Healthy, gluten-free and vegan celebration cake with delicious coconut frosting.
It’s been a year since I’ve launched Nirvana Cakery into the world and so I’ve made a little celebration cake to mark the occasion. It’s been a year full of learning, ups and downs and most importantly my own personal growth. I’ve grown so much this year, not just as a blogger, but as a person and I’m immensely grateful to you for all of your loving support and presence. Thank you.
And so this cake is for all of you to celebrate you and your dreams, to follow your heart and to have the strength to keep going even if it gets tough and you feel like you hit the wall. And when that happens as it will when you’re dedicated to your growth, you run really hard and jump right through it! I believe in you!
Now to the cake, you could say this cake is as healthy as it gets in the world of cakes, it’s gluten-free and vegan and it’s a combination of the skills that I’ve been learning so I can share them with you. I’ve used my Banana Blueberry Muffins recipe with couple of changes, so it’s not a completely new recipe, but it’s so good that I wanted to see how it works in a cake.
The frosting is a combination of coconut cream and coconut yogurt that works like a dream. It’s basically dairy-free version of a frosting I used to make which was a blend of Mascarpone and Greek yogurt. I’ve never liked frostings loaded with sugar, especially for children, because that’s the only thing that they eat and so this used to be my frosting to go to.
For the color I’ve used freeze dried blueberry powder that you can get on Amazon or health food store. I just couldn’t help myself, but put few violets on top, it’s a Spring after all:)
Blueberry Cake with Coconut Frosting (gluten-free & vegan)
Healthy, gluten-free and vegan celebration cake with delicious coconut frosting.
Ingredients
- 3/4 teff flour (95 grams)
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (70 grams)
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut (50 grams)
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (75 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (80 ml)
- 1/2 cup almond milk (120 ml)
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 medium bananas, mashed
- 1 cup blueberries (150 grams)
Coconut frosting:
- 13.5-ounces can full fat coconut milk (400 ml)
- 1 cup coconut yogurt (250 grams)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 tablespoon freeze-dried blueberry powder
Instructions
- Place the can of full fat coconut milk into a fridge, preferably overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) - 350 °F fan (180 °C fan)
- Grease and line 2 x 6" round cake baking tin.
- In a large bowl whisk together teff flour, buckwheat flour, desiccated coconut, coconut sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together coconut oil, almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Have the almond milk at room temperature so the coconut oil doesn't get solid once mixed together.
- Add the wet mix together with the mashed bananas to the dry mix and mix until well combined.
- Finally gently fold in blueberries.
- Evenly divide the mixture between the two cake tins and level out the surface.
- Bake for about 30min or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven once ready and leave to cool down for 30 min before carefully moving onto a wire rack.
- To make the frosting scoop the solid part of the coconut milk into a bowl, add coconut yogurt and maple syrup and whip until smooth. Keep in a fridge until you're ready to frost the cake.
- Once the cakes are completely cool, cut each into half carefully so they don't break.
- Place one layer onto a cake stand and spread with some coconut frosting and continue with the other layers. Now frost the top of the cake and the sides of the top half. Keep about 2 tablespoons of frosting on the side in case you need some more white later. Add the blueberry powder to the rest and mix well. Frost the bottom half of the cake and then you can blend in the two colors in the middle or mix a lighter purple by adding the rest of the white frosting. If you don't have enough frosting you can just add more coconut yogurt.
- Finish with fresh blueberries, edible flowers.
- Store in a fridge and enjoy!
Notes
- Use fresh blueberries, if you're using frozen ones, thaw them first, because of the coconut oil.
- You can replace coconut oil with olive oil if you like.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 393Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 281mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 4gSugar: 26gProtein: 6g
Happy one year!!! You’ve created such a beautiful blog in every way! Your recipes are always so stunning!
Hi Rebecca, thank you for this beautiful comment and for all of your support! It means so much to me that you’re enjoying my posts:) x
That cake is beautiful!! I love love love the color!
Thank you so much Molly! Blueberries do make the most beautiful colour:)
This cake is beautiful and sounds like it will taste delicious! I am so glad I found your site; can’t wait to try out your healthy and yummy recipes in the future. :) Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and skills with the world!
Thank you so much Patrina for your beautiful comment! I’m so happy to have you here! I hope you’ll have fun and enjoy trying out some of my recipes :)
I love that you used blueberries for this! It looks super moist and the ombre-frosting is so pretty!
Thank you so much Sarah! You’re right, the blueberries do make it nice and moist:)
I am a recent subscriber to your newsletter and visitor of your website, I love it. I have made several of your recipes and they are terrific, easy and delicious. Congratulations on your anniversary, I look forward to more fantastic recipes and I will definitely make this cake over the weekend, thank you!
Thank you so much for this beautiful comment Francoise. I’m so happy to have you here and so pleased you’re enjoying my recipes. Hope you’ll love this cake as much as the others:) Hana x
Congratulations! I hope I have an occasion to make this cake soon!
Thank you so much Kristin! If you don’t, you can always try the muffins first:)
It seems simply perfect!
Thank you so much Valentina! It really is a lovely cake:)
This cake looks amazing and so pretty! I am wondering could I sub coconut flour for teff flour?
Hi Holly, coconut flour wouldn’t work too well in a vegan cake. The best substitution would be an oat flour, rice flour or you could try with 100g (1 cup) of ground almonds. Hope this helps.
Great thank you very much
I’ve been searching for a clean cake recipe for my little one’s first birthday and I think I can handle this! Thank you!
