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    You are here: Home » cake » Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake w/ Vanilla Coconut Oil Frosting

    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake w/ Vanilla Coconut Oil Frosting

    December 15, 2016

    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake Recipe - VeganFamilyReipes.com #dairyfree #coconut oil
    Coconut and chocolate is one of my favorite combos. Even better if those two ingredients are in the form of cake. This Coconut Chocolate Cake took me a while to perfect but it was worth it.

    The chocolate cake is rich, moist, and there is no telling that it is at all vegan. I've had numerous non-vegan eat this cake without any complaints or going..."eeeeehhhhwww this must be vegan, right?"

    The first time I made only the chocolate cake (the coconut part comes later), I could hardly wait for it to cool. It smelled rich like a brownie but it was fluffy and airy the way a cake should be. My boys and I picked at the cake so much that when it came time to frosting it....well we didn't frost it because there is no point in frosting just a couple of crumbs.

    Second time around, I pulled the cake out of the oven to cool and ran out of the house. That was the only way I knew the cake would be safe.

    When I came back inside, the whole house smelled of chocolate. It was even harder to control myself. However, I somehow managed to (don't ask me how, I still don't know) whip up a creamy vanilla coconut oil frosting and spread it around the cake and top it off with toasted coconut flakes.

    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake Recipe - VeganFamilyReipes.com #dairyfree #coconut oil
    My boys pounced on it. I was able to just take a couple of pictures. The boys were behind me the whole time, jumping up and down, asking me every ten seconds when they can have a slice. I really wish I would have been able to take more pictures to truly show all my readers how good this cake really is.

    However, then that would have made me the "WORST mom EVER!"

    That's like someone making a fresh pot of coffee in my kitchen and then telling me I have to wait half the day to have some. That would be hell. Just horrible. I would not be able to deal with that. So just imagine how my kids felt.

    Now you'll just have to make this dreamy Coconut Chocolate Cake and take some pictures. Then share them with me on Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram (use #VeganFamilyRecipes so I can find you).

    Enjoy!
    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake Recipe - VeganFamilyReipes.com #dairyfree #coconut oil

    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake Recipe - VeganFamilyReipes.com #dairyfree #coconut oil
    4.88 from 8 votes
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    Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake w/ Vanilla Coconut Oil Frosting

    Moist and chocolately Vegan Coconut Chocolate Cake with a Vanilla Coconut Oil Frosting and topped with toasted coconut flakes!

    Course Dessert
    Cuisine dairy-free, Easy, Eggless, vegan, vegetarian
    Cook Time 25 minutes
    Total Time 25 minutes
    Makes 2 9" Cakes
    Calories 296 kcal
    Author Vanessa @ VeganFamilyRecipes.com

    Ingredients

    Chocolate Cake

    • 2 cups. Flour , sifted ( I used Spelt flour)
    • 1 cup Sugar (I used Sucanat)
    • ¾ cup Cacao
    • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
    • 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
    • 1 teaspoon Salt
    • 2 cups Non-dairy Milk I used almond
    • ½ cup melted Coconut Oil
    • 1 Banana puréed
    • 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
    • ¼ cup Hot Water

    Vanilla Coconut Oil Frosting

    • ½ cup Coconut Oil not melted!
    • 3 cups Vegan Powdered Sugar or more if needed
    • Pinch Salt
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

    Extras

    • 1 cup or more of toasted shredded Coconut or Coconut Flakes can also be untoasted

    Instructions

    1. Heat oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease and flour two 7 inch springforms.
    2. Add all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cacao, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a large mixing bowl and mix together. Add all wet ingredients (milk, coconut oil, banana, vanilla, and water) to the bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon.
    3. Divide dough evenly between the two springforms and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
    4. While the oven is in the oven, make your coconut oil frosting. Simply cream together all ingredients adding more powdered sugar if needed until desired consistency is reached.
    5. Remove cake from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting with coconut oil frosting and decorating with toasted coconut flakes.

    If you're looking for a different type of cake/pie to make for the Holidays instead. Try one of these:

    Raw Vegan GF Paleo Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pie Recipe - Vegan Family Recipes  Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Recipe - Vegan Family Recipes  Chocolate Olive Oil Cake Recipe - Vegan Family Recipes

    More Vegan Cake Recipes

    • Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake
    • Gluten-free & Vegan Carrot Cake w/ Icing
    • Blueberry Cranberry Pie
    • Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pie (V,GF,P)
    Awesome Vegan Soups Cookbook - Vegan Family Recipes - Vanessa Croessmann

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

      December 15, 2016 at 10:09 pm

      How amazingly perfect is this cake!!! Face plant!!! <3

      Reply
    2. Dianne's Vegan Kitchen says

      December 16, 2016 at 2:18 am

      I'm totally drooling over these photos! This cake looks heavenly!

