was fantastic. You could also use jam but the colors are brighter with commercial filling. I highly recommended it!
Adding a raspberry filling is such a good idea, I bet it tasted amazing with the coconut!
My mom asked me to make her a coconut cake for Easter. I don’t have time to test my own, so I’m giving yours a go. I’m going to try using monkfruit to make it sugar free. Thanks for the recipe. Photo looks amazing!
Thanks! Let me know how it goes with the monk fruit 🙂
Would love to try this recipe but the link for the custard doesn’t seem to be working. How do I make the custard or is this something I need to buy? Thanks!
Hi Les – here’s the link to the custard 🙂
This free gluten cake allowed me to enjoy one of my favorite ingredients,the amazing coconut
That’s great, glad you enjoyed it! Coconut is my favorite too ❤️
I was so excited to bake this cake for my brother-in-law’s birthday!I even bought the more expensive gluten free flour (cup4cup) but the result was a disaster! The batter was like play-doh and the cakes dense and gummy!Do you think its the high xanthan gum in the flour that caused it ??
Cup4Cup already contains xanthan gum so if you used that plus the xanthan gum the recipe calls for it would result in a really gummy cake. Sounds like that’s what probably happened.
Do you use just any gluten free flour? Or a gluten free flour blend? Coconut flour? This cake looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it!
This is the flour mix I use: https://www.whattheforkfoodblog.com/2016/01/14/nightshade-free-gluten-free-flour-mix/
Was so hoping this would be vegan. …until I saw the 6 large egg whites 🙁 Could I substitute flax seed and water ‘egg’ substitute?
Hi Anne, the egg whites give the cake structure so I don’t think substituting flax eggs would work here. Sorry!
Thank you for sharing your experiences and tips! I am meeting more and more people who have serious food allergy/issues particularly working with high school students at our church’s fellowship. I love trying things. My own experience with purchasing “gluten-free” flour – my student is allergic to “legumes” which rules out “pea-flour”….and mayo made with soybean oil…and things with cornstarch; so I went with coconut flour. I’m going to try your coconut cake recipe and its nice to know someone with wit and humor (you have to in order to cope with these food challenges) is out there sharing useful tips.
Thanks for your kind words and taking the time to comment! Coconut flour works very differently from other gluten free flours, you need to use quite a bit more moisture or it will turn out very, very dry. I would not recommend using coconut flour in this recipe. You can use this flour: https://www.whattheforkfoodblog.com/2016/01/14/nightshade-free-gluten-free-flour-mix/ — It doesn’t contain any legumes or cornstarch. Hope that helps 🙂
Just wanted you to know that I will be featuring this in a dessert round up on my blog. Thanks for linking up to Create Link Inspire party! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Your coconut cake is beautiful!
Wow, wow, wow! I have been wanting to make a coconut cake and you have just convinced me I need to. So beautiful.
I did it! I made this cake for my mom’s 70th birthday party, where we’ll have several gluten-free, dairy-free peeps. I will afix a tiny piano on top to match our theme. I thought I could make it as beautiful as yours. After all, your and person and I’m a person, so surely I could do what you did. Nope! It’s a bit lopsided and not nearly as pretty. 🙂 Oh, well. I even sweetened and toasted the organic coconut in my own kitchen. It was quite the effort. I’ll let you know after the party if it tastes good. Maybe I’ll post a picture so you can feel really good about your beautiful cake-making skills. 😀
Do I need to use extra xantham gum if I am using a GF mix that has it in it, like Pamela’s, or Bob’s RM? I looked at your GF Mix recipe, and though simple, I kind of have an adverse reaction to Arrowroot, so I’ll probably stick to one of the pre-made blends I usually use. But I noticed how you said you need a different amount of xantham gum because of the arrowroot….
Hi Erin – another blend like Pamela’s or BRM 1:1 would be fine and if your blend has xanthan gum, skip the amount I call for. I use Arrowroot in my blend because to much potato makes me sick.
This cake was absolutely amazing! Great texture, great taste, and cooked perfectly! I used butter in the frosting and skipped the custard (ran out of sugar) and it still was delicious. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks Jeannette and you’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it as much as I do!
I used to buy Pepperidge Farm’s coconut layer cake every year for my birthday until I had to stop eating gluten. Until I saw this just now, I would just eat the glutened one. Thank you! An added bonus for me is its dairy free too. Do I use the canned coconut milk or the beverage?
