Deliciously perfect vegan coconut cake from scratch! Paired with a vegan coconut cream frosting. Simple to make and looks so professional!
I rarely share personal stories on our site, but this is one I wanted to share for this vegan coconut cake recipe.
Coconut, in my opinion, gets a bad rap. It’s not usually one of those hate it or love it foods that people immediately think of; however, it is completely a hate it or love it food. So many people have said that they just can’t stand the taste or smell of coconut anything.
I thought growing up, that I was one of those people. My mom didn’t like coconut and therefore by default, I didn’t like coconut either.
I remember that at almost every gathering or holiday, my grandmother would make a coconut cake. For years and years, I would never try it because, by default, I didn’t like coconut.
I was well into my 20s before I would actually ever end up tasting that cake and I immediately regretted all my life’s choices. How did my mom not like this cake? It was delicious.
Today, we are recreating for you a vegan coconut cake that reminds me perfectly of my grandmas’s cake, without adding in any dairy or eggs.
Watch How to Make Vegan Coconut Cake:
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What ingredients do you need for Vegan Coconut Cake?
There are 2 parts to this recipe: the cake and the frosting. For this recipe you need the following ingredients:
- Cake flour (can sub all purpose)
- Vegan sugar
- Dairy Free butter
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Coconut extract
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Full fat coconut milk
- apple cider vinegar
- powdered sugar
- dairy free milk
- coconut flakes
How do you make Vegan Coconut Cake?
Even though this egg free coconut cake looks fancy, it’s actually very easy to make.
To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll out parchment paper and trace around the bottom of 2 9-inch round cake pans. Cut out the circles and place at the bottom of your pans. Using butter or coconut oil, grease the sides of your pans liberally. Lightly dust with flour all around. Set aside.
In a bowl, sift together your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes. Because most vegan sugars are more coarse, don’t skip this step. The length of time is important to break down the sugar.
Next, add in the applesauce and mix just until combined. Then add the extracts and mix again.
Pour the canned coconut milk and apple cider vinegar together in a small bowl.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the coconut milk mixture. Mixing just until combined. See video if you need more direction on doing this.
Fold in coconut flakes.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let the cakes cool for 30 minutes in the pan. Then, turn them onto a baking rack to finish cooling completely before frosting.
Tip: If you need to speed this process up, you can let cool for 10 minutes, flip out, wrap cakes with saran wrap and place in freezer until cool. Usually about 30-45 minutes total. Wrapping them keeps the heat in and stay moist.
For the frosting – Combine powdered sugar and softened vegan butter in a bowl with a mixer. Then, add in the extracts and mix together. Finally, Add in one tablespoon of milk at a time until you get your desired spreadable consistency.
Spread a layer of frosting between the cakes and then all around your cakes. Carefully pat handfuls of coconut flakes onto your cake.
*We left the top of the cake in the photos open so you could see the frosting; however, you can put coconut flakes over the entire cake.
Can I make this Top 8 Allergy Friendly?
You can swap out the flour for Measure for Measure flour from King Arthur. (Note, we haven’t ourselves made this vegan coconut cake gluten free; however, we’ve had successful trails work with this flour.
The butter should be soy free. Earth Balance Soy Free in the red tub is out favorite for that.
Any dairy free milk can be used.
If you are in the US, then coconut is a tree nut allergy; however, if you are in other parts of the world, it is not.
Therefore, technically, you can’t make this Top 8 Allergen free because coconut is not a swappable ingredients. Otherwise, besides the coconut, it is am allergen friendly cake!
Can you prep Dairy Free Coconut Cake ahead of time?
This vegan coconut cake lasts best stored covered in an air tight container or cake stand for 4-5 days! The bigger issue is let’s see if you can make it early and not delve into it! Yum!
WHAT ARE OTHER VEGAN CAKE RECIPES THAT I SHOULD TRY?
Just because you have food allergies or preferences, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to have great tasting desserts. We’d even venture to say that these are better than their “normal” counterparts. These are some other dairy free cake recipes that you should try:
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
- Try these vegan vanilla cupcakes in a cake pan
- Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
Pin this Vegan Coconut Cake for later:
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Vegan Coconut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups cake flour (can sub all purpose or GF- See post notes)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups vegan sugar
- 3/4 cup vegan butter
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract (*If almond allergy, omit)
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
For the frosting
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 2/3 cup vegan butter, softened
- 2-4 tbsp dairy free milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 12 oz coconut flakes (may not need all)
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out parchment paper and trace around the bottom of 2 9-inch round cake pans. Cut out the circles and place at the bottom of your pans.
- Grease the sides of pans liberally (spread butter or coconut oil). Lightly dust with flour all around. Set aside.
- In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes.
- Add in applesauce and mix just until combined.
- Add the extracts and mix again.
- Pour the canned coconut milk and apple cider vinegar together in a separate bowl.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk. Mixing just until combined.
