I made this chocolate coconut cake last week based on a recipe from Paula Lyon‘s new cookbook, The Works, and it turned out to be every bit as delicious as her beautiful photos in the book portrayed. It’s light and airy, and tastes like a rich chocolatey banana bread with a slight hint of my favorite spice, cardamom.

Besides the delightful taste and texture, I loved how simple it was to prepare this cake. I often find that baked goods require much more time and effort than unbaked treats; but in this case, I didn’t spend more than half an hour in the kitchen – including the time I spent to grind the oats into flour. Pretty sweet, don’t you think?

I was feeling pretty fancy, so I added a rich dark chocolate ganache on top. But feel free to skip that if you want something lighter or are pressed for time. Such a lovely afternoon treat to enjoy with a cup of tea in good company.

I know Paula from 6 years ago. She is the sweet lovely lady who prepared our wedding cake! I’m usually not a big fan of wedding cakes as they are often too dense and sugary. But as soon as I tasted Paula’s samples I was in love and knew that I wanted her to be our cake vendor. Her cakes stood out from everything else I had tried, as they were light, not too sweet, and yet rich and melt-in-your-mouth kind of good! No wonder why so many of our guests kept raving about our cake and asked us where we got it from!

Thankfully Paula and I kept in touch over the years and when she told me that she was working on a cookbook with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and reduced sugar recipes, well you can probably imagine how excited I was! She has kindly given me permission to share this delicious recipe from her book with you. But please check it out for yourself here for many more of her outstanding recipes.

P.S. This post is not sponsored. I just really loved this book and wanted to share it with you 🙂 Enjoy!

Chocolate Coconut Cake Recipe

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 and 1/2 cups ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1 flax or free-range egg {See Note}
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups almond flour
  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup cacao powder
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional, I skipped this)
  • 1/2 teaspoon green cardamom powder (optional)

Dark Chocolate Ganache

  • 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup non-dairy milk of choice (I used coconut milk)
  • 1/4 cup nut/seed butter of choice (I used sunflower seed butter)
  • Pinch of unrefined sea salt

Directions

  1. FOR THE CAKE: Grease a 9” round cake or springform pan and preheat the oven to 350°F
  2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add the maple syrup, melted oil, coconut milk, egg or flax egg, and vanilla
  3. In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, cacao powder, coconut, chocolate chips, and cardamom, if using
  4. Mix the dry ingredients into the banana mix and stir well until combined
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean
  6. FOR THE GANACHE: While cake is baking in the oven, melt chocolate in a small pan over low heat. Pour in the non-dairy milk and nut/seed butter and stir until fully combined. Add a pinch of sea salt, remove from heat, and let it cool down
  7. ASSEMBLE: Once the cake is done, remove from the oven and let it cool down for about 15 minutes. Pour the ganache over the cake and spread using a spatula to even out if needed. Let the cake set in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes for the ganache to firm up before cutting into it. You can either store it at room temperature for 3 days or keep in the fridge for about a week

Note: To make the flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of water, stir, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes to gel.

Recipe by Paula Lyons, adapted to include a dark chocolate ganache by Nutriholist