What could be better than this fluffy white Keto Coconut Cake? It’s easy to make, and it’s so light and airy, it’s like biting into a fluffy coconut cloud. Nut-free and sugar free.
If you love baking with coconut flour, this is the cake for you!
Coconut lovers, stop what you’re doing and go check your pantry. Go make sure you’ve got everything on hand to make this gorgeous keto coconut cake. And if you don’t, then make a trip to the store and get what you need.
Trust me, you’ll thank me later. This might just be the perfect coconut dessert recipe. A light airy white cake with a rich and creamy frosting – it’s so divinely coconutty, it will make you swoon.
I already had recipes for keto coconut cream pie and keto macaroons. It was high time I added keto coconut cake to that list!
5 reasons to love this recipe
- Moist, tender crumb. This ain’t no dry coconut flour cake, my friends. The butter, coconut cream, and the eggs all come together to make it wonderfully moist.
- Easy to make. Don’t be fooled by the long ingredient list. Since this is a bundt cake recipe, it’s easy to whip up in one bowl and bake in a single pan.
- Great coconut flavor. Made with coconut flour, shredded coconut, coconut cream, and coconut extract. That’s quadruple coconut!
- Super creamy frosting. This is a whipped cream frosting, stabilized with a little softened cream cheese so that it stays in place.
- It’s totally nut free! I now have a whole section devoted to keto nut free recipes. Be sure to check it out!
How to make keto coconut cake
This is an easy bundt cake recipe that looks and tastes like you slaved for hours in the kitchen. Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- Grease the pan well. Bundt pans can be tricky, especially if they have a lot of deep peaks and points. I prefer the classic fluted bundt pan as it’s less likely to stick. Just make sure you work the grease into every corner of the pan.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. If you’re using a coconut flour that tends to have clumps, you may want to sift it.
- Add the wet ingredients. Be sure to use more egg whites than whole eggs, so that the cake will be more white in color. If the coconut cream is too solid to mix in easily, liquify it a bit in the microwave.
- Don’t overbake! Coconut flour recipes can dry out quickly if you leave them too long in the oven. Once the top is firm to the touch, take it out.
- Cool in the pan. Don’t try to remove it too early or it may break apart. About 30 minutes is right.
- Soften the cream cheese. It should be quite soft to the touch before you try to beat it. Otherwise it won’t mix in with the whipped cream properly.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks. The peaks should fall over when you lift the beaters.
- Slowly beat in the cream cheese. This is essentially a stabilized whipped cream frosting. Dollop the cream cheese over the soft whipped cream, then start the beaters on slow. Increase the speed slowly, until the frosting holds stiff peaks.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use any bulk crystalline sweetener for the cake, but do be forewarned that allulose sweeteners make the outside of cakes VERY dark. You can use any sweetener in the frosting but powdered and liquid are best to avoid grittiness.
You don’t HAVE to, but if you skip it, the cake won’t rise as nicely and may be more fragile and prone to falling apart.
The cake itself is easily made dairy free by using egg white protein powder and melted coconut oil. The frosting will be more tricky, but you can make some coconut whipped cream and use dairy free cream cheese, and try that. But I can’t guarantee it – I always have trouble making coconut whipped cream that’s thick enough to frost a cake.
This recipe would make great cupcakes! It will probably make 12 of them and they won’t take as long to bake. Set them for about 20 minutes and check on them frequently.
Storage instructions
Because the frosting is mostly whipped cream, I recommend storing the cake in the fridge. If you’ve cut into it already, simply cover the cut ends with plastic wrap so that they don’t dry out.
I have not tried freezing this cake but I am not sure the frosting would fare too well.
Keto recipes for leftover egg yolks
Since keto coconut cake uses egg whites, I thought I would suggest a few recipes for those leftover yolks. Waste not, want not!
Keto Coconut Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- ⅓ cup unflavored whey protein powder (or egg white protein)
- ⅓ cup shredded coconut
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter melted
- 1 cup coconut cream (liquified if it's too firm)
- 4 large egg whites
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoon water as needed
Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese very well softened
- 1 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream, divided room temperature
- ½ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup shredded coconut
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity) well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, sweetener, protein powder, shredded coconut, baking powder, and salt.
- Stir in the melted butter, coconut cream, egg whites, eggs, and extracts. Whisk in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the batter is thick but pourable.
- Spread in the prepared pan and even out the top. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the cake is risen and the top is firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool at least 30 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream to lighten it up a bit.
- Beat the remaining heavy cream with the sweetener and extracts until it holds soft peaks.
- Dollop the cream cheese mixture around the bowl with the whipped cream. Start beating on slow, then increase speed slowly and beat until it holds stiff peaks.
- Spread the frosting over the sides of the cake and sprinkle with the shredded coconut.
Susan R says
This recipe is EXCELLENT!!!!! I was actually shocked that a coconut flour cake could be so moist! I didn’t even make the frosting–another reviewer said it was fairly sweet, so since I was trying this for the first time, I left it out. My husband and I ate quite a bit of it already and he said it was the best cake I ever made (even better than the butter cake). The only changes I made was to use a mixture of sweeteners. I do not like that erythritol cooling effect, so I used 1/3 cup of Lacanto (essentially erithritol), 1/3 cup of Boca Sweet and 1/3 cup of Besti Monk Fruit/Allulose blend. I would like to try this without the shredded coconut and lemon or orange extract and see how that is.
