Grapefruit and Coconut Cream Cheese Cake

Yesterday was my birthday! To celebrate I made this gorgeous Grapefruit and Coconut Cream Cheese Cake. This beautiful cake is gluten free, grain free, and refined sugar free. It's easy to make, tastes amazing and is sure to please a crowd!
My sister also surprised me with a magnificent cake of her own, which you can see photos of as you scroll down!

Ingredients

White Cake Layer

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch
• 4 tablespoons xylitol, powdered* (you can use cane sugar instead)
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon organic grapefruit zest

Poppy Seed Cake Layer

• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons xylitol, powdered* (can use cane sugar instead)
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon organic grapefruit zest

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 x 200g cream cheese 
• 2 x 400mL cans coconut milk (in the fridge overnight)
• 7 tablespoons xylitol, powdered*
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon organic grapefruit zest
• 2 tablespoons grapefruit juice

*To powder your xylitol, simply put the desired amount into a blender and blend it for about 30 seconds, until it's fine and powder-like. This way the xylitol dissolves and combines more completely into the batter and/or frosting. 

You'll also need:

• 2-3 cups coconut flakes
• 1 small jar (250mL) raspberry jam
• 3 large grapefruits

Directions

For this recipe, I used a 7-inch round cake pan to bake the cakes. 

White Cake Layers

The recipe above is for 1 cake, so double the recipe to make enough batter for two cakes. Or you can bake them one at a time, as I like to. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of your cake pan with parchment paper. 

Using a mixer, begin to beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on high. When they turn frothy slowly, add in the powdered xylitol, a tablespoon at a time. Beat until the egg whites have reached a medium peaks. Stop beating and by hand, mix in the dry ingredients (coconut flour, arrowroot, vanilla, sea salt and grapefruit zest) in thirds. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the surface takes on a golden brown colour. Remove and allow to cool completely. 

Poppyseed Cake Layers

The recipe for the poppyseed layer is also for 1 cake, so double the recipe up or make 2 cakes using the recipe provided. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of your cake pan with parchment paper. 

In a mixer, begin to beat the eggs for about 3 to 5 minutes on high. Add in the powdered xylitol and beat for another 5 minutes, until fluffy and pale in colour. 

While the eggs are beating, add the dry ingredients into a bowl (coconut flour, arrowroot, poppy seeds, baking powder, sea salt, vanilla powder and grapefruit zest). Bring the speed down to medium and add in the dry ingredients, beat just until combined (30 seconds). Remove the bowl from the mixer, and gently stir the batter with a spatula to make sure everything is combined evenly. Pour the batter into you prepared pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until gently golden brown and tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
While the cake layers are cooling, you can prepare the frosting. By putting the cans of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, the water separates from the cream. We want to use the thick cream for this recipe. Open the can upside down to reveal the coconut water. You can pour that into a container and save it for smoothies, if you'd like. Now you're left with the coconut cream. Scrape out the cream into a mixing bowl from both cans. Beat the coconut cream on medium for a minute or so, to soften it up a bit. 

While the mixer is running, gradually add the cream cheese, until all is combined. Add in the powdered xylitol, vanilla, grapefruit juice and zest. Beat until the frosting is smooth. Set aside until ready to use. 

Assembly

Before we start to actually assemble the cake, we need to prepare the grapefruit by segmenting it. This grapefruit goes in between the layers on top of the frosting. Here's a guide and short video of how to segment a grapefruit. I prefer this way over the cutting each piece out with knife. After segmenting the grapefruit, roughly separate them into smaller chunks. You'll use one grapefruit for each layer. 

Take one of your poppy seed layers and lay it on a serving dish of your choice. Evenly spread about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the raspberry jam. On top of the jam spread another 3 to 4 heaping tablespoons of the coconut cream cheese. Generously, arrange the chunks of grapefruit on top of the cream and place a white cake layer on top. Repeat the steps two more times leaving the very top layer bare. 

Using the remaining coconut cream cheese, spread it over the top and sides. Let the cake sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes to allow the first layer of frosting to set. Spread the remaining frosting on the cake and gently press in the coconut flakes all over the cake. Place the cake in the fridge for another 30 minutes, to let it set and it's ready to serve! 

Here's Isabel's Layered Crêpes Cake with Berries and Mascarpone Cream. This cake has everything I love in it: crêpes, berries, mascarpone, roasted hazelnuts, dark chocolate and raspberry jam - a heavenly mélange! It looks spectacular and tastes just as you would imagine!

My sis really knows how to wrap a gift. These are my birthday gifts which include: the Vegetarian Bible (so excited to use it for new recipes!), Pacari organic chocolate, and Mikael Zayat essential oils, which are my absolute favourite!