Keto Coconut Cake (Healthy, Sugar-Free)
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 05/08/2020 - Last updated on 11/25/2023
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This is the best Keto Coconut Cake recipe, a moist, soft, fluffy crumb with an intense coconut flavor, a creamy coconut frosting, and crispy toasted coconut on top.
Bonus, this coconut cake recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free! So keep reading to learn more.
Calling all the coconut lovers with this keto coconut cake recipe! I am a coconut fan, and I used to love fluffy, moist coconut cakes from the bakery with crunchy toasted coconut on top.
You know that feeling when you try something new, and the result is way beyond your expectations?
That is the story about this keto gluten-free coconut cake.
Let me explain how you can easily – yes, it’s a super easy keto coconut cake – make this recipe at home in less than 40 minutes. And if you love this recipe, you have to try my Coconut Flour Cake!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This coconut cake is an amazingly easy recipe:
- Ready in 45 minutes, baking included
- Healhty
- Keto-friendly
- Low-Carb
- Gluten-Free
- Refined-sugar-free
- Dairy-Free Base
- Paleo
- Nut-Free
How To Make Gluten-Free Coconut Cake With Coconut Flour
This low-carb coconut cake is dairy-free, made entirely with coconut products to provide the most intense coconut flavor.
Keto Coconut Cake Ingredients
These are the ingredients I chose to use in the recipe:
- Coconut flour – it’s one of the lowest-carb flour and the best to add a strong coconut flavor to a coconut cake. However, coconut flour is 4 times more absorbent than other flours, and that’s why you must measure this flour very carefully. Make sure your flour is fine, fresh, and with no lump. I recommend you work in grams for this recipe, or if you are using cups, make sure you heap the cup and level it before adding it to your mixing bowl.
- Eggs – large eggs at room temperature are required. If your eggs are too small, the cake will be very dry. Eggs are 100% keto-friendly.
- Full-fat canned coconut cream – This is the most important ingredient in this recipe for many reasons. First, it adds a delicious coconut flavor to this coconut cake. Then, the cream creates the best moist, fluffy crumb. That’s why you shouldn’t use low-fat coconut cream or coconut milk beverages. Finally, if you can’t find coconut cream, another option is heavy cream. It won’t add the fabulous coconut flavor from the coconut cream, but the cake texture will remain intact. Note that you can buy full-fat canned coconut cream in the Asian aisle of your supermarket. Check the ingredient list for no sugar added, and also remember that you must shake the can before measuring your cream as cream and milk split in the can.
- Coconut Extract – this enhances the keto coconut flavor. If you can’t find coconut extract without added sugar, simply use coconut stevia drops.
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut – or shredded coconut if you prefer big pieces of coconut into the cake crumbs. Make sure it’s unsweetened, as shredded coconut sometimes contains added sugar making it incompatible with sugar-free desserts.
Instructions
This is another easy keto cake recipe I am sharing with you.
All you have to do is to beat the eggs with cream, vanilla, coconut extract, and erythritol until light in color. Then, beat in the coconut flour until the cake batter is shiny and has no lumps.
I highly recommend using a beater to prevent lumps in the batter and to ensure a fluffy cake crumb.
Stir in the desiccated coconut at the end and bake your cake in a greased 9-inch cake pan until the top of the cake is golden and the center is set.
Baking
Coconut flour is highly liquid absorbent, and that is why coconut flour cakes may cook faster than regular wheat-based cakes.
For a moist coconut flour cake, I recommend you insert a skewer in the center of the cake after 20 minutes and keep checking every 5 minutes for 30 minutes.
Your cake is ready when a little to no crumb sticks on the skewer. Overbaking your coconut flour cake would make it very dry, so be careful about timing.
Also, always adjust the time based on your cake pan size. I am using a 9-inch pan and baking the cake for 25 minutes on fan mode at 350°F (180°C).
Adjusting Cake Baking Time
This cake will need more baking time if:
- Using a smaller cake pan, less than 9 inches in diameter.
- Baking on regular mode – usually, baking time will be closer to 30-35 minutes.
- Didn’t add enough coconut flour.
Coconut Cake Cream Cheese Frosting
While this low-carb coconut cake recipe is dairy-free, I prefer a cream cheese frosting. It adds a delicious creamy layer on top of the fluffy crumb, and you won’t regret it.
To make this keto cream cheese frosting, you need:
- Soft cream cheese – remove the cream cheese from the fridge for 1 hour before using it. If you cut the cream cheese into pieces, it is easier to beat in the next step.
- Full-fat coconut cream – same as above, let it warm up before using.
- Coconut extract
- Powdered erythritol – to sweeten the frosting.
Expert Tips
Avoiding Eggy Taste
Coconut flour cakes call for many eggs, and this is just how the recipe should be made! As I mentioned earlier, coconut flour is not like all other flour.
It has very special chemistry since it contains 4 times more fiber than regular flour. Fibers are water/liquid absorbent, and if they are not in contact with a liquid binding agent, they create crumbly, dry, and fragile cakes.
Therefore, a coconut flour cake requires lots of liquid, particularly eggs, to bind the flour and prevent the cake from having an unpleasant texture.
