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No-Bake Coconut Orange Quinoa Cake is a quick and simple recipe with just a few basic ingredients.
This delicious and healthy no-bake coconut orange quinoa cake is vegan, gluten-free and totally guilt-free. Made with no flour, the base of this cake is made of oats and coconut, then it’s loaded with a creamy and rich sweet orange quinoa filling to make a wonderfully satisfying dessert. Plus it’s also super simple and easy to prepare, so perfect for all of us, not-so-talented-in-baking-people.
I could write a really really long post about how a friend of mine accidentally overcooked a big batch of quinoa, I laughed at her so hard, then a few weeks later I managed to cook the exact same messed up mush, because, you know…..cute cat videos don’t allow you to stay focused. I could also write very long about how I talked down to her when she asked for a recipe idea with overcooked quinoa, because why can’t she simply throw it away, then when it happened to me I realised it’s really heartbreaking to throw away a whole pot of that crazy expensive nutrient richness, just coz it’s not perfectly fluffy. Yes, I could write a lot about it. But I won’t (or did I just do?).
Anyways, the moral of this no story is that if you are as easily distracted by cute cats as I am, buy finally a kitchen timer. Or for God’s sake, use your phone at least! Luckily at the end all that matters is that this cake is a genius overcooked or leftover quinoa saver, as well as a pretty little protein and fibre bomb. And of course, totally delicious!
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
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No-Bake Coconut Orange Quinoa Cake
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Ingredients
For the crust
- 10 dates, preferably soaked in water
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 cup of oats
- 1/3 cup of shredded coconut
For the cream
- 2 cups of slightly overcooked quinoa (about 0.5 cup dry quinoa)
- 1 orange, juice + zest
- 2 tbsp coconut yogurt or milk (optional)
- 0.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2–3 tbsp sweetener of your choice (I like maple syrup or coconut sugar)
To decorate
- Orange slices
- Coconut meat or coconut flakes
Instructions
- Add dates, maple syrup, oats and coconut to a food processor, and process into a sticky, crumbly mixture. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water or more maple syrup if necessary.
- Press into a springform pan (I used a 18 cm/7 inch pan). Set aside.
- Add quinoa, orange juice and zest, yogurt, vanilla extract and sweetener of your choice to a blender or food processor, and blend into a smooth consistency. Adjust sweetness to your taste.
- Transfer the mixture into the pan over the crust.
- Place the pan in the fridge and allow it to set for 2-3 hours or overnight. Then simply remove from the pan, and decorate with orange slices and coconut. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Category: Sweet
The crust, filling and the topping…a marvelous combination, Evi.
Thanks, Angie!
Wow!!! The creativity!! This is such a lovely cake, my friend!!
Thank you, Rebecca 🙂
How neat Evi! I recently tried cooked quinoa in a dessert recipe too, and it really is surprisingly good! This looks like a nice way to change it up from chocolate, which I tend to eat too much of, lol. 🙂
Hahaha, thanks, Lauren! There is nothing wrong with eating a bit too much of chocolate 😀
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was wondering what I should make for my boyfriend’s upcoming birthday and now I have my answer 🙂
Woohoo, so exciting! I really hope you/he will like it 🙂
Omigosh, I LOVE it all!! Please, in the future, “don’t” tell us about all the quinoa or other cooking ingredients shenanigans again!! Lol. I mean, who HASN’T been distracted by a super cute cat video? Those cats… what can I say? The lovely moral of this story is also that CUTE CATS = WINNING at life. If not for those adorable furballs, we would not have this amazing cake, right? 🙂 I’m seriously drooling over the coconut and orange combo. Plus, I always manage to have plenty of overcooked quinoa in my house… ahem. 😉 Can’t wait to you turn this into more cakes for the holidays! Pinning, of course. 😉 xoxo
Hahaha, those cute cats are very very dangerous. Last week I accidentally burnt an oven mitt on the stove top because of them. Luckily this story here was a bit more successful 😀
And I’m so happy again, I’m not the only one making overcooked quinoa (and rice, millet, buckwheat, etc.). It’s so hard to make fluffy ones!!
It looks delicious, orange and coconut are lovely flavours. The quinoa cream is intriguing, I would like to try it.