Thanks again!
Hi Jeannette – so glad you found this recipe then! I normally use the coconut milk beverage when baking but canned coconut milk would be great in this recipe for the richness and more pronounced coconut flavor 🙂
Hiii! what a beautiful cake. Quick Question, How did you manage to sprinkle the shredded coconut on the side? without destroying the frosting? did you press them on?
Thank you Mona! I press the coconut on with my hand – I put a bunch in my palm and then starting at the bottom, slowly press it up the side of the cake.
I’m so sorry, I didint funish. Can I sub the custard filling with another allergen free filling? Thank you for sharing your great, looking recipes!
Hi Chrissy, yes you can use any filling you’d like 🙂
This cake looks delicious and can’t wait to make it. My son can’t have egg yolks, could I substitute the custard filling with another gf, cf, soy free, egg gree, wheat free?
Happy belated birthday! I am a coconut lover like you and am beyond impressed by this cake! The ingredients sound like it has a fluffy almost angel food cake-like texture, which I love, and that frosting!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! this cake looks PERFECT.
Happy Birthday to you! That is one of the most beautiful cakes I’ve seen. Bet it was delicious too!
I LOVE coconut, so I’m pretty sure you made this cake just for me. Thank you!
I can safely say I have never made a cake that looks even half this beautiful!! It’s why I pay friends like you for amazing desserts at parties!
HOLY BEAUTY!! AND it’s gluten free… I’ll have all of it! 😀
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day! That cake is just beautiful. What a wonderful way to celebrate!
The coconut custard puts this recipe OVER THE TOP! WOW! Happy Birthday to you in a big, delicious way!
xooxox
Happy Birthday! Coconut cake is one of my all-time favorites and this one looks PERFECT!
Happy Birthday!! I wish my family like coconut, because I need to make this cake, but I would be forced to eat it all by myself
I love anything with coconut. Beautiful pictures and looks very tasty.
This cake looks like a real crowd-pleaser! My family would love this!
Happy Birthday! You definitely deserve a big ol’ slice of this gorgeous cake on your special day.
This cake sums up perfection!
Thanks for letting me be a part of this fabulous round-up and giveaway–your cake is stunning!
Happy almost birthday Sharon! Thanks for letting us help you celebrate, it is such fun!!
Thanks Jane! And thank YOU for joining me!
That’s an absolutely beautiful cake, Sharon! I’m going to have to celebrate my 1/2 birthday or something, so I have an excuse to make it. 😉
haha yes – definitely celebrate your half birthday!
coconut cake is a favorite of mine, can’t wait to try your recipe!
Wishing you a happy birthday but it looks like the cake already has that covered 🙂
Happy Birthday! Your cake is really gorgeous and looks really delicious.
that is one GORGEOUS cake!! coconut everything, I say!
Oh Sharon, this is a showstopper and the perfect use for So Delicious Coco Whip!
Gosh this is a beauty!!!!
WOW That frosting and filling look AMAZING!!!
Happy Birthday! I’m going to celebrate my 29th (60th) on August 1st and I’m making this Coconut Cake! Cheers!
LOL! Happy early 29th birthday to you ????
This is my kind of cake! Love the coconut, and entering the giveaway now! So fun!
Happy Birthday Sharon!!! Your cake looks absolutely delicious!!!
Thanks Lorena 🙂
Happy Birthday! Such a beautiful cake to celebrate it!
This cake!!! It’s gorgeous! So special for a gathering or who needs a gathering, just eating the cake any day sounds good to me.
Happy Birthday!!! And wowzers that cake looks good! So pretty.
Happy Birthday may you have a great one and wow what a delicious cake! All your recipes always look so amazing!
Thanks so much Stephanie!
Oh i loved this coconut cake & the fact that it is gluten free and dairy free makes it more interesting. SInce my kid is Lactose Intolerant this is really gonna work for me. I will definitely try it. Thanks
I just made this cake recipe and am waiting for layers to cool to ice. They smell amazing, but are pretty flat. Should I have whipped the egg whites before adding them to give it more volume?
I don’t whip the egg whites separately and my cakes baked up nice and rose but the tops stayed flat. The flat top makes one less step in having to even it out before icing/frosting 🙂
Feel free to try whipping your egg whites and fold them in if that’s more to your liking.
Thanks Rose!