      Reply
    3. Linda @ Veganosity says

      December 16, 2016 at 11:02 pm

      Drooling over here! Chocolate and coconut are one of my favorite dessert combinations. I could eat that entire beauty by myself.

      Reply
    4. Sophia | Veggies Don't Bite says

      December 17, 2016 at 7:58 am

      What a gorgeous cake!! It looks perfect and so pretty. I'd have to run out of the house too!

      Reply
    5. Mel |avirtualvegan.com says

      December 17, 2016 at 8:19 pm

      Chocolate and coconut cake??? That's the stuff dreams are made of! It looks awesome and I could very easily eat far too much of it. Definitely trying this one!

      Reply
    6. Alisa Fleming says

      December 18, 2016 at 12:21 am

      Coconut is used in so many dairy-free recipes, that I love it when one actually "owns" the coconut! This looks like sweet perfection to me - like a Mounds bar in cake format!

      Reply
    7. Melissa | Vegan Huggs says

      December 18, 2016 at 5:48 pm

      Chocolate & coconut are two of my favorite flavors together, too! This cake looks rich, moist, decadent & super fluffy. Seriously a dream cake! Boy, vegans have it really hard ;)

      Reply
    8. Hauke Fox says

      December 18, 2016 at 9:13 pm

      OMG OMG what a beauty!! Wow, I'm all up for this one even though I already had four slices of cake today. It just looks too scrumptious :D

      Reply
    9. Sarah says

      December 19, 2016 at 7:50 am

      Wow! This cake really does look like perfection! I totally hear you on trying to restrain yourself long enough to get pictures. My 2 boys also clamor behind me while I take pictures, begging for bites! Just last week I shared a picture of my 2 year old actually sitting on my photo board—they get right into the middle of things! Can't wait to try this and share it with my kiddos :)

      Reply
    10. Stella - The Smoothie Vegetarians says

      December 28, 2016 at 2:18 pm

      This looks so good, I can not wait to try it! I love the idea of having a coconut oil frosting!

      Reply
    11. Natalie Tamara @thetofudiaries says

      December 29, 2016 at 10:38 am

      What an absolutely beautiful showstopper of a cake! I know exactly what you mean about different egg replacements - it can be a minefield! This cake is going straight on my "to try" list (better pin it for later!).

      Reply
    12. Nadia says

      December 30, 2016 at 11:45 am

      This looks amazing! I love chocolate and coconut. Bounty bars are one of my favourite chocolate bars :D

      Reply
    13. Dia says

      January 28, 2017 at 6:42 am

      Would you say the banana taste is pretty detectable? Or is the chocolate taste Moore overpowering?

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        January 28, 2017 at 9:29 am

        Hi Dia, I don't taste the banana at all in this cake. I don't really like bananas so I'm fairly sensitive to banana tasting desserts :)

        Reply
    14. Maria says

      February 11, 2017 at 4:07 am

      I can't wait to make it this weekend. It looks delicious! Are you using refined or unrefined coconut oil?

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        February 11, 2017 at 2:37 pm

        Hi Maria, I used unrefined coconut oil for this cake :)

        Reply
    15. Mandy says

      March 02, 2017 at 7:12 am

      Hi! I'm trying to make this cake for a vegan friend's B-day, but I'm having trouble with the frosting. It kind of just crumbled and didn't whip into frosting... am I doing something wrong? Please let me know soon if you can and thanks!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        March 02, 2017 at 7:54 am

        Hi Mandy, sometimes if the coconut oil is too hard or cold it will just crumble. Try heating the coconut oil just slightly. A few seconds in the microwave will do for it to soften slightly. If the coconut oil melts it won't work for the frosting. Hope that helps :)

        Reply
      • Perdy says

        May 02, 2018 at 7:40 pm

        Hi all!