This said it’s not because this keto coconut cake uses 4 eggs that it tastes eggy at all! To cover a potential eggy taste in this low carb cake recipe, I am using:
- Good quality coconut extract and vanilla extract. I am talking about natural extracts, these are strong and intense and they add the best flavor to your cake. It would be very hard for the eggs to overpower the flavor of the natural extract.
- Coconut cream instead of heavy cream. Coconut cream is very flavorsome. It not only enhances the coconut flavor of your cake but also covers any eggy taste you don’t want in a keto cake.
- Eggs at room temperature. Yes, cold eggs enhance the eggy flavor of baking, so make sure you bring the eggs to room temperature before baking this healthy coconut cake. To do so, fill a bowl with lukewarm water and place the eggs in the bowl for 20 minutes or remove the eggs from the fridge 3 hours before baking the cake.
- Coconut frosting – the coconut frosting will be the extra coconut flavor on top of this cake that will absolutely cover any egg taste left in the cake, so don’t skip it!
Keeping The Cake Moist
Keto coconut recipes can be slightly tricky because of the high moisture absorbance of the flour. Here are my tricks to keeping cakes moist.
This is a moist gluten-free coconut cake recipe, and if you want to make sure your cake comes out as most as mine, you must:
- Use full-fat canned coconut cream or heavy cream but don’t use low-fat products, or the cake crumb will be dry.
- Measure the coconut flour precisely. To do so, ensure that your flour is fine, and fresh with no lumps. If you are using cups, don’t overly heap the flour in the cup and level the cup. Otherwise, use grams/oz for the best result. Note that old bags of coconut flour may have already absorbed some moisture and lost their properties – liquid absorption.
- Check baking time – see notes above about checking the baking time often to ensure the best baking time based on the oven, pan size, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, I wouldn’t recommend adding chocolate as it would change the texture.
If you want chocolate, try my Keto Chocolate Cake.
More Keto Cake Recipes
If you love keto cakes, I have many more for you!
Did You Like This Recipe?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
Keto Coconut Cake
Ingredients
- 4 large Eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup Coconut Cream canned, full fat, shake the can before measuring, or use heavy cream
- ½ cup Granulated Sweetener like erythritol or allulose
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Pure Coconut Extract
- ¾ cup Coconut Flour fresh, no lumps, measure precisely
- ½ cup Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
Cream cheese frosting
- 4.4 oz Cream Cheese soft, at room temperature, cubed
- ¼ cup Powdered Erythritol
- ¼ cup Coconut Cream (Unsweetened) canned, full fat, shake the can before measuring, or use heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon Pure Coconut Extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Grease a 9-inch cake pan with coconut oil or butter. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric beater on low/medium speed, beat the eggs with coconut cream, erythritol, coconut extract, and vanilla for 30-45 seconds or until slightly lighter in color.
- Beat in coconut flour and baking powder until the batter is shiny and has no lumps. Stop the beater and stir in the desiccated coconut.
- Transfer the coconut cake batter onto the prepared cake pan and spread evenly.
- Bake in center rack for 20-25 minutes on fan-mode or for 30-35 minutes or regular mode. I recommend you insert a pick in the center of the cake every 5 minutes from 20 minutes of baking. If it comes out clean or with a little bit of crumb, it's cooked! This is the best way to prevent a coconut flour cake from overbaking and getting dry (you want the crumb to be soft and moist!)
- Cool 5 minutes in the pan then transfer onto a cooling rack.
- Cool 1 hour on the rack, or wait until it reaches room temperature to frost. Only make the frosting 10 minutes before frosting the cake, or if you want to make the frosting ahead, don't store in the fridge, or it will get hard and difficult to spread.
Cream cheese frosting
- To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese with coconut cream, coconut extract, and powdered erythritol until fluffy. If too thick, add more coconut cream until it reaches a texture you love.
- Spread the icing on top of the cake and serve with extra toasted desiccated coconut.
Storage
- Store the cake in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze, in an airtight box.
- Defrost the cake on the counter.
Tools
Getting Started What Is Keto? Macro Calculator Sweetener Converter Intermittent Fasting Keto Fruits Keto Vegetables Keto Flours Fighting Keto Flu Healthy SweetenersWant My Kitchen Equipment?
Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
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Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Bonjour, Carine!
I am making this cake for my son’s girlfriend Friday night. She loves coconut cake as much as I do. Can’t wait to try this one. I would like to make a 2or 3 layer 6″ cake, though. Will this batter be enough to make two 6″ rounds? Or, should I double it? And, if so, how long should I bake it? Thank you! I’ll let you know how it turns out!
If you cook this batter doubled in two pans, you can do so in the same time!
I want to make this but don’t have coconut flour on hand. I have lupin flour, vital wheat gluten and oat fiber. Is it possible to use some combination of these ingredients?
Would love to try this cake. Can you substitute eggs and if so what can you use instead.
Thanks Jill
No, sorry you need eggs
It’s a cake made of coconut flour as a main ingredients so it’s hard to swap, especially because this flour contains 4 times more fiber than others and it’s highly liquid absorbent.
