Much like the delay of our fall here in Virginia (we’ve still got some colorful leaves hanging on!), I’m delayed in sharing this gluten-free Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake recipe with you all. It would have been ideal for your Thanksgiving celebration, but I hope that you will realize that this is a dessert that should not be restricted to just one celebration, or even one season.
I hope that all of you here in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have to say that our Thanksgiving was one of our very best to date.
We had lots of excellent food, great company and an abundance of love and laughter.
Corny? Perhaps, but as Kate Winslet’s character Iris said in the movie The Holiday (one of my favorites!), “I’m looking for corny in my life.” Bring on the corny!
Excellent food, great company, love, laughter, and corniness are keeping me sane these days. Well, they’ve always kept me sane really.
Like most, I have many blessings, but life always brings some challenges. That’s the whole nature of life, right?
One of the reasons that I’ve been away from posting and that it’s taken me quite a while to write this post is that I’m actually having to limit my computer time, especially typing. I’ve got tendonitis, more commonly known as “tennis elbow.”
However, in my case, as I haven’t played tennis in decades, it’s actually “computer elbow.” Yes, that’s a real thing! I also have a rotator cuff injury.
The latter I’ve had for a while and have kept under control with acupressure and massage in the past. When the computer elbow issues appeared, I tried the same route. Initially, those treatments were somewhat helpful for my tendonitis as well, but they weren’t helpful enough.
I mentioned my newer issue to my massage therapist and she suggested a physical therapist. She’s a former physical therapist assistant so I trusted her recommendation. I can’t say that physical therapy is a joy, but so far it seems to be helping.
Staying off the computer and avoiding typing too much at once is also helping, but it’s not much fun and keeps me away from you guys. If you’ve got any tips on recovering more quickly from either injury, please share them with me!
Back to Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake
Son is still here visiting so I’ve been cooking quite a lot and we’re continuing to eat very well. That’s because Son is a lot like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors. Remember the one? That one with the voracious appetite. (“Feed me, Seymour.”)
If you’ve been reading gfe for a while, you know that my best recipes often come from a need to use what I have on hand. This time it was a small amount of pumpkin that was left over from making Easy Pumpkin Squares.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to use this pumpkin until I shared my Banana Coconut Kahlua Cake recipe on my gfe Facebook page and thought, “Hmmm, what if I replace the mashed banana with pumpkin puree?” I already know that I love pumpkin and Kahlua together and when adding coconut as the third ingredient in the combo, I was sure that success had to be a given.
I replaced the banana with pumpkin and made a few other small changes, such as omitting the xanthan gum. Well, the resulting Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake was fantastic!
This recipe got raves from Mr. GFE, Mom, and my aunt, and I gave it two thumbs up as well. I might even make it again tomorrow so Son can sample it. I know he will love it and I hope you will, too!
Other Gluten-Free Cake Recipes Featured Here
~ Grain-Free Polka Dot Chocolate Cake (with Chocolate Almond Butter Frosting or frosting of choice)
~ Mediterranean Chocolate Cake (aka fantastic chocolate cake made using olive oil—instead of butter or shortening)
~ Over 70 Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipes!
~ Plain Good Vanilla Pound Cake
Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake Recipe
You are going to love the flavor combination in this Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake. This is one gloriously delicious cake! Makes one single-layer cake. You probably noticed that you add the eggs later than you normally would for a baking recipe. That’s because you don’t want the liquefied coconut oil (which may be hot in temperature if you melted it to liquefy it) to cook the eggs when you add them. By adding the other ingredients before the coconut oil, the eggs are mixed in with the other ingredients and are not at that risk. Another wonderful frosting option is this Penuche Frosting. If you’re serving a crowd or want a cake that’s as impressive in presentation as it is in taste, you can double this recipe and make a two-layer cake. For a two-layer cake, I recommend the Penuche Frosting or a classic Cream Cheese Frosting.Gluten-Free Pumpkin Kahlua Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
Drizzle Ingredients
Instructions
Cake Instructions
Drizzle Instructions
Notes
Suzanne says
Hi Shirley, As a former sufferer of tennis elbow, I’m happy to give you a couple of tips that helped me. One was wearing a tennis elbow strap and the other was adjusting my chair & keyboard so that my wrists were completely straight when typing and my hands/fingers were not tilting upwards at all. Both of these strategies took tension off the tendon where it attaches at the elbow. Hope this helps.
