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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Paleo Coconut Cake




This cake is great for breakfast, snack or dessert. It's good at any time of the day, easy to make, it freezes very well and thaws quickly. So, what's not to love about that? If you double, or triple the batch (which I do quite often), you can portion it, stuff it in the freezer and always have some ready when you want it.

Almost every day, the boyfriend has a big square of this coconut cake in his lunchbox, as a snack. Personally, I'm not very hungry between meals, so I usually eat it for breakfast when I want a break from the eggs. A square of cake, a little whipped cream and a few berries....so good! You can whip this cake up in under 15 minutes and enjoy it for a long time!

Edit july 2016:

I found something out about this recipe. Some people who commented here found the cake too dry. I gave this recipe to a friend of mine and she had the same problem. She tried to make it three times, but every time it failed: way too dry. Finally we figured out what the problem was. It was the brand of dessicated coconut she used. I always use big bags of full fat dessicated coconut made by Renuka (like these http://www.renukagroup.com/agri_business_cocnut_products/renuka_description.php?p_id=RDC001). Because of the high fat content, it releases some fat when ground up. My cake is really never dry. So you might want to try one or two brands of dessicated coconut with this recipe.

(Check out the comment section for more advise on how to make this cake without it being too dry)

Ingredients:


2 cups of coconut flour
3 oz (90 gr) butter or coconut oil, melted
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Sweetener of choice (equal to about 4 tbsp sugar)

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Put the flour in a bowl and mix thoroughly with the baking powder, eggs and butter (or oil). Add a sweetener. The sweetener is always a little hard for me to put into amounts. You have to use very little stevia for instance, compared to honey or xylitol. Xylitol and stevia are my favorite sweeteners. I favor the taste of xylitol, but it's much more expensive (at least, the one made from birch is. I don't use the cheaper one made from corn). Stevia and xylitol paired together is a good alternative for me. I like this cake to be quite sweet, it's a cake after all, so I put in the equivalent of 4 tbsp sugar, which was about half a teaspoon of stevia and about two tablespoons of xylitol. But you might want to taste for yourself when you use your favorite sweetener (if you don't want to use a sweetener at all, you could use a mashed banana for some extra sweetnes).

Your cakemix should be a thick batter-like consistancy. Not as stiff as dough and not as runny as pancakebatter. Put it in a greased baking pan and bake for 35 minutes. Let it cool for about 15 minutes, then take out of the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack. Cut into squares or slices and eat it or freeze it.




28 comments:

  1. I have made this a few times now and it is delicious. I have also found if you add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder you get a delicious chocolate version!

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  2. Funny you mention that, because I did that yesterday, adding the cocoa powder. And a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Really good! :-)

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  3. I tried to make this today, but I think there is way too much coconut flour for the amount of wet ingredients. Is there a mistake? Please help...

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    1. I had the same problem. It was totally dry. I added two more eggs and coconut milk and it was still totally dry. That got it to a point where it was at least dough-like instead of just crumbly flour. I don't know what the problem could be. I checked over the recipe a few times to see if I missed something.

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    2. i had to use 4 eggs a stick and a half of butter and 3 CUPS of almond milk to get it to the thickness you were saying it should be. *btw it turned out amazing after i added the milk*

      are you sure its supposed to be 2 CUPS of coconut flour??

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    3. Yes, I'm sure. But as I have mentioned in the comment section here, I use a specific brand of coconut that is quite fatty itself, so I don't need to add a lot of fat of liquid.

      I think the results with this recipe really depend on the kind of dessicated coconut or coconut flour you use...

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  4. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. The recipe here is exactly how I always do it. There could be a few reasons yours didn't turn out the way mine did. Maybe the flour is different, or the eggs are smaller, something like that. My cake batter is sort of like lava: thick and slow running. If your batter is too stiff, you can always add an extra egg, a little butter/oil or a few tablespoons of coconut milk or cream, to get a thicker (but still runny) consistancy.

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  5. 2 cup of coconut flour equates to a 200g pack of dessicated coconut in the UK. I use that and grind it up with a stick blender as per one of the other posts on here. I usually add a little coconut milk too, hope this helps :-)

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  6. So, you use 2 cups of flour and only 3 eggs? I added several more eggs and extra butter, and still it didn't work. Oh, well, I'll have to try something else. :(

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  7. I'm sorry it doesn't work for you Chris. The recipe I posted here, is the exact recipe I have used and it worked fine (otherwise I wouldn't have posted it, I test everything before posting). The flour I use, is always self made, like I describe in the "home made coconut flour" post. Maybe that's the difference...otherwise I seriously don't have a clue why your cake doesn't come out like mine. Maybe adding an extra egg, a little extra fat and a few more spoons of coconut milk will help...(just an idea).