Pefect recipe! My Mom’s favorite cake was her mother’s coconut cake- a yellow cake made with coconut milk and fresh coconut mixed in, with a fluffy white frosting. She’s now type II diabetic and lactose intolerant, and this recipe was perfect for her! I put toasted shredded coconut on top for the perfect garnish and diluted the cream cheese with some coconut cream for the frosting. Perfect!
I made this cake today it was absolutely gorgeous,nice and moist and light.only thing I did was sprinkle coconut shavings over cream frosting, yummy.
Regarding the canned coconut cream: I have two types of canned coconut milk or cream. In the US the coconut cream is solid in the can and coconut milk is very thick in the can. Since you mentioned I could sub heavy cream for the coconut cream, do you really mean US style coconut milk? A Taste of Thai is one brand, I have that and Trader Joe’s. Have the solid Trader Joe’s coconut cream as well. Just making sure I don’t mess up this birthday cake!
Yes, you need the full-fat canned coconut cream version.
Canned coconut milk is often not fatty enough, and of course, bottled coconut milk beverages would be way too watery.
Recipe looks the best that I’ve seen. I’d like to do in a Bundt pan and the egg and coconut flour seem to match another one made in a Bundt pan.could I do this?
If your pan has the same volume, then yes, it shouldn’t impact the baking time.
Coconut lovers this cake is for us! I generally steer clear of keto desserts with coconut flour because of the texture, but not this one! I will be baking this for people that do not even follow a keto diet. I also want to mention the coconut cream icing is a showstopper. Make sure to whip it with a balloon whisk until it resembles whipped cream and double the batch of icing if love a healthy layer of icing. I added toasted unsweetened coconut to the top for some color, otherwise leave this recipe alone!
I was most surprised by the texture. Very nice. Thank you.
So yum! Wasn’t sure what to expect, the batter seems like a strange consistency and didn’t look like a normal cake when cooking but this is delicious. Fluffy, light, coconutty and with the cream cheese frosting is delicious. Doesn’t taste low carb at all, will be making these again for sure!
I made the cake into cupcakes which I want to freeze. Should I ice first?
Denise O’Connor
I crave a slice of iced cake like once a week.
I like to present a whole layer cake, sometimes a 6″. There’s only two of us, so there’s always leftovers.
I cut slices, place on saran wrap on a cookie sheet and freeze over night. The next day I vacuum freeze, label and file away into freezer chest. Et voila! Cake slices of many flavors at my beckoned call.
To defrost, do the opposite… cut open freezer bag. Defrost overnight in fridge then / or on counter for a few hours. When I’m overly impatient, I nuke it on power level 2 (defrost) for 2-3 minutes then test it to see if it is room temp or frozen stiff. Once room temp, cover with a bowl until icing comes to edible temp or just devour. Tee hee… have aaaaaall your flavors of cake and eat them when you want!! <3 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜
This may be a strange request, but I’d like to make the coconut cake with regular sugar or another substitute like maple syrup or honey rather then using eytheritol.
I’m more concerned about keeping the cake gluten free then sugar/carbs free, though do have diabetics in the family so the best choice for them would also be helpful.
1) can regular sugar be used, if so what quantity
2) if made for diabetic what is the best sweetener to use
Ps. Looks delicious!!
You can use sugar in the same amount as erythritol (1/2 cup). For diabetics, though, the best sweetener remains erythritol.
I usually don’t like to freeze icing. I freeze the cupcake, thaw at room temperature the day before and frost before serving.
I have made this three times now! I use heavy whipping cream in the recipe and it tastes great. I always double the frosting. Wonderful!! Just don’t over bake it.
This is such a great cake! Very moist, not eggy and a great mouth feel just the way cake should be. Followed the recipe exactly and even doubled it to make a two layer, turned out great. Thank you for such a great recipe.
I can not tolerate eytheritol or other related itol sweetners. What other sweetners can I use in place of it and how much. Thank you.
Allulose is the best sugar free option
I loved it, thank you so much!
Doubled somewhat so it uses an entire coconut cream can and changed the coconut extract to orange cause I didn’t have any and it came out amazing. Thank you🙏❤
Oh and added some lemon zest to the frosting 😋
VERY moist. I doubled the frosting. So so good
Hey, can I use canned pure coconut Milk? I it’s not possible for me to get the unsweetened cream
Yes it should work but if your canned coconut milk contains added sugar the cake won’t be keto and probably too sweet if you don’t decrease the amount of sweetener.
Hi, how can I replace coconut cream in this recipe? Can I use coconut milk or heavy cream?
Yes for heavy cream, coconut milk has less fat and the cake will be a bit dry with this option.
This is a family favorite recipe. We make it super often!!
Hey there. This looks amazing. Have you ever made 2 of them for a traditional layer cake look? I’m thinking of making this for Easter since my mom is diabetic.
Thank you.
T
Sure, it works very well
It would be tremendously helpful if you could add grams or UK measurements as we don’t use cups and it is very fiddly to convert.
If you click on the metric button in the recipe card it convert every recipe in grams automatically.
Thanks. Found it! Excellent recipe!