Coconut Milk Snack Cake is ideal for after-school snack, coffee breaks, and late night study sessions. Lightly sweet, with a soft, tender texture, this cake is back-to-school fuel!
I didn’t plan on a series of four recipes using coconut milk. The Thai recipe for Coconut Milk Cookies fell into my lap because I am forever intrigued by cookbooks with international cookie recipes. Every culture has baked goods developed to stay fresh as long as possible, and I’m hunting for them all! For those searching the internet for coconut milk recipes, the Coconut Milk Cookies have been very popular. So to meet the demand, I continue to find ways to use this delicious ingredient. The cookies were followed by Coconut Milk Chocolate Chip Pound Cake and Coconut Milk Toffee Blondies. This recipe for Coconut Milk Snack Cake was a lucky fail turned into a win.
As I was working on the recipe for coconut milk blondies, one version looked like a fail when I took it out of the oven. Though beautifully golden with a heavenly smell, the supposed-to-be blondies had risen while baking. The texture was sure to be un-blondie like. I was disappointed, until I tasted this creation. Definitely not blondies, the cake is simultaneously sturdy enough for shipping yet soft and tender, with such a lovely vanilla-coconut flavor, that adding frosting would be a crime.
To mail Coconut Milk Snack Cake in a care package, I recommend baking in a disposable foil pan and wrapping the cake in the pan, uncut. The foil pan provides protection. Leaving the cake uncut, keeps the cake from drying out while shipping.
Coconut Milk Snack Cake was never destined to be a blondie. It’s a delicious, easy to make (no mixer needed), snack cake that compliments a glass of milk or a mug of coffee or tea. With a shelf-life of about 7 days, Coconut Milk Snack Cake can be enjoyed all week as an after-school snack, or shipped to your favorite college student for a sweet start to the semester!
MORE COCONUT MILK RECIPES
Coconut Milk Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
Coconut Milk Snack Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, canned full fat, not low fat
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut shredded
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease an 8×8 baking pan (If shipping, use a disposable foil pan.)
- Open the can of coconut milk and combine the contents THOROUGHLY. The thick, heavy fat separates from the thin milk and MUST be recombined before using. This is most easily done in a blender, food processor, or electric mixer, but can also be done with vigorous whisking. When the fat is completely blended with the liquid the consistency should be similar to dairy cream or milk.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the homogenized coconut milk, melted coconut oil, eggs, granulated sugar, and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, shredded coconut, and baking powder, then add to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting or storing. If shipping, leave the cooled cake in the disposable pan and ship uncut.
- When cooled, the top of the cake can be sprinkled with powdered sugar (optional).
- Wrapped well or stored in an airtight container at room temperature, Coconut Milk Snack Cake remains fresh for up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
LJ
If I was to make this into cupcakes rather than a traybake, should I adjust the baking time?
Thanks!
Wendy Sondov
Yes, definitely adjust the baking time when you change the size of a pan in any recipe. I can’t tell you exactly how long your cupcakes will take, but I would start watching them care fully at 15 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Tati
Hi Wendy – can I use coconut sugar for this recipe instead of granulated sugar? Cheers
Wendy Sondov
Hi Tati. I have not tried it, but I think coconut sugar would work. If you try it, I would love to know the results! Happy baking. 🙂
Tati
Hey Wendy – thanks for ur speedy reply. This turned out DELICIOUS 😊…the coconut sugar worked very well, I didn’t think it affected the flavor (except my cake’s color was slightly darker than yours because of the darker sugar)…
Also, your recipe was simple and super easy to follow so I made it with my 3-year old little munchkin 😊😊 . It came out very good and went very well with tea.
So thank you again for sharing this yummy recipe 😊🙏🏻
Cheers, Tati
Wendy Sondov
Thank you so much, Tati, for getting back with your great results!! It is very helpful to know that this recipe works well with coconut sugar. Baking with a munchkin assistant is the BEST…..possibly messy, but the best all the same. 🙂
Selena
Hi Wendy,
I was wondering if I could substitute vegetable oil for coconut oil? I have everything except the coconut oil… Thanks!
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Selena. I haven’t tried vegetable oil in this recipe, however, everything I read says that you can successfully make that substitution. I’ve baked cakes using olive oil that come out deliciously moist and not “oily” at all. If you give it a try, I would love to know the results. 🙂
Liz
I like to make cakes for my friends and barely eat them. I love coconut so I tried to find a recipe and I’m glad I came across this one. I made the cake and loooooooooove it so muuuuch ! I guess this is the only cake I’ll be eating from now on ! Haahaa
Thanks again !
Wendy Sondov
Hi Liz. Your friends are lucky to have you baking for them! I’m so glad you love this cake so much!! I agree with you that it is special. Enjoy.
Cifa
Can it be made without shredded coconut?? If so, do I need to change proportion of flour or should it remain the same?? I have all the ingredients but it’s not possible to get shredded coconut at this time of the year where I live😅
Wendy Sondov
Hi. I think this cake would be fine without the shredded coconut. Don’t adjust the flour. The shredded coconut is more for flavor and texture. Enjoy!
Emma
This cake was delicious! I did a bit of experimentation and added white chocolate chips and blueberries to it and it was amazing!!
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Emma. I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! Your add-ins sound like a tasty variation!
Jill
Delicious! I had some leftover coconut milk and google brought me this. My 16 yr old has been snacking on it all night!
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Jill. I am glad to hear that you found a way to use up your leftover coconut milk that made your 16 yr old so happy. 🙂
Colleen Marble
I had 1 cup of leftover coconut milk that I needed to use, so I googled and found this recipe. This was quite good and easy to adapt to handle dietary restrictions. I am GF, so I used GF flour and substituted xylitol for the sugar. While my cake was perhaps a bit more dense and less caramelized (due to my substitutions) than shown in the photo, it was still incredibly tasty and moist. Even the non-GF folks thought it was delicious, and my friend who is gluten/dairy/sugar-free thought it was fantastic and ate two pieces! I didn’t have coconut flakes so I substituted chopped walnuts to make up the volume, and it worked fine. So that made me think that this is an excellent base-cake recipe that can be used in many ways – I’m thinking as a shortcake with fresh fruit, or shredded apple, nuts and cinnamon for a moist apple cake, or dried fruits for a fruit cake … lots of options, in addition to the coconut cake version posted here. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I’ll be adding it to my recipe box.
Wendy Sondov
Hi, Colleen. I am delighted to hear that your dietary adaptations produced such a successful cake! And it sounds like you have a lot more baking plans ahead. 🙂 I suspect that you are right about the gf flour making the cake a bit more dense (my daughter is gf and I’ve baked numerous gf cakes for her) but I do want to mention that even those who used all purpose wheat flour found the cake comes out more dense if it is baked in pan larger than 8″ x 8″. Thank you for leaving your lovely review!!
Sheryl Lilly
Can you substitute equal pets almond flour for regular flour?
Wendy Sondov
Hi Sheryl. I do not believe that using almond flour instead of regular flour will work. If you notice Colleen’s substituted gf flour mix which mimics the properties of wheat flour.
Esther
Very easy and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wendy Sondov
I am glad you enjoyed this easy recipe and yummy cake! Thank you for sharing your experience and leaving a 5 star rating!