A moist, filling coconut cake topped with marshmallow frosting. All sugar free, and perfect for Christmas!
- 225 g (2 sticks) butter, soft
- 150 g (3/4 cup) xylitol*
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
- 100 g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
- 300 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk (or coconut cream)
- 2 medium egg whites
- 100 g (1/2 cup) xylitol
- pinch salt (about 1/2 tsp)
- 1 tsp sugar free vanilla extract
- squeeze fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 tsp)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Grease a 23cm cake tin** and line the base with baking paper.
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Cream the butter and xylitol until pale and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs, a little at a time, beating each time until all the egg has disappeared before adding more. If the mixture starts to “curdle”, add a tablespoon or two of the already weighed out flour and mix in well.
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Fold in the desiccated coconut, flour, baking powder and coconut cream with a spatula or wooden spoon until mixture is just smooth and the flecks of flour have all disappeared.
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Spoon the batter into the prepared tin** (see notes) and bake for 50 mins - 1 hour, or until lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
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Allow to cool completely, while you make the frosting by whisking the ingredients together in a bowl. Place the bowl over a double boiler (bain marie) by simmering just a small amount of water in a pan and placing the bowl with the egg mixture over it without it touching the water. Whisk over the pan of water until the temperature reaches 120F/50C, then take off the heat and whisk to stiff peaks.
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Once the cake is completely cool, frost and decorate, if desired, with desiccated coconut and/or sugar free marshmallows stacked to make snowmen, non-edible Christmas decorations or low sugar gingerbread cookies in Christmas shapes.
*I buy my xylitol here.
**to make the Christmas tree shaped cake to top my main cake, I greased both my cake tin and Christmas tree mould, then filled my Christmas tree mould about 2/3 of the way with the cake batter and spooned the rest of the batter into the main cake tin. To make a bigger, more impressive cake (or one for bigger family gatherings), I recommend doubling the recipe so you still have a large main cake as well as the Christmas tree one to top it. If you do this, using 2-3 sandwich tins will make cooking quicker (using one deep tin will mean you need to increase cooking time), and then I recommend making a double batch of the frosting and adding some (or some whipped coconut cream sweetened with xylitol or stevia) in between the cakes to make a layer cake.