- Fold in 1/2 cup coconut flakes.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven. Let the cakes cool for 30 minutes in the pan. Then, turn them onto a baking rack to finish cooling completely before frosting. (*See post notes if need faster).
For the Frosting
- Combine powdered sugar and softened vegan butter in a bowl with a mixer. Add in the extracts and mix together. Add in one tablespoon of milk at a time until you get your desired spreadable consistency.
- Spread a layer of frosting between the cakes and then all around the cake.
- Carefully pat handfuls of coconut flakes onto cake.
- Store cake covered at room temperature for 4-5 days.
Nutrition
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I’m losing my mind. Where is the recipe? 🙂 I’m going to make this attempt to make my 1st cake for her birthday tomorrow. The recipe is not listed for your Vegan Coconut Cake. Please help me.
All our recipes are at the bottom of our posts, always! Enjoy!
This was so yummy!! I was craving coconut cream cake and this more than hot the spot!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your review. We appreciate it so much and we are so happy that you enjoyed the cake!
Hi. I would like to replace sugar with xylitol or erthrytol or any other sweetener. Do you have any experience with using those in frosting and cake insted of sugar?
We do not personally have experience using at this time. We do know that xylitol is usually a 1:1 ratio replacement and erythritol is usually a bit more, about 1.3x more. Both you need to look at the moisture level and may need to add a bit more liquid. The video should help you see what the consistency is supposed to look like. Hopefully this helps.
Hi! I‘m planning to make this beautiful cake for a friend:
I have 2 questions:
1) “1 can coconut milk” : I see a big one in your YouTube Channel. As I live in Germany I don’t know if small and big cans are the same im gram or liters here. Can you tell me which kind of can you use?
2) do you think I could try using coconut oil instead of vegan butter? I red vegan butter is made of coconut (and canola oil) anyway, so in combination with some Coco milk it could transform into a frosting cream with a nice coconut taste? 🙂 think, I’ll give it a try, cause I don’t have coconut flavor drops 🙂
Hi Val! You’re a sweet friend!
1 – We use a 14.5oz can which should translate to 403mL
2 – coconut oil in place of the vegan butter will work as a substitute.
Please let us know if we can help in any other way! Enjoy the cake!
Oh my goodness! This is Amazing! Made it in cupcakes yesterday and we cannot stop eating them. So yummy!!!
We’re are so excited to hear that! We loved that you tried doing cupcakes with them! Thanks so much for sharing! We hope you try out some of our other recipes!
How many cupcakes did it make?
It should make 15-18ish
I was going to ask my daughter if she could make this for me but i can do cupcakes!!! Great idea! Can’t wait to make theae!
enjoy!
hey!!! so excited to try the recipe –
just with the current scenario- don’t have a few ingredients –
no apple sauce
no almond extract
how can i replace those items?
Hi! we hope that you’re able to try it the written way once we are out of this, but completely understand not wanting to wait! We wouldn’t want to wait either!
You can just replace the almond extract with more vanilla or just omit entirely. For the applesauce, do you have ground flax seeds? you could mix together 1/2 cup water with 4 tbsp of ground flax seeds and let sit for 10-15 minutes then use it in place of the applesauce. It will taste slightly different (nuttier) and may not be as soft but should still work. You could also do mashed banana if you wouldn’t mind a banana flavor.
I’m having trouble finding full fat coconut milk can I use coconut cream ? Or should I use coconut milk?
Yes, that will work. Same amount. Enjoy your cake!
Mine was FABULOUS but making another and would like it to be less dense .. Should I sift flour more or be sifting it before I measure it???
HI! We’re so happy that you liked the recipe. We haven’t experienced that ourselves. We do sift after measuring, so you shouldn’t have any issues there. Usually dense-ness comes from overmixing your batter. When you try again, make sure as soon as it’s combined you stop mixing. We hope that helps
Hi, hope you and the family are well. I never comment on anything really but have to comment on this. The cake looks absolutely lovely and I really want to make it myself but I’m having no luck! Could you give me a tip on how to make the cake more fluffy as my one came out abit moist and did not raise much. Thought I followed every step correctly and was excited for the outcome but was not the best lol. I can make normal cakes no problem but vegan I’m new too. Any tips would help. Keep up the good work. Amazing recipes and well put together videos. Love from London UK
Hi Joe!
First, we’re so glad that you left a comment. We hope you’re doing well too.
We’d love to help you troubleshoot.
Any chance you over mixed or that your baking powder is old?
Hi!
Just baked this cake and can not wait to ice it tomorrow for a friends birthday. I found this recipe after a different vegan recipe flopped (from another website) & I am so glad I did!!! This recipe and the instructions turned out amazingly! I couldn’t find coconut extract by the way (all stores seem to be sold out everywhere) and so I did two tsp vanilla and a half tsp almond. I figured since the cake has a can of coconut milk and shredded coconut it will still have some natural coconut elements. So far so good- smells coconutty & I made a small mini cake sample
With a tiny ramekin to taste it and WOWWWW! So light and fluffy and flavorful! Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
So happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to leave a rating, we appreciate that so much.
