Gluten-Free Coconut Loaf

A light and soft coconut loaf with a wonderful toasted coconut icing

I have been experimenting with a few gluten-free recipes with mixed success. This gluten-free coconut loaf is one of the successes. It has all the coconut I could possibly cram into a cake – coconut flour, coconut sugar, coconut oil, desiccated coconut, coconut milk.

Coconut flour is extremely tricky to work with and can really produce a dry cake. I had to test this recipe a few times to get it to a texture which is light but not dry. What really takes the loaf over the top however, is the toasted coconut frosting on the top. The frosting is made with cream cheese, so is not overly sweet and the toasted coconut adds a wonderful depth of flavour beyond the usual cream cheese frosting.

Gluten-free baking really is not as intimidating as I thought it was initially, and I am quite enjoying this journey. I hope you guys are enjoying some of the gluten-free recipes.

If you make this recipe, please share it with me by tagging me on Instagram @adventureswithsugar or on Facebook at Adventures with Sugar.

FOR THE GLUTEN-FREE COCONUT LOAF

• 180g salted butter
• 60g coconut oil
• 250g coconut sugar
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 70g desiccated coconut
• 90g coconut flour
• 90g almond flour
• 125ml coconut milk

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Butter a 900g loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter, oil and coconut sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla essence and continue to mix until well combined.
4. Add in the desiccated coconut, coconut flour and almond flour and mix to combine.
5. Lastly, add in the coconut milk and mix.
6. Bake for 60 – 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. If the cake is browning too quickly on the top place some foil over the top to minimize the browning.

FOR THE TOASTED COCONUT ICING

• 300g cream cheese
• 150g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 70g toasted desiccated coconut
• toasted coconut flakes, for garnishing

METHOD

1. To toast the desiccated coconut, place on a pan on medium-low heat. The coconut can turn brown very quickly, so keep a close eye on it.
2. Beat the cream these until well whipped, about 4 minutes.
3. Then add in the icing sugar and vanilla essence and continue to whip.
4. Finally, fold in the desiccated coconut.
5. Use the icing to frost the cool coconut loaf.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com