Sugar Free Coconut & Raspberry Cake (GF, DF)
I was never really a coconut person. I didn’t love the flavour, and while I can enjoy a coconut-based curry or desiccated coconut sprinkled on baked goods or cereals, I’ve never been someone who seeks it out as a predominant taste.
But when I gave up sugar through the I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program, I discovered that there – as in many healthy eating blogs and programs – coconut crops up a lot. Coconut oil for cooking or by the spoonful to keep sugar cravings at bay. Coconut milk for dairy free or to add natural sweetness. Desiccated or shredded coconut for texture in granolas and baking. Coconut was rapidly becoming a big part of my life.
It took a while, but as my tastebuds adjusted, I actually found myself enjoying coconut more. I could appreciate a good Christmas coconut cake, enjoy coconut in my granola, add coconut milk to my homemade Nutella for extra creaminess, or even whip up some coconut cream to top a sugar free bake.
I can certainly appreciate coconut flavour more now, but even now I won’t necessarily seek it out.
But this cake. I could eat it everyday.
Moist, sweet, crumbly, delicious.
And so easy to make. You can make this affordable, simple, year-round, dairy, gluten and sugar free cake with minimal effort, and just leave it to bake while you sit and enjoy the smells, or go about your day.
And you can always switch the raspberries for a different berry or fruit if you like. Strawberries, blueberries, cherries and plums are nice simple swaps. I can imagine pineapple would make for a sweet tropical version, although I haven’t tried that one myself. Yet. 😉
This sugar free, gluten free and dairy free loaf cake is packed with frozen raspberries and two types of coconut. It is moist, sweet, soft and delicious. It's also really simple to make!
- 120 g (2 cups) desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
- 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) full-fat coconut milk
- 100 g (1/2 cup) xylitol (or use less if you are happy with a less sweet cake)
- 1 medium egg
- 1 teaspoon sugar free vanilla extract
- 150 g (1 1/2 cups) gluten free plain flour (or use 150g/1 cup plain/all-purpose flour if you are not GF)
- 75 g (3/4 cup) ground almonds
- 2 teaspoons (gluten free) baking powder
- 125 g (1 cup) frozen raspberries (+ a handful defrosted or fresh for decorating)
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour (or icing sugar) for decorating, optional
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Lightly grease a 10x20cm loaf tin with coconut oil and line with baking paper.
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Mix the desiccated coconut, coconut milk, xylitol, egg and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, almonds and baking powder. Gently stir the raspberries into the flour mixture to coat them. Fold the flour and raspberry mix into the wet ingredients until just combined (don't overmix).
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Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then top with raspberries (fresh or frozen defrosted) and sift over the coconut flour, if using.
I just made this and put it in the oven because it looks heavenly.. my batter came out very very thick is that normal?
Hi Mia, hope you enjoyed the cake? It’s been a few weeks since I last made this, but I feel like it was indeed quite a thick batter! 🙂
Hello Claire,
You mentioned this might work with pineapple and I love the sound of that! Would you recommend using the same quantity fruit, 125g, or adjust? And do you foresee any issues I might have using pineapple instead?
Thank you!
Hi Sarah, I would use the same amount of pineapple. Not having tested it, the only issue I could foresee would be the fact that pineapple could be a bit more watery. Frozen berries let out quite a bit of juice, so it shouldn’t be a big problem, but you may find defrosting it first and draining it useful. You could certainly give it a go from frozen and see what happens though! 🙂
Hi, I want to make this sugar free for my son but not gluten free. Do I use the same quantities of flour and baking powder. Also, is there something I can replace xilotol with…. Maple syrup perhaps and any ideas of the replacement quantities?
Thanks.
Hi Leanne,
You can use the same amount of plain flour in place of the gluten free flour. Same with baking powder.
A liquid sweetener is a bit trickier to replace without testing first. You could test it with maple syrup (it would be refined sugar free but not strictly sugar free) or you could just sub the xylitol with the same amount of table/caster sugar or half the amount of a sugar and stevia blend like the ones you get in most supermarkets these days (they all say things like: use 1/2 for the same sweetness)? A lot of supermarkets sell xylitol, too, if you wanted it totally sugar free (often it is the Total Sweet brand, although it’s cheaper to buy online). You could definitely try subbing a liquid sugar like maple syrup or honey (or rice syrup so it’s fructose free if you like), but it would require messing about with the other ingredients a little more. My guess would be the best way would be to use roughly the same amount of syrup as xylitol and use only 150-200ml coconut milk OR use an extra 50-100g of flour? I can’t guarantee results without testing first, but I imagine it would work. 🙂 As long as it looks like a cake batter when you finish, it should be ok!
Let me know how it goes if you try it out – I’d love to know if a liquid sweetener is an option! 🙂 Hope he loves it! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Claire
Hi there do you recommend any specific GF flour like coconut or almond? Many thanks:-)
Hi Ana, I would recommend a GF flour blend for this. Coconut flour wouldn’t work without upping the liquid/egg content as it absorbs much more liquid than other flours. Almond flour might work, although I haven’t tested it. The only potential issue would be that almond flour is a bit oilier than most flours, so potentially may need slightly less fat, but I would have thought it would work as is. A GF flour blend would definitely work best though! 🙂