Hi Amanda, I’m so happy to hear that! Hope it goes well and you all enjoy it:)
Hi, i lived in Mexico, and I cant find teff and buckwheat flour, what sub can I use? Thanks your cake looks so well
Hi Paulina, thank you. You could use other gluten-free flour mix that you would normally use. Rice flour, oat flour or general gluten-free flour should be more widely available. If you don’t need the cake to be gluten-free, spelt flour would work well too. You might need to add less or more almond milk depending on the flour you use, the mix should be fairly thick, muffin consistency. Hope this helps:)
Thanks for this beauty!! Going to make it for my LO’s birthday these days. Hope, I’ll do it:)
Do you think, it’s ok to leave it in a fridge overnight?
Hi Anna, that’s wonderful to hear! Yes, you can leave it in the fridge overnight, the frosting will set a bit more, but should be fine. If you like the look to be very fresh, you could bake it the day before and then frost it on the day. Hope it’ll be successful:)
Thanks a lot!! My husband just got regular milk yogurt with coconut flavor:) would it work or I have to go and get coconut one?
Hi Anna, I’ve used coconut yogurt because it’s dairy-free, but if you eat dairy you can use thick Greek style yogurt instead.
Hey there,
this cake looks sooooo beautiful. I’d like to make it for the first birthday of a friends son. I’m just curious… We will have to transport the cake and drive for a little more than an hour to the birthday party. Will the cake still be “edible” and pretty?
Thanks for sharing and lot’s of love from Europe <3
Hi Linda, thank you for your lovely comment. I have to say it took me a good hour to photograph this cake and it still looked fresh afterwards. However it was in April and the weather was fairly cool. In hot weather I would try to transport it in a fridge with some ice around it to keep it cool. Also keep in mind that gluten-free & vegan cake is a little more fragile than traditional cake. Hope this helps. H
Can I substitute the blueberries with strawberries instead?
Hi Chantelle, I think strawberries might not work and make the cake a bit more fragile. I would just leave the blueberries out and then use strawberry powder in the frosting and fresh strawberries for the decoration. Hope this helps. H
I just made the base, but with regular flour and sugar, and Oh my !!!! It is absolutely delicious and so tasty, i can’t wait to bring it to my friend’s without telling it’s vegan !
Thank you for the recipe ! Thank you thank you
Hi Alix, thank you so much for this wonderful comment! I’m so happy you love this recipe and that it worked so well for you. It’s my pleasure :)
Hi Hana,
The cake is absolutely delicious, thank you for sharing! I have a question with the full fat coconut milk. The highest coconut milk i can find is at 80% in the sachet, I haven’t been able to find full fat coconut milk. Is this ok? Also, my icing slightly discoloured to brown after a few days, not sure if that’s because I used blueberry supplement powder ? Appreciate your insight please. Thanks again !
Hi Dem, thank you so much for your comment, I’m so happy that you enjoyed the cake! I’ve just checked and the one I tend to use from Biona has only 50% coconut. I think the higher the percentage of coconut in the milk the more solid cream you’ll get after refrigerating the can. The frosting seem to absorb some of the pigment from the cake after a day or more. It will be the blueberry pigment from the cake that comes through. I find that with my beetroot cake, it happens much faster. Unfortunately it’s the nature of making a very natural cake. Hope this helps. Much Love H
Hi!!! What could I use instead of maple syrup? And could it be for all recipes or only this one ? Thank you!!
Hi Lorena, you can happily replace maple syrup with any other sweetener like agave, brown rice syrup, coconut nectar or raw honey if not fully vegan. It will work in most of my recipes calling for maple syrup.
Can I use all purpose flour 1:1 instead? and regular granulated sugar?
Hi Melody, yes, you can replace the buckwheat and teff flours with all purpose flour, but use little less almond milk as they absorb more liquid.
I’m having trouble finding blueberry powder. Do you think blueberry juice could give the same ombre effect?
Hi Tiffany, juice would make the frosting too runny. Could you find dried blueberries, they could work.
Hi! I’m planning to make this cake for my daughter’s first birthday party. I’ve tried several of your recipes before and I love them all :) I wanted to ask you if you know how to make coconut yogurt or maybe I can just use regular plain yogurt instead? Thank you so much…
Hi Violeta, I’m so happy to hear that you love my recipes, thank you! Yes, you can make your own coconut yoghurt with full fat coconut milk and probiotic capsules. If you’re happy to use dairy then thick Greek style yoghurt would work the best, you could also mix the yoghurt with mascarpone which makes nice easy kid friendly frosting. Happy Birthday to your daughter!
Hi! Can I use oat flour and can I replace the oil with more banana? Thank you!
Hi Georgina, you can try to substitute the teff and buckwheat flours with oat flour. Not sure how it will work without the oil, but please feel free to try it. Alternatively you can also use olive oil.
Hello! Loving the look of this cake! I’d like to replace coconut sugar with another sweetener but I’m not sure what would be good – I have maple syroup, honey, stevia liquid (or will it be too runny?). Or should I use Demerara sugar otherwise?
Hi Aga, for the recipe to work well, please just substitute the coconut sugar with other sugar, you can also use rapadura that is unrefined sugar or just use the one that you have on hand, light brown or golden caster sugar should work well.
That’s great, thank you! Baking it tomorrow and making frosting on Friday, for my friend’s surprise birthday party :)
Thank you so much for this recipe, I’m going to make this for my son’s thrid birthday. Would it be ok to use a hand blender to mix this up.. or is vigorous whisking not advised ? Also would you advise adding a table spoon of gelatine to the frosting to help thicken it?
Hi Nadia, you can just whisk it by hand. If your coconut yoghurt is quite thick it should be fine. It will further set on the cake as the cake absorbs some of the moisture. But you could add little gelatine to set it too if you like. Hope you love the recipe :)