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  8. Anna, I thought you had to use a lot of eggs with coconut flour. This looks awesome and I'm gonna try it this week. Love that I don't need 8 eggs for 2 cups of coconut flour!

    Erica

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  9. Well, I'm making it this morning. Used regular coconut flour, ended up adding something like 8 eggs, more butter, and milk, to get it to that batter-like consistency. It was pretty thick. I also added about a cup of Splenda.

    It's in the oven now. Will let you know how it turns out.

    Erica

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  10. Erica, how did it turn out? I took out about a third of the "batter", added more eggs, butter and milk but the end result was really dry. I suppose it's because I used Bob's Red Mill coconut flour instead of making my own. Oh well.

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  11. I wonder if you are having a problem because you are using actual coconut flour? Try using dessicated coconut instead?

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  12. Fair Flavors, did you use dessicated coconut that you ground up, or coconut flour like Bob's?

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  13. I used the ground up dessicated coconut for all recipes that call for coconut flour. I find it less dry, cheaper and better tasting all together.

    But I did find something out about this recipe. Some people who commented here found the cake too dry. I gave this recipe to a friend of mine and she had the same problem. She tried to make it three times, but every time it failed: way too dry. Finally we figured out what the problem was. It was the brand of dessicated coconut she used. I always use big bags of full fat dessicated coconut made by Renuka (like these http://www.renukagroup.com/agri_business_cocnut_products/renuka_description.php?p_id=RDC001). Because of the high fat content, it releases some fat when ground up. My cake is really never dry. So you might want to try one or two brands of dessicated coconut with this recipe.

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  14. Thank you so much for the tips and for replying!! I am excited to try the recipe, but will need to purchase the dessicated coconut you mention. I assume Chris in Oregon will need to make the same purchase, as well, LOL! I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again!

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  15. I had the same dryness issue because of the type of coconut I used. I added 3 more eggs and about a cup of coconut milk and some extra fat as well. now I have a huge batch and it is cooking away. fingers crossed it will turn out as lovely as yours!

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  16. Hi - Does anyone know how much of this recipe to use for 2 x 9" cake pans? Trying to make a double layer cake. Thanks!

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    1. I had a rectangular tin which was about 9"-2" for this recipe. So for a square 9" tin, I would at least double the batch. And for 2 tins quadruple this recipe.

      And please, beware of the different kinds of coconute flour (or dessicated coconut to make your own flour). Because you can see there's a lot of dissapointment here :-)

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  17. I have my first batch in the oven right now. I bought shredded coconut and blended it up in my Vitamix, wihch made it pretty sticky, not like normal flour. I used it anyway (about 4 cups of shredded coconut made about 2 cups of 'flour') and when I mixed it with everything, the batter came out really thick and sticky. Does this seem right? It tasted good when I sampled the batter, so I am hopful. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. My batter is indeed quite sticky, but not as thick as dough. It is still running.

      It has been 2 days since your comment...so I'm curious: did it work for you? I hope you have a nice cake. I'm about to make one now. I use this recipe as a base and add a splash of vanilla and about 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

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  18. Yeah i am just attempting and with the ingredients it calls for and the flour i used it was still super dry so i added the same amount of oil again, another egg and almost a whole carton of almond milk and the consistency was still like mash potatoes.. in the oven as i type this.. hoping it is still edible regardless of how it turns out.

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  19. I did this with one cup coconut flour, 1/3 cup cocoa and 2/3 cup ground almonds, (and the rest of the recipe as above). It tasted REALLY nice but was not cake consistancy - I will use this recipe again but will use it to make flatter cookies instead

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  20. This recipe is not right! The cake was horrible! So dry!

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  21. Hi, I would like to make this cake but there seems to have been quite a few issues. can someone tell me measurements if i were to make it in the US using regular coconut flour? I don't see almond milk in the ingredient list, but it seems some of you added it. help? thanks!

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  22. So disappointing! Didn't realize I needed to read the comment section to explain the recipe. Update your recipe, be a responsible blogger! I just wasted expensive ingredients. :(

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    1. I never really blog anymore, but I have edited my post with the advise from the comment section. I'm sorry you've wasted ingredients and I hope you have better luck making a coconut cake in the future.

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