I have a habit of getting ingredient obsessed. The seasonal availability of produce or a glut from the garden always seems to influence this. I seem to make a million berry recipes when you can get punnets for proverbial pennies and then slurp some pumpkin soup every other night in winter. Other times however I keep using the same ingredient because I want to master a learning curve quickly.
Coconut flour has been the new wild card in my pantry lately. Rich in fibre and protein, it contains lauric acid and other healthy saturated fats that withstand high baking temperatures. It’s also behaves very differently to other flours. It’s super absorbent, you can substitute about 1/4 cup of it for a cup of wheat flour and it requires a gazillion eggs for binding or baked goods crumble apart. The thought of converting recipes with it initially made me very confused!
Experimentation is what it’s all about and I’ve spent the past few weeks being quite obsessed with working out how it all works. After a 500g bag of coconut flour (a lot when you consider how little you use each recipe)I think I’m starting to get a handle on this nifty grain-free flour. Rich, sweet and moist, this Grain-free Humminbird Slice is great to bake as a slice cake as a small piece really satisfies.
Five Tips for Baking with Coconut Flour
- When converting a standard recipe to all coconut flour, use 1/4 cup coconut flour for 1 cup of normal flour. Add 1/4 liquid ingredients to increase moisture. Coconut flour is also a great additive to your gluten-free or wheat flour recipes, it’s very trial and error but I love this website and their books for inspiration.
- You will need around 6 eggs per 1 cup of coconut flour used. Eggs primarily work to take the place of gluten in coconut flour recipes and help to build texture.
(I will keep you posted on future experiments with psyllium, chia or flax eggs. I’m still testing!) - Coconut flour is very, very thirsty. You can also add pureed/mashed fruit or vegies to the batter to further increase the moisture and prevent crumbling of baked goods.
- Don’t panic if the batter seems too runny, when cooked the batter will firm up so avoid the urge to thicken the batter by adding more flour. Doing this would produce a dry and crumbly product. If it comes out too moist, at least you’ve got a deliciously ruined experiment to eat!
- All brands of coconut flour behave slightly differently, my Niulife flour was much more thirsty that my Bob’s Red Mill, and the resulting products from them quite differing textures. I don’t have all the answers as to which is better, all I can suggest is find your favourite through trial and error.
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup dessicated coconut
- 500g chopped and gently mashed pineapple (or 1 450g can crushed pineapple if not in season)
- 2 large overripe bananas, mashed
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup coconut (or grapeseed) oil
- 1 tsp finely grated orange rind
- Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 16 x 26cm (6″ by 10″) slice pan or brownie pan with baking paper, extending paper over sides as handles.
- Pour prepared or canned pineapple into a sieve and allow to drain, discard liquid and then set pineapple aside.
- Sift coconut flour and cinnamon into a large bowl and then stir in sugar and dessicated coconut.
- Add reserved pineapple, mashed banana, eggs, coconut oil and zest and mix until well combined.
- Spread batter into prepared pan, Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted at centre comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in pan and then gently lift onto wire rack to cool completely before icing.
- 1 cup coconut butter (not oil)
- ¼ cup agave nectar or sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- To make icing beat all ingredients except shredded coconut until creamy and well combined. Refrigerate for 10min, then beat again until creamy. Spread over slice, scatter shredded coconut on top and refrigerate before serving.
Comments 17
Have you ever tried Swanson’s Organic Coconut Flour???
Author
It’s not a brand I’ve seen in Australia I’m afraid – I tend to use Bob’s Red Mill or Aclara that we sell at work.
The ingredients list doesn’t include the icing ingredients?
Author
I apologise, you’re completely right.
I upgraded my recipe posting software and it’s been a nightmare the past few days, but looks like I missed the mistake with this post! I’ll fix it today, thankyou for letting me know 🙂
Author
Updated, sorry once again I thought I had gotten all the broken recipes yesterday!
Your recipe does not include the amount (just says 1/2) of coconut oil. One half of what? Teaspoon, tablespoon? I can’t tell.
Also, as an American, I don’t know what a “slice” pan is. A jelly roll pan, 9×13″ cake pan? Not sure from the instructions.
Author
Thanks Judy for bringing though two things to my attention. I have had so many issues with that post after I updated a recipe plugin while I was still working on it. I thought I had corrected everything after the first time someone told me it was broken. What an embarrassment!
It’s 1/2 cup of coconut oil for the ingredients, I’ve gone and updated that and went back over the post with a new set of eyes (hopefully for the last time). As for the slice pan, I had to go an google what a jelly roll pan was as we don’t call anything that term here. It doesn’t seems to be a same thing as I was suggesting – you need a 16 x 26cm-ish rectangular tin with sides higher than a cookie sheet. What I can see described as a jelly roll pan has quite low sides, you’ll need something a bit higher. A brownie pan is the best thing I can find to describe it. This size and depth would be perfect. I’ve updated the post to make that a lot more clear, sorry for any confusion 🙁
Pan size would be approx 6″ by 10″ (loaf pan)
Author
Thankyou Arlene 😀
This looks delish! Any developments with the flax eggs, etc?
Author
Thanks Sarah 😀 I’ve found out of the three gel eggs that psyllium ones have been working the best. I’ve found that using the equivalent of 1 more gel egg than normal egg holds everything together and helps it all rise well 🙂
This looks yummy! Was wondering if you’ve ever made it with any fruits other than pineapples as my family has a sensitivity to them! Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
Going to give this a try – always looking for something thing to fix the sweet tooth cravings! I became sugar free this year along with being gluten free and dairy free.
It has been a struggle! thanks for the recipe
What is dessicated coconut?
Author
Great question Mary! It’s very, very finely shredded coconut – http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-desiccated-coconut.htm – almost powdery in texture.
I’ve never seen coconut sugar. Where can I get it?
Author
The best place to try would be a health food store or ‘wholefoods’ type store. Otherwise the next best option would be a unprocessed rapudura or sucanat-type brown sugar if you’re really stuck. I hope that info helps!