        I just made this cake which is my first attempt at vegan baking - maybe I didn’t convert correctly for the cups (I’m UK based) but I forgot the hot water too - the sponge I fear is about to break apart but is the best Rosen cake I’ve ever seen beautiful domes... the frosting I doubled the coconut oil and added some almond milk and beat like crazy - I softened the coconut too. FINGERS CROSSED

        Reply
    16. Jan says

      March 06, 2017 at 2:54 pm

      Hurray! This is a great, simple recipe. Yummy 🙂

      Reply
    17. Nicole says

      March 15, 2017 at 8:45 pm

      Can this recipe be used for cupcakes?

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        March 23, 2017 at 5:20 pm

        Hi Nicole, I haven't tried turning this into cupcakes. But I don't see why not.

        Reply
    18. Maija says

      April 26, 2017 at 4:47 pm

      Everyone's experience is different. I'm not sure what "fluffy and airy' means to you, but it was heavy and dense here. The five year old at the table took a bite and asked if she had to eat it. Someone asked if there was banana in it; then they all agreed that it tasted like chocolate banana bread. I'm glad I tried it... but I'll never make it again. Thanks anyway.

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        May 09, 2017 at 8:37 pm

        Hi Maija, Sorry to hear about your experience with this recipe. I've made it numerous times and have never had an issue of it being heavy or dense. Cakes often turn out dense when the flour's gluten has over developed which is usually caused by over mixing the dough or adding too much flour. If the cake you made was dense then the banana flavor would have been more prominent and concentrated. My banana-hating friend loves this cake and has never complained of a strong banana taste. Either way, I'm sad to hear that it didn't turn out for you. I'll remake this this weekend and see if my directions are clear throughout the recipe that might have caused an error. Thanks!

        Reply
    19. Sofia says

      May 15, 2017 at 3:39 am

      This was amazing! No one believed me when I said it was vegan :)

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        May 15, 2017 at 10:05 pm

        Thanks, Sofia! I'm so happy you liked it! It's one of our favorites and people are always surprised to hear it's vegan ;)

        Reply
    20. Angelika says

      June 08, 2017 at 2:30 am

      How on earth did the frosting work?? I re-made it twice and both times it turned out crumbly and not combining at all. I made sure the coconut oil was not melted but was super soft (nearly melted cause its summer) and it was a disaster. Can you please help me out and explain what's going on? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        June 12, 2017 at 1:50 pm

        Hi Angelika, It seems like the coconut oil you were using just wasn't the right consistency. You want it to be similar to slightly softened butter to make this coconut oil frosting. If it's too warm for the coconut oil then I would keep it in the fridge for a bit for it harden. Also, do you know what kind of coconut oil you were using? I find that cold pressed, unrefined is best. If the coconut oil is too chunky, you can try mashing it with a fork first. My lemon loaf recipe -> http://www.veganfamilyrecipes.com/vegan-lemon-loaf-cake/ has step by step pictures for making a similar lemon coconut oil frosting. That might help you see the consistency, I was working with. Hope that helps!

        Reply
    21. Lauren says

      June 22, 2017 at 6:55 pm

      Hey i was wondering if you could make this with regular 8 inch cake pans or if you need to use springform pans? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        July 05, 2017 at 4:52 pm

        Hi Lauren, you can definitely use regular 8 inch pans. Just watch the bake time as it will be shorter since you're not using 7 inch ones.

        Reply
    22. Xandria says

      April 10, 2018 at 3:36 pm

      Hi! Thanks for the great recipe! I'd like to use this recipe for a 2-layer half sheet cake, what about the recipe should I change? Or could I just double or triple the batch?

      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Vanessa Croessmann says

        November 11, 2018 at 2:05 pm

        Hi Xandria, doubling or tripling any baking recipe can be tricky. I'd love to tell you exactly what to change to make this recipe work correctly for a 2 layer half sheet cake but it may or may not work out if I haven't tried it myself. It's probably best to follow a recipe that works for precisely the size cake you need. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

        Reply
    23. Debbie says

      April 09, 2022 at 7:59 pm

      My daughter is vegan and I made this cake for a family gathering. She doesn’t care for coconut, so I made a vegan buttercream icing instead. This cake is absolutely delicious and was a hit with everyone! When I told them it was vegan, they were shocked! It’s unbelievably chocolatey, rich, light and fluffy and is my go-to recipe for chocolate cake now. I had to print out copies of the recipe for people to take home.

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Vanessa! Mom of 3, a financial planner, recipe developer, photographer, & author of Awesome Vegan Soups. I'm here to share with you my take on family food and show you just how delicious plant-based cooking and baking can be.

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