You look like you could use a slice of coconut cake…
A big slice of soft coconut cake… for breakfast!
Yes, coconut cake for breakfast.
Cake so soft and crumbly and sweet, bursting with juicy pineapple and luxurious vanilla… You’ll feel as if you went to bed and woke up in paradise, and then you won’t want breakfast to end!
Above, glazed with coconut milk and Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar.
Brunch time!
This year, I celebrated Easter twice. Emily’s parents drove up on Saturday morning, and she and I hosted a fancy Easter brunch. (Emily is my friend with whom I share a house. I call her my roommate, but luckily we have our own rooms!)
And Emily made mimosas, as well as some non-vegan foods. It was quite a big mess to clean up afterwards. So many dishes…
Her parents loved the coconut cake and had two slices each, even though there was a ton of other food!
I was originally calling it coconut bread because it’s cooked in a loaf pan, but they said the recipe was so soft and cakey that it was more like a breakfast cake than a bread.
Coconut Breakfast Cake
(makes 1 large loaf)
- 1 cup spelt or white flour (or this: gluten-free version)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp Ener-g or 2 tbsp ground flax (If you must, you can omit. The loaf just won’t rise as much)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar, unrefined if desired, or xylitol
- 1/8 tsp uncut stevia OR 1/4 cup more sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240g) crushed pineapple, drained (You can sub ripe banana)
- 1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk (see nutrition link below, for a lower-fat option)
- optional ingredients: chopped macadamia nuts or walnuts, shredded coconut, rum extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine dry and stir well. Mix dry into wet, but don’t overmix. Pour into a greased or sprayed loaf pan, and cook for 35-38 minutes. Let cool at least ten minutes before going around the sides with a knife and removing from loaf pan. As mentioned above, I used a simple glaze of the sugar-free powdered sugar mixed with a little leftover coconut milk. But my absolute favorite way to eat this recipe is spread with coconut butter! Store very loosely covered overnight, or cover with saran wrap and fridge for a few days. This cake/loaf tastes even better the longer it sits, because it keeps getting sweeter! This recipe freezes well.
Have you ever been to Hawaii?
Or any tropical location? We visited Hawaii a lot when I was little, because it was a good connecting point between Japan (where we lived) and the US. My other favorite tropical location is Thailand… one of the best things about these tropical locations is the plethora of tropical fruits, especially coconut! Side note: I also have a tab just for coconut recipes:
Link Of The Day:
Do you have any other recipes that use coconut milk? I’m looking for ideas to use the rest of the can up, but I haven’t found any yet.
Definitely :).
Any of the ice cream recipes or milkshakes are especially good for it: https://lett-trim.today/chocolate-covered-recipes/snackity-snacks/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> But really, any time one of my recipes calls for milk of choice you can use coconut milk :).
Thanks! I’m gonna have to get more coconut milk for the ice cream etc. This was so fabulous I ended up making more loaves today. I made one pumpkin and one with mixed berries.
Any chance you’ll share what you used for the double chocolate one you mentioned?
It’s probably going in my cookbook. 🙂
But otherwise, I’ll definitely post it because it’s one of my favorite recipes!
This bread is DELICIOUS, and I made a “frosting” of coconut butter and leftover pineapple. Ohhhhh m’gosh. And to answer the question, I loved Maui, but favorite tropical destination is Dominican Republic
Oh dear… I am for sure going to have to try your frosting idea! 🙂
Hi Katie! I recently discovered your site and fallen in love with it. I’ve been living gluten free and mostly vegetarian for 5 years now and your recipes are fantastic. I had a quick question about the pineapple cake. I make my own coconut milk and as a result, have a ton of leftover coconut flour. Do you think it would possible to substitute this flour for the spelt listed in the recipe? I haven’t baked with it much yet but I understand its a very thirsty flour and would appreciate any suggestions before I start experiment.
Cheers! 🙂
Katie, I’m still waitin’ on that yeast-free cinnamon roll recipe! 🙂
I think, after like ten experiments, I got a good recipe I’m excited to post… but I’m sorry to say it does have yeast now. I decided to add the yeast because it just didn’t taste cinnamon roll-y enough without it 🙁
YES! I love it there ! I’m actually going back this summer and can’t wait!!!!
Katie-
I love love love your blog. This week I am home for spring break and I have made one of your recipes every day. You do such a wonderful job!! Maybe you’d like my blog too. I would feel so honored if you checked it out sometimes! I’m struggling because I feel like no one ever reads my posts. Anyways good job again, you are amazing!!
