Moist and tender coconut cake covered in cream cheese icing topped with shredded coconut and toasted pecans. This Keto Southern Coconut Pecan Cake is a rich special-occasion cake to have any time.
This recipe is a special request from one of my biggest followers, so of course I had to come up with a good substitute to satisfy her southern coconut cake craving.
One note of warning. Don’t skip the parchment lining step. The cake is pretty moist and a bit sticky and will stick like glue to the bottom of the pan even with a good coconut oil greasing. Yeah, I found out the hard way. I tried to save time and not line my pan with parchment paper. Bad decision. I knew better, but I skipped that step anyway. I tried every trick I could think of to get the cake to release from the pan. Nope. I ended up scraping it out.
You know the saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Well, when life gives you a crumbled up cake mess, make cake balls! I mixed a little icing into the cake mush and formed balls, then froze them. Once frozen, I coated them with more icing and rolled them into shredded coconut. Pretty freakin’ good if I may say so myself. Crisis avoided. 😛
This egg white meringue step takes a little more time than just adding in the whole egg at once, but it yields a much lighter and tender cake. Definitely worth the effort.
It’s important to whip the solid coconut oil until it’s smooth and creamy before adding any other ingredients. Otherwise, it might not fully mix with the other ingredients, leaving hunks of solid coconut oil. Then, add in the egg yolks and Swerve.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the coconut oil mixture. It will be thick.
Now comes the fun part. In small batches, gently fold in the egg whites from the first step with a spatula. You want to combine the ingredients together without knocking the air out of the mixture. The air will help keep the cake light. That’s important since recipes with nut flours tend to be very dense.
Scrap mixture evenly into the 2 8″ prepared cake pans. The batter will barely take up 1/2 the pan. You can use 9″ pans, but the cakes will be pretty thin, and you will need to adjust the cook time.
Place pans in preheated oven and bake for 28-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
While the cake is cooling, it’s time to prepare the icing. Make sure the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. It will mix much better.
Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or plate. Spread the icing on the layer, then top with 1/4 cup of each shredded coconut and toasted pecans.
If you want more layers, cut each layer in half and spread icing between each one. Save the middle layer for shredded coconut and pecans.
Add the 2nd layer and ice the top and sides of the cake. With the remaining coconut, press into the sides and top of the cake, then sprinkle the remaining pecans across the top.
Hope you enjoy this decadent coconut cake.
- 12 large eggs, separated
- 3 tsp cream of tartar
- 3/4 cup coconut oil (solid form)
- 3/4 cup Swerve
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tsp coconut extract
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 4 cups Swerve confectioners
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp coconut extract or 1 tsp more of vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
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Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 8″ pans with coconut oil (solid form). Line bottom of each with parchment paper. Do not skip this step. Cake will stick to pan.
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In large bowl, add egg whites and cream of tartar. With hand mixer, whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
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In a separate large bowl, lightly whip the solid coconut oil. Add egg yolks and mix until combined. Add the rest of the ingredients through sea salt and mix well.
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Stir in unsweetened shredded coconut.
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In small batches, fold egg whites into the batter using a spatula. Gently combine until the batter is completely mixed.
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Pour the mixture into prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
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Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool.
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In medium-sized bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, and sweetener together.
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Add unsweetened coconut milk and extracts. Mix well.
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Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or plate.
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Ice the top. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the toasted pecans and 1/4 cup of the shredded coconut.
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Place 2nd cake on top of the iced cake.
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Ice top and sides. Sprinkle cake and press into sides with the remaining shredded coconut. Sprinkle the remaining toasted pecans on top of cake.
*The sugar alcohols in Swerve (erythritol) are not calculated in nutritional information.
Total Carbs: 7g
Dietary Fiber: 3g
NET CARBS: 4g
Nutritional information is provided for recipes as a guide only. It cannot be 100% accurate. It’s included as a courtesy to give a general account of a recipe, so one can see if the macros are within the ballpark of where he/she needs to be. It is automatically calculated using WP recipe software integrated with a nutrition API. Please calculate your own nutritional information with the exact brand and ingredients you used before relying on the ones included with the recipe.
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