Dana says
Another dessert winner that’s simple enough that I can make it! So delicious!
Susan says
This cake is so yummy. However, it’s a little sweet for my taste. How can I reduce the sweetness without compromising the texture of the cake?
Carolyn says
I believe you could for the cake. Not the frosting as easily, though.
Heather says
Would vanilla whey be okay?
Carolyn says
Well, it may provide a very strong vanilla flavor… some of them are overpowering. But you can certainly try it!
Heather says
Thank you! It’s baking right now, crossing my fingers!!
Anne Marie says
Made 12 cupcakes @ 20 mins and the texture was perfect. The flavor was awesome! Very easy to make and my house smells fantastic. Thanks Carolyn!
Dani Whitaker says
So good!! Thank you!
Leesa says
5 stars all the way, if I could give 10 stars I would. My whole house smells like scrumptious coconut cake. I just made this for our Tuesday dessert even the cream cheese with coconut frosting is delicious. My family is keto low carb and we don’t have any nut allergies but I do stay away from gluten. I’m diabetic, hypertension, no thyroid and no gall bladder. It’s a challenge but I try really hard to eat healthy and not to eat process sugar and all the other unhealthy stuff in the stores. I followed the recipe exactly and my Bundt pan was silicon. The silicon pan worked perfectly, no need to spray it and didn’t use any parchment paper. The cake once cooled about 20-30 minutes the cake just popped out of the silicon. I was determined to make no mistakes with this cake so all ingredients were the same as yours, even the organic coconut cream. I decided to pre slice the cake getting about 18 slices and then store in lock and lock container for family and guest. Coconut has always been my all time favorite and this recipe was so yummy and it didn’t disappoint. Thank you so much I follow you and have made many of your recipes all have came out perfectly.
Lisa says
Looks great but I am confused. I thought coconuts were nuts. Dr. Westman implies they are. Set me straight.
Lisa says
Disregard my earlier comment. I see they are fruits.
Kathy Cooke says
Amazing! Tastes divine – so light and airy. Made as written and baked for 43 minutes. It’s a gorgeous cake, and it was really very easy to make.
Heidi McDow says
This is delicious!! I always ask for a coconut cake for my birthday and this fit the bill. My bundt mold didn’t release well so I wound piecing it back together. I covered it with enough icing though so looks like a big, bumpy white donut.. lol! It’s amazing even so;)
Dmarie says
I have made this before & love it. I recently baked it in a small sheet pan & cubed it to use in a trifle for a holiday gathering. Sooo good!
Lori Blalock says
Which shredded coconut do you recommend?
The frozen one(of course defrosted.
Or the dry flakes?
Linda Estabrook says
Carolyn, I love your recipes, thank you for what you contribute to the low-carb lifestyle! Question – I’m trying to make this a very white cake – could I use all egg whites? Add an extra one? Substitute something else for the missing egg yolks?
Carolyn says
Don’t sub anything for the yolks but use 7 total egg whites. Those two yolks that you don’t add will equal about the same as one egg white. Then hold back the extra water to see if you even need it, in case your whites were on the large side.
Michelle says
Made this for Thanksgiving and the taste was wonderful! The cake itself was very dense and wet. I use a silicone bundt pan, could that have contributed? Overmixing? Thank again Carolyn for the wonderful recipes!
Carolyn says
It was the pan, absolutely. Please understand that metal conducts heat far better than any other material, like glass, ceramic, or silicone. You need to read up on how to adjust for this. While silicone muffin liners are fabulous (they sit inside metal so that helps), I do not recommend cooking fully in a silicone pan. It’s the worst conductor of heat.
Michelle says
Thanks, I will get the USA pan!
Jennifer says
If you could only have one bundt pan, which one and what size would you get? I am looking for ONE and there are SOOOO many choices I have no idea where to start. Thank you in advance. I have been going through each of your bundt cake recipes, but there is only one link provided from 2016. I didn’t know if you could even recommend one without getting into trouble with people who want you to advertise for them.😬
THANK YOU
Carolyn says
Excellent question! Well, in my experience, bundt pans tend to lose non-stickness easily and I’ve tossed more than I care to count. But I now have a USA Pan and it is spectacular. As with all their pans, nothing sticks! It’s definitely pricier than most but worth it because you won’t be tossing it in a year or two. I have had mine for 3 years now and going strong! https://amzn.to/3FVxAQP (affiliate link).
Jennifer says
THANK YOU!!!
Aileen says
Absolutely dreamy!! So moist and delicious!!
Marian Morales says
Because the recipe didn’t specifically say unsweetened coconut cream, I used sweetened Goya cream of coconut. I hope I did the right thing. I won’t be tasting the cake today.I didn’t even find unsweetened at my grocery store. If it calls for unsweetened, please put that in the recipe
I’m not on a keto diet myself and am making this cake for a relative’s birthday
Carolyn says
This is a keto sugar-free blog. I think it would go without saying for my keto readers…
Carolyn says
May I also point out that the very brand I used is linked right in the recipe. If it was in question, all you had to do was click the link…