Yellow Coconut Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

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Tender yellow cake is layered with fluffy cocoa buttercream, and all gently sweetened with the floral notes of raw honey.  Fresh milk, eggs with richly colored yolks, and dense coconut flour combine to make a cake of substance that won’t throw you into a sugar-spiral.  It is nice to enjoy your food without having to pay the price for it later!

This cake is moist, dense, and perfect for a birthday celebration or holiday.  Like my little boy’s birthday party!  I have missed having the yellow cakes from my childhood as I have gone through my real food transformation.  I only remember making cakes from boxes as a child.  I do not think it even occurred to me that I could make one from scratch.  Also, I just could never get it quite right with sprouted flour (though I am still determined to figure it out here!)

Update: This Yellow Butter Cake made with sprouted flour is my new favorite!  I cannot tell which one I like best, to be honest.

This is my favorite version of this cake, which is a riff I have been working on inspired by Jenny’s coconut flour cake here.  I have changed a few things, but it remains delectable and a sure crowd-pleaser.  In fact, I made an almond flour cocoa cake to go alongside this cake at the party, but everyone preferred this cake over the double chocolate option.

Make sure that you cut this cake thinly, since coconut flour is dense and contains a fair amount of fiber.  It will fill you up more quickly that it’s white-flour-made counterparts.  Savor each bite and do not feel guilty.  This is cake the way it was meant to be eaten!

Equipment Needed:

Yellow Coconut Cake
makes two 9-inch round cakes

one dozen eggs
2 1/4 cups milk* (find raw milk here)
3/4 cup honey (buy raw honey here)
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract (buy high-quality extracts here)
2 cups coconut flour (buy coconut flour here)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda* (buy aluminum-free baking soda here)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (buy unrefined sea salt here)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two round cake pans, line with parchment circles cut to fit the pans, and then butter the parchment paper as well.  Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl mix eggs, milk, honey, and vanilla together until completely blended and smooth.  In a separate bowl, whisk coconut flour, baking soda, and salt together to get out as many lumps as possible.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine very thoroughly with a mixer.
  4. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for about 40 minutes, or until slightly browned on the edges and the cake pulls away from the sides of the cake pan.
  5. Place the cakes on cooking racks until completely cool before you loosen them from their pans.  Run a knife around the edge and carefully turn the cake pan over until the cake comes out.
  6. Assemble cake by placing one cake on a plate, spreading with Cocoa Buttercream and stacking the second cake directly on top.  Then frost the entire cake with the rest of the Cocoa Buttercream Frosting (below).
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
makes enough for one double layer cake
.
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature (buy grass-fed butter here)
1/2 cup raw honey (buy raw honey here)
2 tablespoons brewed coffee**, cooled (buy organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee here)
2 tsp. vanilla (buy extracts here)
.
  1. Put butter and honey into a bowl on your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk at a high speed for 3-5 minutes until well-combined and light colored.  Turn mixer off and add cocoa powder and vanilla.  Start mixer slow until combined, then whisk on high for another 3 minutes.  Turn off, scrape down the sides of the bowl, unhook the whisk attachment and use to combine by hand.
  2. Chill entire bowl and detached whisk attachment in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Remove and whisk once more for 3 minutes.  Use to frost immediately.  Store leftover frosting in the fridge.

*If you are on GAPS, use coconut milk instead of milk and omit the baking soda.

**A small amount of coffee in chocolate recipes really makes the chocolate flavor pop.  You don’t taste the coffee, but the chocolate tastes better.  If you don’t want to use coffee, use a good quality coffee substitute, like Teeccino or Dandy Blend (though neither are GAPS-legal).  Weak coffee is GAPS-legal.  The coffee substitutes are kinder on your body (not acidic, no caffeine).  Pick whichever suits you best!

This post is a part of Weekend Gourmet, Sunday School, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Healthy2day Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, The Mommy Club, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Full Plate Thursday, Fight Back Friday, and Fresh Bites Friday.

77 thoughts on “Yellow Coconut Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting”

  3. Have you tried this cake as cupcakes?? Do you think it would just take a different bake time?? I like doing cupcakes for kids parties, so much easier!!

    Reply ↓

  4. Ummm…My oldest is allergic to eggs so I guess that means more for me :-) . I wonder if coconut oil would work in the frosting since he’s seriously allergic to dairy too. This looks amazing. One dozen eggs – makes me smile! :-) .

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  5. OH, Kendahl. This looks crazy amazing!! I’ve never even made cake before, but this is enough to make me go out and buy some round cake pans. I’m going on GAPS soon and I’ll be counting down the days til I’m off intro and can make myself some of this cake in celebration!!

    Reply ↓

  6. What a great looking recipe! My mom always used that coffee trick too. What also works, if you’re on GAPS (like me) or don’t want to use coffee, is half of a freshly squeezed orange. Same principle – orange flavor disappears if you don’t use too much, and the chocolate tastes chocolatier. :)

    Reply ↓

    • Really!? That is so cool to know. I will try that in my next batch of something chocolatey (I’m not a very good influence, am I? Eating chocolate all the time, mwahahaha!)

