Coconut lovers, stop whatever you’re doing and go check your pantry. Make sure you’ve got everything on hand to make this gorgeous Keto Coconut Cake. And if you don’t, then hightail it to the store and grab what you need.
If you love desserts like keto coconut cream pie, then you are going to adore this easy keto cake recipe.
There’s something undeniably elegant about coconut cake: a fluffy white cake topped with creamy frosting and sprinkled with shredded coconut. It’s the kind of cake you bring out for holidays or spring gatherings, and everyone gasps with delight.
And this sugar-free keto version is no different. You may think that something made with coconut flour can’t possibly rival the texture and flavor of a conventional cake. But THIS is the dessert that will change your mind!
It has a tender crumb and a light, airy texture, and all the luscious coconutty flavor you could possibly want. Finished with a rich, creamy frosting and a sprinkle of shredded coconut, it has all the visual appeal of the classic, without the sugar or carbs.
Reader’s Thoughts
“I love coconut and I know I will never go wrong when I make one of your recipes. This cake a delicious and the frosting was dynamite!! I will be using that recipe for the base of all my keto frosting flavors.” — Paula
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Moist, tender crumb: No dry coconut flour cake here! The butter and eggs provide plenty of moisture and the protein powder helps it become light and fluffy.
- Big coconut flavor: Coconut flour, coconut milk, shredded coconut, and coconut extract ensure that every bite delivers.
- Super creamy frosting. This is a whipped cream frosting, stabilized with a little softened cream cheese so that it stays in place.
- Easy to make: One bowl for the cake, one bowl for the frosting, and the bundt pan shape gives it easy elegance.
- Super creamy frosting: The whipped cream frosting is stabilized with a little softened cream cheese for a light but decadent consistency.
- It’s totally nut free! I now have a whole section devoted to keto nut free recipes. Be sure to check it out!
Ingredient Notes
- Coconut flour: I usually use Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour.
- Sweetener: I recommend a granular sweetener for the cake and a powdered sweetener for the
- Protein powder: This makes the cake more light and fluffy so I don’t recommend skipping it. Whey protein or egg white protein work best.
- Shredded coconut: A little shredded coconut in the cake gives added texture, and some sprinkled on top adds visual appeal.
- Eggs: You will need a couple of eggs and several egg whites. This makes the cake more like white cake.
- Liquid: A little liquid helps thin out the batter properly. It can be water, thin coconut milk, or a mixture of cream and water (half of each).
- Coconut extract: You should be able to find this at most grocery stores in the baking aisle.
- Heavy whipping cream: This makes the frosting like biting into a coconut cloud.
- Cream cheese: Softened cream cheese helps stabilize the frosting so it stays in place and doesn’t deflate.
- Kitchen staples: Butter, baking powder, and salt.
How to Make Keto Coconut Cake
- Whisk the dry ingredients: Make sure to break up any clumps in the coconut flour and sweetener.
- Add the wet ingredients: Stir in the butter, egg whites, eggs and extract. Add the liquid to thin the batter and add more if necessary.
- Bake the cake: Transfer the batter to a greased bundt pan and spread evenly, smoothing out the top. Bake 35 to 40 minutes.
- Whip the cream: Beat the cream with the sweetener and extract until it holds soft peaks. They should fall over when you lift the beaters.
- Slowly beat in the cream cheese: 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.
- Decorate the cake: Spread the frosting all over the cake and sprinkle with shredded coconut.
Tips for Success
Coconut flour can vary quite a bit and some are more absorbent than others. I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Baking for consistency, but if you use a different brand, you may need to adjust. If the batter is very thin, add another tablespoon or two of flour. Read my tutorial on baking with coconut flour for more information.
Using more egg whites rather than whole eggs allows the cake to be less yellow and more like a white cake. Save those yolks for making some Keto Creme Brûlée!
Make sure that the cream cheese is quite soft before adding it to the whipped cream, so it doesn’t clump up. Room temperature isn’t sufficient in most cases. I usually put my cream cheese in a bowl and give it 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave.
Sweetener Options:
I recommend using an erythritol-based sweetener, with no allulose in it, for the cake. Allulose can cause cakes to darken quite a bit on the outside, and they can almost taste burnt. Bundt cakes bake longer than other cake pans and you don’t want to risk it.
The frosting will work with any kind of powdered sweetener. You can also use concentrated liquid extracts like stevia or monk fruit.