I will definitely check it out! 🙂
Oh wow, yum. I will definitely be making this! I think I’ll try it with fresh pineapple though since I live in Hawaii! Come visit soon:)
This was awesome! I’ve made it twice now! Want to try again with your banana idea you listed in the comments. Thanks CCK!
I have currently been living in Saint Kitts for 2 years, and CANNOT wait to move back to the US. Island living is over-rated. I guess I’d enjoy it if I wasn’t here for school.
I just made a gluten free version — replace the flour in the recipe with 3/4 cup of Sorghum flour and 1/4 cup arrowroot starch. I also added about 1/4 cup of applesauce and used between 1/3 and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. It was delicious!
mmmm just made this it was DELICIOUS!! I subbed a few things, so here’s what I did in case people are wondering if it will work (because it DOES!)
Used all ingredients originally written except:
– Just used sugar
– Subbed ripe banana for pineapple
– Subbed soy milk for coconut
– Added 1 T coconut oil
And cooked in muffin-form.
For the glaze, I did what Katie said and just mixed powdered sugar and soy milk, and then added some shredded coconut on each muffin. These things are ADDICTIVE!
Thanks for testing them in muffin form! Another commenter and I had been wondering if it would work or stay gooey. I’m really glad to know it works :).
I made this yesterday and it was AMAZING. I think next time I’ll try to make it in a muffin tin to try to get 8 servings out of it because the way I cut it I ended up with 8 servings. I’m not vegan so I used two eggs, and used turbinado sugar and stevia in the raw for the sweeteners called for and it was amazing! As I still have half a container of coconut milk I sort of want to make another one BUT I’ll actually be taking off Friday on an cruise of the western Caribbean, which is in keeping with your theme of “some place tropical” have yet to make it to Hawaii, but I was on a big explore Europe kick when I lived in NC, Now I’m in Upstate NY and ready to explore warmer locations! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Sooo, because I am not great at following directions I used pineapple chunks instead of crushed. I had a fresh pineapple and just didn’t think to blend it up, so I made little chunks instead. It was still good and tasted very tropical! I also added macadamia nuts and made it gluten free. I did two mini loaves and in, let’s see, an hour? One entire loaf is gone (between me and my son). YUM!
OK–I made a GF version.
Here’s what I did:
Instead of 1 cup wheat/spelt flour I used:
1/2 cup white rice flour (62g)
1/4 cup tapioca starch (31g)
1/4 cup potato starch (not flour) (34g)
1 tsp xantham gum
Other than that, I kept the recipe just like you said, which you know is not my usual m.o.–I’m an incorrigible recipe tweaker! Oh but I didn’t put any glaze one.
The reaction: it came out moist, chewy, soft and delectable. Most importantly, my husband, who doesn’t usually like gf and sugar free recipes (he’s a total omnivore and gluten and sugar lover) _loved_ it! I’ve never had pineapple coconut cake before, but he has, and he said this might be the best he’s ever had. He’s already eaten four pieces of it! I’ve had a piece too, and liked it a lot.
So, major success, as judged by the most ‘healthy-recipe-resistant’ man I know!
Katie, would you be willing to crunch the numbers for the nutritional stats with the ingredients I listed? I don’t think they’ll be very different than with the wheat flour, but I’d love to know what they are. I don’t have calorie counting software (is there any you recommend?)
thanks,
Ela
Thank you so much for posting this! A lot of people ask about gf versions of some of the recipes I post, so I’m really happy to have a tried-and-true recipe to show them. I’ll definitely point anyone who asks to your recipe .
As for nutritional info, I use a free website: spark recipe calculator. Hope that helps!
Wonder what would happen if I sub with almond or coconut flour?
I made this for Easter using only coconut flour as a substitute for the white flour and the texture was a bit off. It still tasted good, but was really crumbly and had a VERY slight grittiness to it. It still got eaten, but I think if you substitute the flour you need to do it with a blend like Ela suggests above & not just straight coconut flour.
I love this recipe. I love the pineapple version and my daughter the banana version.
My heart sank when I couldn’t find the gluten-free version (the link isn’t working, at wasn’t for me today). I’m so excited I found it after much searching. I’ll be baking both versions for christmas breakfast.
Thanks Katie and Ella!
Katie,
If I’m going to sub in ripe banana – would it just be one ripe banana? Or should I mash up banana and measure exactly one cup out?
Thanks!
Measure 1 cup, or 240g if you have a food scale :).
Thanks Katie!
P.S. After dinner tonight my boyfriend asked where the cookie pie was – he was very disappointed when I told him I hadn’t made any today!