      Reply ↓

  7. Kendahl,
    This is a beautiful cake that would be just perfect for our dessert this evening. Your frosting looks awesome! Thank you so much for sharing with our 1st Anniversary Party at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week end and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply ↓

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  12. wow this is so so good!! I was totally surprised at how good this is! I used coconut milk since we are doing GAPS, and I really can’t even taste coconut, which is what I was afraid of. So so good. I cut myself a slice and one for my husband and I must admit, I’m eating his since he’s still at work…shhh, don’t tell! ;-) thank you for such a great recipe!

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  14. Okay, I am very happy with this recipe and will use it again sometime!

    I made one cake and 12 cupcakes with the mix (a small layer of cupcake stuck to the paper cases, but were tasty (unfrosted) regardless! I am freezing 8 cupcakes for another day). I like that the cake isn’t super sweet like some other coconut flour recipes I have tried, perfect for my young children as a special treat.

    As for the chocolate buttercream frosting… Oh. My… where has it been all my life??! That was DELICIOUS!!!! And not sickly sweet like “normal” frosting/icing. Wow, wow, wow! Considering it is basically organic butter and raw honey, this is a perfect energy snack! I think this Mummy will keep a stash of it in the fridge to eat a spoonful now and then… a secret treat for the adults! :) So good!!

    Reply ↓

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  20. I made this for dessert for yesterday’s church dessert. It was a big hit, and no one could even tell that it was healthy! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  21. I used homemade butter that I whipped from organic cream–this frosting tops anything you could buy premade. Will be making this regularly! Thanks!

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  22. I made this for my son’s birthday. He eats very healthy and I wanted to try a really healthy cake. It was amazing! My son loved it and I plan to use the cake recipe and try different frostings for variety!

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  23. Uuuuuuh… This cake is the absolute most a.ma.zing. thing to ever dance across my tongue!!!!! My kids and hubby all flipped over it. We’re having it for the second time tomorrow to bring to my nieces bday party… Doin bdays real food stylie – byoc bring yo own cake ;-) The first time, my daughter cut the cake into chunks and served it layered with mixed berries and whipped heavy cream. Boooooy does THAT work out nicely. Gonna whip up your butter cream frosting for it this time. Im so freakin stoked. Gotta give a shout to my teenaged daughter who was the one who stumbled upon this gem of a recipe! Fab.

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  24. Made this as cupcakes for a church dinner. They were fabulous. (Almost a cheesecake-like texture to the cake.) There was a little frosting left over. My daughter chilled it and then formed it into balls and rolled them in cocoa powder, then froze them. Amazing! :)

    Reply ↓

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    • I just made it, it was amazing! Even my husband who normally hates these types of receipes was about licking the plate clean. I made them (GAPS) in (2) loaf pans after halving the recipe (too much for 2 people), then cut the loaves in half and sliced them in the middle. Made a 4 layer cake with frosting in the layers only and on top (serves 4-5). I’ve frozen the other loaf for future use, but thinking it could be good for making french toasts. LOVE IT!!

      Reply ↓

  28. Just found this amazing recipe and the cake is baking in the oven as I type this!! I was wondering, for the icing is it 1 cup or 2 cups of butter? It says 2 sticks of butter but you can buy butter in 4oz and 8oz sticks. Thanks!

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Megan, it’s supposed to be one cup of butter. I hope you managed to figure it out in the meantime! I updated the recipe to be clearer, so thank you for pointing this out.

      Reply ↓

  29. I just made this recipe as cupcakes. Oh.My.Goodness. They are delish. I must say, this recipe restored my belief in using coconut flour. I have NEVER had anything turn out well that I have made using coconut flour. (Unless I was trying to make bland tasting paver stones that can manage to both chip my teeth and soak up every last drop of moisture in my mouth. In that regard, I have had many successes.)
    That all changed when I stumbled upon the recipes of a coconut flour Goddess. You have tamed the coconut flour beast. For that, I thank you!

    Reply ↓

  30. Ummmm – have so totally done something wrong here……….. The mixture curdled and went really thick – more like a dough. It’s in the oven now and smells amazing, but I don’t have high hopes of it holding together. Any idea what I may have done wrong??

    Reply ↓

    • It should be really thick. It always surprises me, and I’ve made it several times!

      But as for the curdling, I can’t imagine why it did that. Did you blend it really well with a food processor or an immersion blender? Coconut flour is very hard to mix in smoothly, so the clumps could possibly make it look curdled?

      Reply ↓

  32. Just made this awesome cake, I was a bit worried about 12 eggs in one cake, but it is BEAUTIFUL, thank you so very much for sharing. xxoo

    Reply ↓

  33. For cupcakes? Can you half the recipe? How long should they bake if cupcakes? Can’t wait to try this for my son’s birthday! :)

    Reply ↓

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  39. I made the icing, but neither the cocoa or the honey dissolved. With this being the case, it was bitter. I put the whole thing over a double broiler and heated it until dissolved, stuck it in the fridge and beat it again when it was cold. It worked great this way. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply ↓

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  45. I am planning on making this for my daughter’s third birthday. She has asked for a PINK cake, so I am planning on adding some natural red food coloring to the batter. I will let you know how it turns out!

    Also, I plan on making this ahead of time. Will it keep on the counter in a 70 degree kitchen under a cake plate?

    Reply ↓

  46. I’m also planning on making this for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. I’m thinking I should make a practice cake, to make sure it comes out right. My husband seems very enthusiastic about the practice cake idea, for some reason. ;) Anyway, my question is, how many people does this cake typically serve?

    Reply ↓

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