More keto coconut desserts
Keto Coconut Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 3/4 cup (90 g) coconut flour
- 2/3 cup (126.67 g) granular sweetener, erythritol recommended
- 1/3 cup (36 g) unflavored whey protein powder, (or egg white protein)
- 1/3 cup (26.67 g) shredded coconut
- 2 1/2 tsp (2.5 tsp) baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, melted
- 4 large (4) egg whites
- 2 large (2) eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp (1.5 tsp) coconut extract
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (157.73 ml) water, or thin coconut milk
Frosting
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 1/3 cup (63.33 g) powdered sweetener
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, very well softened
- 1/3 cup (26.67 g) shredded coconut
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease a large bundt pan (8 to 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, egg whites, eggs, and extracts. Whisk in the liquid until well combined. Add more as needed to thin the batter to a thick but scoopable consistency.
- 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 large bowl, beat the heavy cream with the sweetener and coconut extract until it holds soft peaks
- Dollop the softened cream cheese 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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.
This keto coconut cake recipe has 6.9g of carbs and 3.1g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.8g net carbs per serving.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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looks yummy. sucks that ads are in the printed version of your recipes.
They aren’t. When you print, they aren’t there. What really sucks is how google and AI have made it harder and harder for creators such as myself to make an income.
Delicious- it was a winner at our house. Moist.
I LOVE coconut and this recipe sounds amazing! But with the new research coming out on the possible bad health effects of erythritol and the blood-brain barrier, I am now trying to steer clear of this sweetener. Would a monkfruit/allulose blend or just plain monkfruit work in this recipe?
Hello
Is it possible to make my own powdered sugar using sugar free granular sugar?
You will never manage to get it as fine as that made commercially. But as long as you are okay with that…
Could I remove the whey protein powder. I don’t have the recipe
Please read the blog post, as I discuss this. 🙂
Oh my God, I am an absolute coconut fan and this cake was outstanding. We just ate the last slice. My husband, who is not a coconut fan, loved it and said it was the best frosting he’s ever had. He said he’d love to eat a whole bowlful. He also loved the cake, so that was quite a surprise as I was expecting a bit of grumbling.
I do have a question for next time I make it. I have developed a sensitivity to erythritol and am wondering if allulose can replace the erythritol. If so, is it a one to one ratio?
In a bundt cake like this, it will get VERY dark and the outside will likely taste burnt, because it takes longer to bake. So I recommend erythritol still for the cake, but you can use allulose in the frosting.
I got the Grassfed Whey Protein Powder you had linked and so after wanting to make this cake I finally made it tonight. It came out perfectly and looked exactly like your picture! We each had a slice after dinner and it is DELICIOUS!!! I love how I can have a nice slice without sending my sugar to the moon. I bought 3 of your cook books too and am going through those now putting sticky notes on recipes I want to make. Thank you for this wonderful recipe we LOVE it!!
Thanks so much!
I LOVE your recipes!!! I would like to request that you date all your recipes with the actual first posting…I note you already add any updated versions with the date. This way, I can determine from the body of the post if there have been any different ingredients. Also, it would be great if you could add dates to the comments for the same reason: any adjustments in ingredients. Dated comments help me understand if/when new instructions or ingredients have been added since the first posting.
I know this would help when you update a recipe you would add in the dates.
Thank you for ALL you do, and for making keto able for all of your readers. Since I “found” you, I only make your recipes as I know they will turn out great (as long as I read the post and follow your directions!!!)
KK, here we are, a few years later! We are gonna go round 2!! 😁
This time no Sucralose…. My Wife thought that the cake was Awesome, except that chemical taste, so I cant help to go at it again. I will be back and let you know if that was the answer.
This was a giant hit at my “Christmas Craft Day” with my sister. Both she and my brother-in-law and my own hubby loved, loved, loved it!!! Even though my cake fell apart trying to extract it from the bundt pan, I just patched all back together and let the frosting mend it! Lovely looking and so very delicious! I will bake this again, haha, many times! Thanks for sharing!
Finally made this and it is excellent. I appreciate recipes without almond flour. Carolyn, when I see a pic on pinterest, I instantly know when it is one of yours.
Thanks so much!
Made this yesterday. No frosting yet but it doesn’t need it. So delicious!!
I love coconut and I know I will never go wrong when I make one of your recipes. This cake a delicious and the frosting was dynamite!! I will be using that recipe for the base of all my Keto frosting flavors.
I made this recipe. I did cupcakes. My oven is acting funny, but baked for 40 minutes. The aroma of coconut in the house was heavenly. The cupcakes rose nicely. After cooling, I put 1/2 in the freezer for later. This morning I frosted the remaining. I halved the frosting recipe. I also toasted the coconut to add a bit more color and flavor. Your recipes are always spot on and I never hesitate to bake keto.
This cake is tender, moist and sweet without that horrific after taste and not overly sweet. love the fluffiness of the frosting
Love coconut and this cake was easy and delicious.