Recipe
🍰 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
~644 cal · 4g protein · 82g carbs · 35g fat · 6g fiber · 33g sugars · 32g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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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.
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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
1
Squeeze 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 note
If you are using frozen cassava, thaw and drain it well. Too much water and the vakalolo will bake gummy instead of setting firm.
2
Press the mixture into a greased baking dish and bake at 350F (180C) until firm and set, about 35 minutes.
3
Meanwhile 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 note
Keep stirring near the end. Coconut caramel catches and scorches fast once it thickens.
4
Cut the warm baked cassava into thick squares.
5
Pour the hot coconut caramel over the squares and let it soak in for a few minutes before serving.
Viti Levu lovo tradition.
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🌏 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
Kokoda (Fijian Coconut Ceviche)Fresh fish "cooked" in lime, then mellowed in rich coconut cream with chili, onion, and tomato.
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.
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
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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, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them 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 count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), 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.
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