Flourless Almond & Coconut Cake (Gluten Free)

A Gluten Free Flourless Almond and Coconut Cake that’s moist, tender and incredibly delicious. It takes just few minutes to whip up this recipe, best for busy days.

I love this cake, the texture of this cake is ethereal – it’s so moist and buttery with the rich flavor from the almonds and coconut. Its more like the Arabic dessert, Basbousa. All those people who are allergic to gluten (like me), this recipe is for you.

My sister is the one who introduced this cake into our lives. There was a time, about 1 year back when me and my brother were extremely allergic to gluten and dairy. So we had to cut down these two culprits for one whole month. That was one depressing month for me. My sister used to try out different gluten-free recipes and when we visited her house she served this to us and we were too delighted after having a little piece of awesomeness. Even though it had dairy in it, I didn’t care. I ate a whole lot of this cake that day.

This recipe originally belongs to Belinda Jeffery, who blogs at belindajeffery.com. You guys should check out her space, she has got some amazing collection of recipes. I can’t thank her enough for this lovely recipe. I make this cake very often at home, please do try this out. It will be a regular at your place too.

Flourless Almond & Coconut Cake

Ingredients
  

  • 180 Grams Almond Powder/Almond Flour
  • 60 Grams Freshly grated coconut/ dessicated coconut
  • ¼ Tsp Salt
  • 250 Grams Caster sugar
  • 4 Eggs Each egg 60 grams
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
  • 150 Grams Unsalted Butter Melted and cooled
  • 2 Tbsp Almond flakes
  • Icing sugar for garnish Optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 180C.
  • Butter a 23-24cm springform cake tray and line the base and sides with buttered baking paper. Or butter the base and sides well and dust with flour and keep aside.
  • In a bowl add almond powder, coconut, salt and sugar and stir well with a whisk until combined well.
  • In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla essence until properly mixed.
  • Then add in the cooled butter and mix till it is completely incorporated.
  • Pour the butter mixture into the almond mix and stir them together. 
  • Pour this into the prepared baking pan and spread it out evenly.
  • Scatter the almond flakes on top.
  • Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back slowly when you press it gently.
  • Cool the cake inside the tin on a wire rack.
  • Once the cake gets cooled, invert it onto the rack, remove the baking paper and invert it again onto the serving plate. Sprinkle icing sugar on top if desired.

Notes

  • This cake freezes very well. You just have to thaw or microwave it when you need it.
  • It stays in the fridge fresh for a week. You just have to warm it or bring it to room temperature just before eating it.
  • I like to eat this cake warm.
  • Instead of almond flakes you can use pistachio flakes too.
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124 thoughts on “Flourless Almond & Coconut Cake (Gluten Free)

    1. Almond powder will be available in most supermarkets Don. Do check in the nuts section, they’ll sell it loose as well as ready packed and sealed.

  1. When you say Almond Flakes are you talking about a cereal similar to Frosted Flakes? Or is this like Almond Flour? Looks Amazing! I’m excited to try it.

  2. This looks great and I would love to try it.
    How can I convert to US measurements
    Fahrenheit, cups, etc?
    Thanks

    1. Hi Cindy,
      Download the app “KitchenPro” I use it to convert recipes all the time. It’s been so useful…and its free!

  3. Thank you for the recipe, this cake is awesome! Everyone loved it. Not dry at all. So easy to make as well.

  4. If I was to use salted butter but also leave out the salt, do you think that would work out OK?
    Looking forward to making this and I am Gluten Intolerant.

  5. This recipe is delicious! I can’t eat sugar so substituted swerve in place of the sugar. It makes for a perfect flourless and sugarless treat! It is a family favorite now! Thank you!

  6. Almond and coconut is a dangerous combination! This was so delicious and seemed to disappear so quickly. Will definitely be making it again!

