🍰 DESSERT
Vakalolo
Dense baked cassava under a dark coconut caramel, one of Fiji's oldest sweets, cut into sticky squares.
Fijian · easy · serves 8
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~576 cal · 4g protein · 79g carbs · 29g fat · 5g fiber · 32g sugars · 26g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Vakalolo is one of the oldest sweets in Fiji, made long before sugar mills lined the coast. Grated (tavioka), and sometimes , is mixed with fresh coconut, traditionally wrapped in banana leaf, and cooked in the lovo, the earth oven, until dense and chewy.
The finishing touch is a coconut caramel poured over the top: cooked down with sugar, once the wild honey or the sap of the coconut flower, into a thick amber sauce. It soaks into the warm and gives vakalolo its glossy, sticky character.
It turns up at church gatherings, weddings, and Sunday lunches across Viti Levu, cut into thick squares and eaten with the fingers. Home cooks now bake it in a tin, but the two-part method, dense coconut under a dark caramel, stays exactly the same.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 4 cups grated , thawed if frozen
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut
- 2 1/2 cups
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- 1Squeeze excess liquid from the grated cassava, then mix it with the grated coconut, the cinnamon, 1/2 cup of the coconut cream, and 1/4 cup of the sugar.✎ Chef’s noteIf you are using frozen cassava, thaw and drain it well. Too much water and the vakalolo will bake gummy instead of setting firm.
- 2Press the mixture into a greased baking dish and bake at 350F (180C) until firm and set, about 35 minutes.
- 3Meanwhile make the caramel: simmer the remaining 2 cups coconut cream with the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and the salt, stirring, until it darkens to a thick amber sauce, 12 to 15 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteKeep stirring near the end. Coconut caramel catches and scorches fast once it thickens.
- 4Cut the warm baked cassava into thick squares.
- 5Pour the hot coconut caramel over the squares and let it soak in for a few minutes before serving.
Viti Levu lovo tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Viti Levu. Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, cooks the lovo earth-oven feast, coconut-marinated kokoda, and Indo-Fijian curries. Taro, cassava, and reef fish anchor a table of two cultures.
🗺️
Fiji. Fijian cuisine is defined by the reef and the coconut, kokoda (fish 'cooked' in citrus and coconut cream), taro, cassava, and the earth-oven lovo feast. Indigenous iTaukei and Indo-Fijian curry traditions meet across three hundred islands.
🌍
Oceania. The staple crops here were carried on purpose. Lapita voyagers moving east from roughly three thousand years ago brought taro, yam, banana, breadfruit and coconut with them along with pigs and chickens, because most of the islands they settled had almost nothing edible growing on them. The earth oven travelled too, as umu, imu, hangi, lovo, mumu, motu and um.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Fiji
BabakauPuffy, faintly sweet Fijian fried bread, crisp outside and pillowy within, torn and dunked in sweet milky tea for breakfast.
Fiji Roti ParcelA soft griddle roti wrapped around spiced potato-and-pea curry, the everyday one-handed lunch of Fiji's towns.
Fijian Chicken CurryBone-in chicken braised with Fiji curry powder, whole spices, tomato and a pounded ginger-garlic-chilli paste.
Browse all Fiji recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Fiji meal
Fijian Chicken CurryDinner
Kava (Yaqona)Drink
Similar dishes from around the world
Solomon Islands Cassava PuddingSolomon Islands
Pawpaw PokeCook Islands
Akwadu (Baked Bananas with Coconut)Equatorial Guinea
Cassava PoneGuyana
Buatoro (Pumpkin Coconut Cake)Kiribati
Foni BoakibaaMaldives
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Vegan Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Fijian Recipes
Vegan Desserts from Around the World
Vegetarian Desserts from Around the World
Gluten-Free Desserts from Around the World
Dairy-Free Desserts from Around the World
Egg-Free Desserts from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Vakalolo?
Dense baked cassava under a dark coconut caramel, one of Fiji's oldest sweets, cut into sticky squares.
Where does Vakalolo come from?
Vakalolo is a Fijian dish from Viti Levu, Fiji.
Can Vakalolo be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Vakalolo recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Vakalolo safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Vakalolo take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 8.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.