Shirley Braden says
Hi Suzanne–Good to see you again and thanks so much for taking the time to offer me some advice based on your own experience! I’m very sorry you had that experience though. I actually bought a tennis elbow strap and got the physical therapist to show me how to use it properly last time. Now I can’t find it! I might have to buy a new one. It’s encouraging that you found it so helpful. The recommendation on typing position is also very helpful. I confess that most of the time I am using my laptop … in my lap, which clearly does not allow my arms, hands, and fingers to be the in the completely straight position. I will do better! Thanks again, dear. 🙂
Shirley
Angela says
I am so sorry to hear of your tennis elbow and rotator cuff injuries – I am praying for your full and speedy recovery! With a cake like this, at least the recovery time is very sweet!
I must say, this cake looks enticing and inviting and seems to pull me right into the screen – I get the feeling the leftover pumpkin in my fridge is calling out to me 😉
Shirley Braden says
Hi Angela–Thanks so very much! This cake is one that I’ll bake when I need a showstopper, even if the show that needs stopping is at my own home. 😉
Shirley
Kristina @ Ms.Modify says
Sorry about your elbow… didn’t know you could that from the computer! Yikes!
I didn’t know Kahlua was gluten free! This sounds and looks so delicious… I’m excited to try it!
Shirley Braden says
Hi Kristina–Welcome to gfe! 🙂 Yes, be careful and don’t overdo it on computer time. 😉 Kahlua is an alcohol that is made from gluten grains, but it’s distilled. Distilled alcohols are considered gluten free. It’s said that the gluten molecule is too large to make it through the distillation process. The Kahlua site used to clearly state that it was gluten free (only some of their Kahlua beverages contained gluten; I believe via malt). However, when the gluten-free labeling law came into effect, Kahlua stopped making that statement because they didn’t test their products. Many companies have taken this same approach. I drink Kahlua without issue and know many others who do as well. The sites that warn you about Kahlua are the same ones that warn you about other alcohol products made from gluten-full grains, even though the products are distilled. Some who are gluten free ONLY want to drink alcohol products that are made from gluten-free grains or no grains at all. That’s their prerogative, of course. There is also the concern of some distilled alcohol products having gluten-full flavorings added after distillation. I have not found that to be a concern with Kahlua, but please do your research and decide what’s best for you, of course.
Shirley
Ina Gawne says
Hi Shirley – so sorry about your tennis elbow – nothing worse than an injury that takes time to heal! Love your pumpkin kahlua cake – great combination. Hope your tennis elbow disappears soon! 🙂
Shirley Braden says
Thanks, Ina. I so appreciate your concern and your good wishes! As far as this cake, I do think that you will love this combo of ingredients! 🙂
Shirley
swathi says
looks delicious, I never mixed pumpkin and kahlua together, looks like nice combo. thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop. pinning.
Shirley Braden says
Swathi–It’s such a great combo! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Shirley
Bev says
Hi Shirley. This cake looks awesome and has some of my favorite ingredients. I actually got on your site to look at the crockpot turkey breast recipes and then found this. I’m a PT too but unfortunately that is not my specialty so my advice is to listen to your PT. Lol. Although there is an alternative technique I found recently that seems weird but is quite interesting. You can find videos on you tube. It’s rft tapping or something like that. I can’t remember the initials. Repetitive tapping that is supposed to get your brain to stop feeling pain. I would also say to have the PT work on your neck and make sure some of the issues are not coming from your cervical area. This is often the case with the increase in phone and computer use and our forward head posture.
I also wanted to thank you for the crustless pumpkin pie recipe. I used it with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk and loved it. My family all like their crust I guess but I never have and this was perfect!
Shirley Braden says
Hi Bev–It’s nice to see you here again! 🙂 I think you’d love this cake and I’m so happy that you are relying on other gfe recipes! I make the crustless pumpkin pie with coconut milk myself (I call it the Best Pumpkin Pie Ever!), but I only use a cup of the coconut milk so not a one-for-one sub. It’s a winner for sure!
Thanks, too, for all the input on my current arm issues. Things are getting better slowly, but surely! What you’re talking about is EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. I have done EFT tapping some in the past, but have not tried it with these particular issues. Thanks for reminding me of it!
The PT has one all the due diligence. I do get some work on my neck with stretches, exercises, and massages. I’m an odd duck in that I don’t have a smartphone and don’t text (by choice on both) so I don’t get these issues from using my phone. However, the computer is definitely a culprit and I have to keep working on doing better there!
Thanks for all your input, Bev! I so appreciate your caring input! Happy holidays!
Shirley