  7. Any suggestions for replacing the butter. Maybe palm shortening? Both of my kids can’t have dairy

    1. Hey Kristine,
      I have not used palm shortening ever before. I’m sorry, so I don’t have any idea how it works. If you do try it that way, please do let me know how it turned out. 🙂

  8. I’m not a baker but this sounded so good and easy I had to do it. After buying a cake tin plus all other ingredients I started off and as you said it is very easy to make and it came out perfectly moist and yummy! The only difference I made was cooking it for 30 mins as opposed to 40 mins. EVERYONE loved it!! Thank you very much!

    1. I want to try your recipe. I use sweetened coconut flakes instead of dessicated coconut?If so,do I need to reduce the amount of castors n how much?Thanks in advance

    1. Hey Salwa,
      Yes, you can make your own almond flour by grinding raw or blanched (skin removed) almonds. Just make sure that you only pulse it for few seconds. If you grind for long, the nuts will start releasing oil. After pulsing, sift the flour to remove any chunks of almond.

  9. I wonder if you could substitute the eggs with Aquafaba? Has any of you vegans out there found replacements for the eggs and butter?

  10. Lovely cake, moist and sweet. I will try reducing the sugar next time. Definitely will be making this over and over again. Thanks very much for sharing.

  11. Made this cake to bring to a get together. Wow, it wowed everyone. Delicious & so moist.
    I did add 1tsp of almond extract ti the mix.
    This one will definitely be on my special cake list. *****

  12. This is a 5 star recipe for sure, & I am going to tell you why. First of all, there are no “odd” ingredients one needs to go buy. You likely have all you need in your house, & if you don’t, the ingredients aren’t so obscure that you will only use them once and never again. The recipe is simple to make and easy to follow. The finished product tasted great and was nice enough to use as a birthday cake and so I was easily able to write happy birthday on it with a Bailey’s Irish buttercream frosting. Yummy! Although I have not froze it, I can tell that it would freeze nicely.
    The only problem I had was it made a mess in my oven. I lined the spring form pan with one sheet of parchment on the bottom and a thin long piece around the sides. Although the cake turned out beautifully, the excess butter, as it heated in the oven dripped and made a smoky sticky mess. So next time I would either line a baking sheet with foil to catch the drips or use one complete piece of parchment in the bottom. I guess you could also use another type of baking dish that doesn’t allow for seepage. I wonder if using one piece of parchment in the bottom would still form a nice even round edge? Anyway, this was a really great recipe, so thanks so much for posting it!

    1. Thank you so much Jennifer. So glad that you enjoyed it. Appreciate the time you took to send the feedback. 🙂 I had used one parchment paper to line the cake tin bottom and sides and I did get a nice even round edge. 🙂

  13. I just made this with almond meal and the batter was quite thick!! Last time I used almond flour but I forgot – I hope it turns out ok

  14. Do you have this recipe converted to cups and oz. and temperature.
    It sounds yummy just having a hard time converting.
    Thank you

    1. Hey Janet
      So sorry for replying late. Here is the converted measurements
      6.3 oz almond powder
      2 oz freshly coconut grated or desiccated coconut
      1/4 tsp salt
      8.8 oz caster sugar
      4 eggs (each egg 2 oz)
      1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
      6.1 oz unsalted butter, melted and cooled
      2 tbsp almond flakes
      icing sugar (optional)

  15. I’m gluten free so it was a treat something that tasted this good. Amazing. I’m making this for a women’s retreat this weekend. Could I make this in a 13×9 in. cake pan? Or what size would you recommend. Just think I could get more servings out of it. If not I’ll just freeze and cut and hopefully get plenty of slices out of it. Thanks for sharing this delicious cake.

