Coconut Cake

I whipped this up for Valentines Day last night and it was a hit! Somehow the frosting did not come out right but it was still good! If you make it let me know how it works for you!

Coconut Layer Cake

Oven at 350

Yield: I made three heart shaped cakes that were about 8”, 7” and 4”. You could make two 9” rounds or a loaf pan depending on what you wanted.

Cake:

  • 2 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour

  • 4 tsp Baking Powder

  • 1 tsp Salt

  • 2/3 cup Sunflower Oil

  • 3/4 cup Coconut Milk

  • 1/2 cup Water

  • 1 tblsp Vanilla Extract

  • 4ea Egg Whites

  • 1 1/4 cup Sugar

  • 1/3 cup Coconut, dried & shredded

Frosting:

  • 1 cup Sugar

  • 2ea Egg Whites

  • 1/3 cup Water

  • pinch of salt

  • 1 tblsp Vanilla Extract

  • 1 tblsp Lemoncello (optional! - I had some brewing so I threw it in)

  • 1 tsp Root Beer Extract (optional! - again, I had some I wanted to use!)

Assembly:

  • 3/4 cup Strawberry Jam

  • 3/4 cup Coconut, dried & shredded

Directions:

Butter and Flour pans. I like to line my pans too for extra protection but this batter popped out easy from my pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl whisk together the oil, coconut milk, water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the oil mixture to the dry in about three additions, using a paddle if using electric mixer. Beat for 1 minute.

At this point I transferred the batter into a bowl, cleaned my mixer bowl and : beat the egg white on medium until frothy, using the whisk attachment. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high for two minutes. They will be shiny and firm. Using a large rubber spatula fold the whites in the cake batter 1/3 at a time. The cake batter will be thick, fyi. Just keep folding and mix well but don’t ‘beat’ - you’re incorporating ‘air’ via the whites.

Spread into cake pans and bake. Time will vary depending on your pan - 15-45 minutes. I think these would make great cupcakes too!

For the frosting:

Everything in a mixer bowl over a hot water bath. You don’t want the bowl touching the boiling water - just above. Whisk away and keep whisking until it reaches 170 degrees. This should take about 8 minutes. Take bowl and put on mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on high speed for about 7 minutes. It should make stiff peaks. Mine didn’t. I’ve made this type of frosting before so I’m really not sure what happened - but even still it didn’t taste bad so I went with it.

Assembly:

I grabbed a nice platter and layered the cakes going: cake, strawberry jam, frosting until the top. Then generously dusted the dried coconut all over!

Enjoy!!!!

This recipe was inspired by an old cookbook I have called Diner Desserts by Tish Boyle

taylor foster1 Comment