Thanks, Anca 🙂
I love this so much! Such a good idea and it looks Amazing! 🙂
Thanks, Amy 🙂
Funny post! And this cake is so unusual, I cannot even imagine how it should taste. Really creative!
Thanks, Adina!
The quinoa behaves here a lot like those Middle Eastern-style sweet couscous cakes, which I first also found a bit odd, but now absolutely love 🙂
There is so many delicious flavours in this Evi, and I love that its made with Quinoa – genius! And even better thats its no bake! So pretty too!
Thank you, Lucie 🙂
Oh gosh! Quinoa cake for real? Ah, that crust — that’s perfect because I am super hungry after seeing this cake and I want to have it for lunch. YEs, for lunch! 🙂
Hahaha, cake for lunch is just perfect 😀
This sounds so interesting! But can I ask approximately how much juice to expect out of 1x orange? As they vary in size, haha. Thank yoU!
Unfortunately I didn’t measure it exactly. But luckily you can’t really go wrong with this recipe (since it’s a no-bake one), a little more or less orange juice won’t change the cake too much.
My quinoa filling was for example a relatively thick one, the consistency was close to a cheese cake filling. I think as long as the filling is not too runny, your cake will be fine 🙂
Okies!! Thank you!! Because I have a bottle of orange juice in my fridge, haha. I guess I will go with the flow and adjust 🙂
Oh, I see. I’m sure it’s going to turn out great with that one too!
I used just enough orange juice, so the quinoa could be blended nicely 😉
This looks gorgeous, so delicious and very creative! Pinned
Thank you 🙂
Made this last weekend for my hubbie’s birthday and WOW it turned out amazing! Thanks for this recipe, I will make it again!
I’m so happy you liked the cake, Sarah 🙂
Hi Evi!
May I ask how you cooked your quinoa? Just with water as usual? Thanks!
Hi Jenna,
I simply cooked the quinoa with about double amount of water without any seasoning, but you could also use any plant milk or a seasoned water. Cinnamon, cardamom or vanilla would work great 🙂
Well, I’m usually neither a huge fan of cake nor quinoa – I knooow, right?! How am I even a blogger ;)? – but have to say the combination of the two here looks very enticing. Which kind of dates did you use (trying to figure out the weight needed)? Medjool are far larger than the – way cheaper – regular dried ones that come in bags.
Hahaha, I know what you mean. Usually I’m not a fan of sweets and cakes either…we are bad bloggers I guess 😀
I use regular dates here, I find they work just as fine as the expensive Medjool dates if I soak them first a in warm water.
Eviiiiii!!!! Imadlak!!!! Koszonom!!!!
A quinoat “csak” annak alapjan vagyok / vagyis voltam hajlando megenni, merthogy egeszseges. De – utalom. Fujjjj. Az utobbi idoben a quinoam ott szomorkodik a konyhaszekreny legeldugottabb sarkaban, mert ranezni sem vagyok hajlando. Viszont Te ezt most megvaltoztattad! Elkeszitettem a tortat, juharsziruppal, viszont en a quinoat kicsit megpiritottam elotte, ettol nagyon picit “dios” izvilagot kapott – de vegre, vegre, elvezhetove valt a quinoa!
Eviiii!!! I love you!! Thank you!!!
I used to eat quinoa, but just because its healthy. But truth is – I hate it. In these past half a year my quinoa is so sad as I haven’t touched it, I hid it in the bottom of my cupboard. But you now have changed this! I have made your cake, with maple syrup as the sweetener; although I have roasted the quinoa a little bit before, which made the taste slightly “nutty” – but finally, finally: I have enjoyed eating quinoa.
I’ll try more of your creations surely. 🙂
with love,
Evi
Szia kedves nevrokon!
Szuper ezt olvasni, nagyon orulok neki, hogy izlett a recept es megszeretted a quinoat 🙂
Legkozelebb kiprobalom ezt a megpiritasos otletet, imadom a dios izvilagot! Nagyon jol hangzik, koszi.
Szep napot,
Evi
Going to try this I love quinoa and citrus yum
I hope you’ll like it, Donna! Let me know how it turned out 😉