    1. Hey Janet. Sorry for replying so late. If you bake this in a 13 by 9 inch pan, the cake would turn out to be very thin. You can make it in 8*8*1 1/2 inch square pan or in 11*7*2 inches rectangular pan. I used a 9 inch round pan. Hope this helps. 🙂

  16. This looks amazing! I’d like to substitute the sugar with xylitol, but not sure if I should adjust the liquids?

  17. Oh mama Mia! It came out deeeeelish! I used zest and juice from one lemon and also mixed one handful of fresh blueberries with some coconut flour and one teaspoon of almond extract. Folded gently the blueberries into the mixture and it came out fabulous. Thank you so much for a great recipe. Mary

  18. I would also love the conversion to cups or tablespoons. I so want to try this recipe..Big fan of you page.

  19. My grandmother has a signature coconut cake she added to several printed cookbooks over the years, and since I’ve gone GF, I haven’t been able to find anything like her recipe. Thank you for sharing this, I’ll have to see how it compares!

    1. Can I use sweetened shredded Coconut instead of dessicated coconut.?In that case do I need the change the the measurement of castor sugar and how much?Thanks in advance

  20. I just made this but with a couple of changes because I can’t leave recipes alone!
    I only had about 60g of almond flour, but happened to have coconut flour so substituted that.
    And I always reduce the amount of sugar in baking as I have developed a taste for less sweet sweets! It sometimes feels like a bit of an experiment because I’m never quite sure how it’ll turn out, but I used 150g of sugar, and it worked just fine.
    Finally, I had a little leftover chocolate buttercream icing, so some of the first pieces of cake got a little of that spread on top!
    It’s a great recipe and I’ll definitely use it again for when I have GF friends visiting.

  21. This recipe was delicious. I added one Tablespoon of almond extract. It was so moist and almondy! It reminded me of the yummy almond filling in an almond danish or croissant.

    1. If you are taking only 2 eggs, take half of all the other ingredients too. This cake doesn’t require baking soda or powder. It is a moist, dense cake.

  22. Delicious. I changed butter to coconut oil and less sugar 180g, still a bit sweet to me. Thanks for sharing great recipe Sadia.

  23. Thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve made it so many times now and it’s always a hit. It’s so quick and easy to make and always turns out perfectly. I find with so many cake recipes they require a lot of time and the outcome can be a hit and miss. Not with this one! Minimum time and effort, maximum result. Love it.

  24. Thanks Andrea…I can’t have sugar right now either, so I was wondering about subbing! Will definitely try this recipe!

  25. I never eat cakes but fell in love with this one, in fact I purchased a pan just to make it – loved it. I’ve made several variations so far reducing the butter and sugar they all taste great but the beautiful golden crust goes away after you reduce the butter to below 120g but still tastes great and looks ok if you sprinkle caster sugar.

  26. Hi Kristine. I tried making this today and it seems the eggs separated from the rest and was at the bottom of the cake. The top was edible and delicious but I don’t know what happened with the eggs. Followed directions to the T. Any suggestions?

  27. Recipe looks great and I’d try it but the measurements are not in cups and measuring spoons, so I guess I’ll have to do without. So sad.

  28. Hi Sadia! This cake sounds amazing…can’t wait to try it. By any chance, would you have the nutritional information for this recipe? Thank you!

  29. Try coconut oil if you wish to emphasize the coconut flavor or a neutral mild vegetable oil such as canola, as this cake doesn’t get it’s main flavor from butter using oil shouldn’t be an issue. I make an almond cake nearly identical to this recipe (it uses flour where this uses coconut), & mine uses veg oil successfully. Good luck!

  30. I made this cake today and it is amazing! I used 225 grams of sugar instead of 250 and it was just the right amount of sweetness for me. I had unsweetened coconut flakes on hand so I pulsed them in a food processor a few times to make them smaller/finer. And, for anyone wondering, using regular granulated sugar in place of caster sugar worked great in this! Thank you for this delicious recipe – it is a keeper!!

  31. Thank you for this delicious cake! I made it right now, have tasted a small piece and I don`t think there will be anything for the freezer this time . I used 200 grams of caster sugar and will reduce it a little more next time to our taste.

  32. I made this recipe and it’s TO DIE FOR! Wow! So moist so wholesome and so great with a cuppa!!! I’m going gluten free and have struggled to enjoy things as much but this was incredible – and super easy to make too! Thank you for sharing!

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