Coconut flour cream cake – gluten free

This coconut cake can be baked in different shapes. Cake’s taste can be enriched by additional flavours, incorporating either dried fruits or candied peel, the option we prefer. There is only one main dry ingredient – coconut flour, with a little amount of rice flour added. Batter can be prepared with or without baking powder. It is quite soft and will raise during baking without the help of a raising agent. However, if you are not confident, add 2-3 g of baking powder to make sure the texture of the cake is airy.

Coconut cake with dried mango and apricots

Coconut cake with candied orange peel

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 coffee spoon of apple cider vinegar
• 80-100g caster sugar
• 10g vanilla sugar (optional)
• 1-2 tea spoons of vanilla extract
• 60g coconut flour
• 20g fine rice flour
• 2-3g baking powder (optional)
• 110-120g pure pouring cream 33-35% fat (quantity depends on egg size)
• 1 heaped tea spoon lemon zest (optional)

extra

• 70g dried apricots/mango or their mixture
• alternatively 30-50g candied orange peel, I used homemade
• butter to grease the tin
• sliced almonds (optional)
• icing sugar for dusting

Preparation:

• preheat oven to 160C, no fan
• grease the sheet of baking paper if using round springform tin
• grease the sides of the tin
• assemble the tin with greased baking paper on the bottom of the tin
• alternatively grease regular bread loaf tin
• chop dried fruits or candied orange peel
• place their pieces into rice flour to cover the surface
• put them through a sieve
• add coconut flour (and baking powder, if using) to rice flour

• separate eggs
• add pinch of sea salt and apple cider vinegar to egg whites
• whisk for 1-2 minutes
• gradually add all sugar and vanilla sugar
• beat on high speed until strong peaks, set aside
• in another bowl (where all the batter will be prepared in) add pouring cream to egg yolks
• mix them together until fully combined with even texture
• add the mixture of dry ingredients
• combine with a whisk

• the mixture will become quite thick within 1 minute
• add lemon zest and vanilla extract
• gradually add whisked egg whites, adding them by a serving spoon in 3-4 goes to make the mixture lighter
• add the rest of egg whites, fold them gently

• you can add pieces of dried fruits or orange peel into the batter or you can place batter into the tin in portions and spread dried fruits/orange peel pieces in layers

• use sliced almonds on the top of the cake (I used it for a round cake)
• bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, it took 55 minutes in my oven
• let the cake rest for 10-15 minutes, dust it with icing sugar
• the cake can be cut/sliced immediately, and served with either ice cream or whipped cream
• however the taste of the cake is more pronounced when it completely cools down, it is even better on the second day

If you like the taste of coconut I will disappoint you – there is no coconut flavour in this cake. It is quite unique and resembles the taste of a delicate almond cake with vanilla and lemon zest overtones. The texture of the sponge is different as well. It is dense, structurally sound, but very soft and a touch chewy at the same time. We personally like it better with orange peel, but baked in a shape of a loaf and treated as upside down cake.

The cake stays soft even after 3 days of storage in a cake tin. We love it! I have to confess, I baked this cake 5 times in quick succession after making this recipe. Pouring cream to replace the standard approach – milk and vegetable oil – is a win/win strategy in my opinion. Without the previous knowledge one will never guess that it is actually a “diet” gluten free cake, baked with a single flour – coconut flour, the unusual, specific one, without added starches and oils. Have to say, it is our latest favourite, that joins orange, almond and poppy seed cake, buckwheat crust and cottage cheese frangipane tarts and coconut flour banana cake. I plan to do more baking with pouring cream.

There is video version of this recipe, however, it is in Russian language. For those interested, auto translate into English subtitles option can be applied.