This eggless semolina coconut cake was a stand-by cake if I mess up the eggless pinata cake which I had narrowed down for my eldest son's birthday. Hope you all checked out the recipe and the beautiful pictures.
Fortunately, the pinata cake was a super hit and so was this coconut cake too. It is a plain cake without any frosting so some of the adults who were watching what they were eating preferred this to the "truckload of M&Ms filled" pinata cake.
I got this semolina coconut cake recipe from my friend. The recipe is eggless, to begin with, so I didn't make any changes other than substituting ½ a cup of oil with ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce because I felt that 1 cup of oil was too much.
She also had mentioned that the cake is very mild in sweetness, so I increased the quantity of sugar by ¼ of a cup.
Recipe
Eggless Semolina Coconut Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup semolina/suji/rava (not flour see My Notes)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup desiccated coconut, unsweetened
- 1 and ¼ cups white sugar
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup sunflower oil
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/190C. Grease the bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle some flour lightly.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients one by one and mix gently with a wooden spoon or spatula till blended.
- Add the baking powder and mix into the batter.
- Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
My Notes
- The semolina I have used in this recipe is the Indian semolina aka suji/rava, which looks like cornmeal but has a cream color and not yellow. It's readily available in Indian grocery stores. Both roasted and raw are available. For this recipe, raw semolina is used. I see that some American recipes use a finer semolina flour. I'm not sure how this cake will turn out with semolina flour.
- The next time around, I'm going to try using ½ cup of melted butter or organic coconut oil to give the cake a better flavor. Somehow I didn't like the flavor of sunflower oil in this cake. At least coconut extract or vanilla extract should have been added.
Taste & Texture
- Even with the increased quantity of sugar, this semolina coconut cake had a mild sweetness. If you are the kind of person who likes very sweet cakes, then you will have to increase the quantity of sugar by another ¼ cup or frost it.
- I loved the beautiful texture of this cake. The semolina gave it a grainy texture. You could see the cooked crumbs clearly.
Nutrition
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Deshni says
Hi , awesome recipe , love it ,please advise , I need to make a larger cake , can I double the quantity to make a rectangular cake .
Madhuram says
How big is the pan you are planning to use, Deshni? My guess is if it's the regular 13x9 inch pan then this measurement will be perfect. If you double the recipe for that size pan chances are that the cake will sink in. It might be too much batter for that pan size. At the most you can do 1.5 times of the original recipe, this too is a guess. I wouldn't know unless I try it myself.
Bina Kotak says
Could the flour be substituted to make it gluten free?
Madhuram says
Gluten-free and egg-free is pretty tricky to get it right. You might have to try a couple of times before you can get it right.
Vyk says
Hello
Your cake looks delicious and I would like to make it for a friend who is having a hard time.
Can I use fine semolina or should it be coarse?
Thank you
Madhuram says
Fine semolina would be better, Vyk.
Shivani says
I made this today and it came out wonderfully! Light, airy, and delicately flavoured. Thank you so very much for a great recipe!
I made a couple of adjustments, writing it down below in case anyone wants to attempt a variation:
I replaced the applesauce with an equal amount of clarified butter, reduced the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup, threw in a couple of dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg, and added some vanilla extract and a healthy pinch of salt.
In addition, I served each individual square of cake in a little pool of eggless Vanilla Custard for a more festive feel. I felt it was a lovely pairing and made for the perfect dessert!
Madhuram says
Wow! That's awesome, Shivani. Now I want to try your version with ghee and especially vanilla custard on top of it. Thank you very much for sharing your tips.
Lola says
I made this cake using buttermilk instead of yogurt,melted butter in place of applesauce and I used raspberry essence..I also toasted the coconut. ..it came out perfect. ..
Madhuram says
Wow! Those are some interesting changes! Thanks, Lola.
Karuna Nair says
Hi. I made the cake & it came out well. I made my own applesauce and used melted butter as well. The top of the cake was not as brown as your cake. It was very light brown. What could be the reason for this?
Madhuram says
As long as the cake baked fully without being raw in the middle, you don't have to worry about the color, Karuna.
Karuna Nair says
I do not have a Bundt pan, so what size cake tin should I use.
Also, can I replace the unsweetened applesauce with something else.
Madhuram says
You can use a 9x13 inch pan, Karuna. I have used unsweetened applesauce as an oil substitute. The original recipe called for 1 cup of oil. I can't think of anything else instead of applesauce or you will have to just use oil.
Niyati patel says
Just have a doubt... Doesn't sooji nees to kept at rest to soak the moisture... In general all the recipes made with sooji ll need the sooji to kept aside for at least a few minutes...
Madhuram says
Not required for this recipe, Niyati.
Earthlover says
Hmm..maybe it was the pan. I only use organic stuff so don't think it was the ingredients. I had to bake the cake for additional 40 mins than the recipe called for and had to keep checking in between because I didn't want to burn it. It tasted way better the next day. Going to bake it again in the same pan because I don't use nonstick pans but will try using less liquid and see if that helps because my hubby loved the cake. Thanks for your recipe.
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Earthlover. What size pan did you use?
earthlover says
Hi, I made this today but my cake was very runny. I didn't have the bundt cake pan so used the 9x5 loaf pan. After 40 mins in the oven, the cake was still very wet in the middle but top part was nicely brown. When I was making the batter, I had a feeling that the batter was too thin. What gives? Thanks.
Madhuram says
I'm guessing that a 9x5 loaf pan is too little for this recipe, Earthlover. Did you halve the measurements to fit the pan? I have made this recipe just once and don't remember the batter being too thin. Hope you used the right quantity of ingredients.