Everyday dinners
Gluten-free coconut cake
A buttery coconut loaf with a simple white icing and a scattering of desiccated coconut.
Desiccated coconut gives this loaf its texture, with coconut milk stirred into the batter for extra flavour. A thin layer of icing finishes the top.
Use a gluten-free flour blend intended for cakes. Coconut flour absorbs much more liquid and cannot replace it in this recipe. Let the loaf cool completely before icing and slicing.
The recipe
Gluten-free coconut cake
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 60 min
- Total*
- 80 min
- Makes
- 10 servings
*Estimated development timings. Allow approximately 90 minutes for cooling: 15 minutes in the tin followed by 75 minutes on a wire rack. After icing the cold cake, allow a further 20 minutes for the icing to set. Cooling and setting therefore add approximately 110 minutes to the 80-minute preparation and cooking total.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the cake
For the topping
Equipment
- Use a 900 g loaf tin, approximately 21 × 11 × 7 cm internally.
- Use baking parchment to line the base and sides.
- Use kitchen scales, a measuring jug and measuring spoons.
- Use two mixing bowls, an electric hand mixer and a spatula.
- Use a small bowl and spoon for the icing.
- Use a wire cooling rack and a skewer.
- Use kitchen foil if the top needs covering during baking.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the tin
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Line the loaf tin with baking parchment, folding it into the corners and leaving enough above the long sides to lift the cake out. Check that the base and sides are covered.
- 02
Combine the dry ingredients
Stir the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum together thoroughly in a bowl, breaking up any lumps. Mix in the 75 g desiccated coconut until it is evenly distributed.
- 03
Beat the butter and sugar
In a separate bowl, beat the softened butter and caster sugar for 3–5 minutes until paler and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of the measured dry mixture with each egg. Mix in the vanilla until no streaks of egg remain; a slightly curdled appearance is fine.
- 04
Finish the batter
Fold in the remaining dry mixture in two additions, alternating with the coconut milk. Scrape across the bottom of the bowl so there are no dry pockets. The batter should be thick but fall from the spatula with a gentle shake. Spoon it into the tin and level the surface.
- 05
Bake the loaf
Bake on the middle shelf for 50–60 minutes, checking at 50 minutes. The top should be golden and feel set, and a skewer pushed into the centre should come out without wet batter. If necessary, bake for another 5 minutes and check again. If the top colours too quickly, cover loosely with foil. Do not serve a loaf with an uncooked centre.
- 06
Cool the cake
Leave the loaf in its tin for 15 minutes, then lift it onto a wire rack and gently peel the parchment away from the sides. Allow roughly another 75 minutes to cool. Before icing, check that the sides and underside no longer feel warm.
- 07
Add the topping
Mix the icing sugar with 15 ml water until smooth, adding the remaining water a little at a time only if needed. It should fall slowly from the spoon in a thick ribbon. Spread over the cold loaf and scatter with the separate 15 g portion of desiccated coconut listed for the topping. Leave for about 20 minutes, until the icing holds its shape, then cut into 10 slices.
Ingredient checks
Choose flour and baking powder labelled gluten-free, and check the coconut, coconut milk, xanthan gum, vanilla and icing sugar for gluten-free suitability and allergen declarations. Use a cake flour blend rather than a bread mix or single flour. For someone with coeliac disease, use thoroughly cleaned equipment and work surfaces and keep wheat flour, crumbs and shared utensils away from the ingredients and finished cake.
Allergens: Contains eggs and milk from the eggs and butter.; Coconut is not one of the 14 regulated UK allergens, although people can still be allergic to it.; Check desiccated coconut and coconut milk for declared sulphites, and check the flour blend and all other packaged ingredients for additional allergens.; The specified ingredients do not intentionally include celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame or soya; individual product labels and cross-contact warnings still need checking..
Make it work for you
If your gluten-free plain flour blend already contains xanthan gum, omit the separate ¼ teaspoon.
For a dairy-free version, replace the butter with the same weight of a gluten-free dairy-free baking block suitable for cakes; check whether it introduces soya.
You can replace the coconut milk with the same volume of whole milk, although the coconut flavour will be milder and the cake will still contain milk.
Do not replace the flour blend with coconut flour or ground almonds, as either would need a different balance of ingredients.
For another day
For a cautious storage approach, cool the loaf and put any cake being kept into a covered container in the fridge within two hours of baking; refrigerate before decorating if cooling takes longer than expected.
Keep the fridge at 0–5°C and eat refrigerated cake within 48 hours.
Freeze cooled, uniced slices individually wrapped in a sealed container for up to three months; this is a suggested quality limit and the texture after freezing has not been tested.
Defrost covered slices in the fridge and eat within 24 hours of fully thawing.
Transfer unused tinned coconut milk to a covered container, refrigerate promptly and follow the pack's instructions for use after opening.
Exploding food
What goes in.
The ingredients, seen a little differently. This image is an illustration of the main ingredients; use the written recipe for the full list and quantities.
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