Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)
Small diamonds of fresh coconut and flour fried until crisp at the edges and fragrant, an Abidjan street sweet.
Ivorian · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 15 min
~477 cal · 6g protein · 54g carbs · 27g fat · 8g fiber · 23g sugars · 24g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Gâteau coco is the little fried coconut sweet you smell before you see on the streets of Abidjan, sold in transparent bags at market stalls and roadside tables. Grated fresh coconut is bound with flour, sugar and a little milk into a stiff dough, cut into small diamonds, and dropped into hot oil until crisp outside and tender within.
Côte d'Ivoire grows coconut all along its lagoon coast, and its sweetness and perfume carry the whole cake, helped along by a little vanilla and a grating of nutmeg. Unlike a baked cake it is shaped by hand and fried in minutes, which is exactly why it belongs to the street rather than the oven.
Ivorians eat gâteau coco as an anytime treat, with a coffee, a glass of bissap, or ginger juice, and it travels well enough to be pressed on visitors as a small gift. Simple, cheap and intensely coconutty, it tastes of the coast.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and 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 6
2 cups freshly grated coconut
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
for the pan , for frying
Instructions
1
Mix the coconut, flour, sugar, nutmeg, baking powder and salt in a bowl, then work in the vanilla and just enough milk to bring it to a stiff, mouldable dough.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the milk a spoonful at a time. You want a dough you can roll and cut, not a batter, or the cakes will spread and drink oil.
2
Turn the dough onto a floured surface, roll it about half an inch thick, and cut it into small diamonds with a knife.
3
Heat a couple of inches of oil to a gentle 340F (170C), then fry the diamonds in batches, turning once, for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown on both sides.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the oil moderate. Too hot and the outside colours before the coconut inside is cooked and fragrant.
4
Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper. Dust with a little extra sugar and eat warm.
Abidjan street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Abidjan (Lagunes). The maquis is a format more than a restaurant: open air, plastic chairs, a grill and a short list. Garba, attieke with fried tuna, onion and chilli, is the standing street plate here, and the older partner for attieke was kedjenou, chicken cooked sealed in a pot with almost no added liquid.
🗺️
Côte d’Ivoire. Kedjenou is cooked without stirring. Chicken or guinea fowl goes into a canari, a sealed clay pot, with tomato, onion, ginger and chilli and no added liquid, and the pot is shaken from time to time rather than opened, so everything cooks in the juices it gives up. It is served with attieke or rice.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Côte d’Ivoire
Kedjenou de PouletChicken slow-cooked sealed in a pot with peppers, tomato, and aromatics, with no added water, cooking in all its own juices.
Bouillie d'ArachideA creamy Ivorian peanut-and-millet breakfast porridge sweetened and scented with nutmeg.
Attiéké PoissonFermented cassava couscous served with grilled fish and a fresh onion-tomato relish, Côte d'Ivoire's national plate.
Browse all Côte d’Ivoire recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Côte d’Ivoire meal
Kedjenou de PouletDinner
GnamankoudjiDrink
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Babilak Ai-luka (Cassava and Coconut Balls)Timor-Leste
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)?
Small diamonds of fresh coconut and flour fried until crisp at the edges and fragrant, an Abidjan street sweet.
Where does Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) come from?
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) is a Ivorian dish from Abidjan (Lagunes), Côte d’Ivoire.
Can Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) 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 Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) 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 Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes) take to make?
About 35 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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