Sugar Free Coconut Christmas Cake
My ginger cake with toffee sauce was my fall cake stunner. It was the decadent and delicious cake above all cakes for a low sugar Halloween or Bonfire Night or Thanksgiving.
And now, I give you my Christmas equivalent.
Coconut cake. Marshmallow frosting. Light, airy, candy-floss-textured icing topping a moist, filling and gorgeously luxurious coconut cake. And all of that with no sugar in sight.
Yes, no sugar.
This cake is most definitely a celebratory treat food. I wouldn’t make it everyday. It’s certainly not going to win any health prizes. Although it has got the much lauded coconut in it, so maybe we could call it “practically a superfood”? 🙂 Ok, maybe that’s stretching it a bit…
But still, yum.
And so pretty!
You can keep it simple with the frosting and some desiccated coconut, you could make yourself a snow scene by getting hold of a small Christmas tree cake mould like I did (£1 in a charity shop, but you could get this one for just a few pounds and make a mini forest of cakes!), or you could go all out with the kids and create a winter wonderland scene with fresh and dried fruit, my sugar free marshmallows, cacao nibs, a few little sprinkles or even non-edible decorations if you like. We had a go with what we had on hand:
Personally I prefer the simple, elegant look. It looks and tastes like you’ve spent the whole day in the kitchen, but takes an hour for the cake and 15 mins for the frosting and keeping it simple means little time spent decorating.
Whichever way you choose to decorate it, I hope you will give this cake a go this Christmas. Make a double batch to make it large and share-able, and bring it along to family gatherings. Then after everyone has had a slice or six, let them in on the little secret that it is sugar free. And watch the jaws drop. Because…perfect marshmallow frosting and delicious cake without sugar? Say whaaaat?
Ok, enough chit chat. Time for the recipe. My Christmas gift to you. You’re welcome. 🙂
A moist, filling coconut cake topped with marshmallow frosting. All sugar free, and perfect for Christmas!
- 225 g (2 sticks) butter, soft
- 150 g (3/4 cup) xylitol*
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
- 100 g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
- 300 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk (or coconut cream)
- 2 medium egg whites
- 100 g (1/2 cup) xylitol
- pinch salt (about 1/2 tsp)
- 1 tsp sugar free vanilla extract
- squeeze fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 tsp)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Grease a 23cm cake tin** and line the base with baking paper.
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Cream the butter and xylitol until pale and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs, a little at a time, beating each time until all the egg has disappeared before adding more. If the mixture starts to “curdle”, add a tablespoon or two of the already weighed out flour and mix in well.
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Fold in the desiccated coconut, flour, baking powder and coconut cream with a spatula or wooden spoon until mixture is just smooth and the flecks of flour have all disappeared.
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Spoon the batter into the prepared tin** (see notes) and bake for 50 mins - 1 hour, or until lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
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Allow to cool completely, while you make the frosting by whisking the ingredients together in a bowl. Place the bowl over a double boiler (bain marie) by simmering just a small amount of water in a pan and placing the bowl with the egg mixture over it without it touching the water. Whisk over the pan of water until the temperature reaches 120F/50C, then take off the heat and whisk to stiff peaks.
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Once the cake is completely cool, frost and decorate, if desired, with desiccated coconut and/or sugar free marshmallows stacked to make snowmen, non-edible Christmas decorations or low sugar gingerbread cookies in Christmas shapes.
*I buy my xylitol here.
**to make the Christmas tree shaped cake to top my main cake, I greased both my cake tin and Christmas tree mould, then filled my Christmas tree mould about 2/3 of the way with the cake batter and spooned the rest of the batter into the main cake tin. To make a bigger, more impressive cake (or one for bigger family gatherings), I recommend doubling the recipe so you still have a large main cake as well as the Christmas tree one to top it. If you do this, using 2-3 sandwich tins will make cooking quicker (using one deep tin will mean you need to increase cooking time), and then I recommend making a double batch of the frosting and adding some (or some whipped coconut cream sweetened with xylitol or stevia) in between the cakes to make a layer cake.
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