If I wanted to make cupcakes will I still need to grease or butter the liners?
Made this for my dad’s birthday and it was perfect. I used half coconut sugar in the batter, added a splash of white rum to the frosting, and added shredded pineapple into the filling. 10/10
Great changes, sounds delicious! So glad it was a hit! Happy Birthday to yours day!
So excited to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, we really appreciate it!
Made this cake over the weekend and it turned out amazing. I added some lemon to the cake batter and the frosting for a different taste and it turned out pretty good.
Thank you for the recipes and the videos. I try to make everything you guys post and take pictures if it doesn’t require nuts. #allergic
Oh fun additions! We try to list notes in our recipes for Top 8 Allergen Free if we think it’s possible. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, we appreciate it. have a great day!
My first time successfully making a vegan cake! I knew this was going to be a hit when I tasted the frosting! This cake was so moist. The next time I make it, I will do what another commentator did and add pineapples between the layers.
So happy to hear you liked it, we appreciate you taking time out of your day to leave a review!
My daughter is a vegan. I made this cake for a family party.
It was one of the best cakes I have ever had. It was easy to make and delicious. I have since made it 3 more times and have some leftovers to my husbands family and they all called me for the recipe. I just subscribed to your blog and can’t wait to try more 😊
So happy to hear you liked it and it’s a hit with the whole family! We appreciate you taking time out of your day to leave a review!
Thank you!!!
I made this cake as a birthday cake and was so afraid it wouldn’t work out – not much luck with vegan cakes for me 🙂
This was a hit!!! Love it (yes some left and soooo tempting to polish it off myself)!!
Can not tell it’s vegan!!! In the middle I mixed some strawberry jam with the frosting – delicious!!
Everything is exact in terms of measurements!! Yes caved and used cake flour – it was a cake for a special person!!
Would like to make again but will try less sugar – no idea if this will affect too much the outcome.
Please keep sharing your tried recipes with us!!!
We are so so so happy to hear this! Great idea with the strawberry jam. We appreciate you taking the time to leave a review!
Can’t wait to make this for my birthday cake! I love coconut! Quick question – are the coconut flakes sweetened like Baker’s or unsweetened? Or something else altogether? Thanks in advance!
We’re using sweetened. We hope you love it
This cake was delicious! Even my non-vegan friends loved it! I could just eat the icing with a spoon. Who am I kidding? I did eat it with a spoon! 😉
Defiantly going to bake this cake in future. love coconut 🙂 would it be possible to make the recipie into cupcakes? Be easier to share with family & friends. Less time baking? Thank you
you absolutely can. Just grease a cupcake pan instead and only fill each 2/3 full. Probably 18-20 minutes.
Easy enough to make, incredibly moist, and very tasty. Everyone loved it! Not too sweet and a solid coconut flavor. I used their coconut icing recipe and added a pineapple coulis in between the layers and on the side. I ate this cake for days and it only got better with time. Thanks for a great recipe!
We’re so happy to hear you are liking the recipe. Thanks for taking time to leave a review. Have a great week.
This is THE best vegan coconut cake have ever had…I. my life. It was decadent and delicious. Lots of coconut flavor. Be careful with using non-alcohol coconut flavor. It has an oil base unlike the extract and can make the frosting a bit oily. Its great for the actual cake as it lends moisture. 😉
We’re so happy to hear you liked it! Thanks for taking time out of your day to leave a review. We really appreciate it.
This is honestly the BEST vegan cake recipe out there! Vegan or not this was undeniably DELICIOUS! With most vegan cake recipes the cake comes out super dense almost like bread, not this one! This was moist, fluffy and had a great flavor! I added lemon juice to my icing to give a cheesecake flavor and it was so good! Thank you for this ❤️
So happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for leaving a review!
Sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes?
Unsweetened, the cake is already sweet enough!
My aunt made this for my papaw for his birthday last week. I have been going into a more plant based vegan lifestyle and I thought this cake was store bought or a mix!!! Its soooooo good!!! I FINALLY got the recipe!!! And I’ll be making it myself soon enough but jus getting to try it. Omg. I will be definitely be stopping in for more of yall treats!!!!
So happy to hear that. Thanks for taking time to leave a review! Happy birthday to your papaw!
Made this for my daughters birthday and it was perfect! Will be making this often now!!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it. Happy birthday to your daughter! We really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review! Have a great day!
This cake was phenomenal!! It got the spot that was screaming for coconut!!!!! If you haven’t tried it you must!!!! Thank you
We love this! thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We really appreciate it.
I don’t have coconut extract so I omitted it. So mine was not as coconutty as how I wanted it to be, but still very delicious. Thank you for this recipe!
You’re so welcome. Glad you enjoyed!