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Rebecca Blackwell
Everything In Moderation, Except This Coconut Cake
1 day ago
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This Coconut Cream Cake is incredibly light, tender, soft, and fluffy. Two layers of cake are filled with a thick layer of coconut cream and then frosted with coconut buttercream. Every bite is so rich and creamy it practically melts in your mouth.
Abandon all notions of thin, neat slices or the idea that you'll just have a bite or two. That's not how this cake works. This is the kind of cake you serve in generous portions on days when restraint is not the thing most important to you. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
The cake is unapologetically rich and creamy. It's the kind of cake you make when you know the only option is to go all in or not bother at all.
In fact, this cake is so soft and tender, the layer of coconut cream so rich and thick, you might want to serve it with spoons instead of forks.
The texture of the cake itself is light, fluffy, and super moist
The cake has a rich coconut flavor that comes from coconut cream, coconut milk, AND coconut extract.
Sandwiched between two layers of coconut cake is a ridiculously thick layer of coconut pastry cream. This is the same pastry cream used in my favorite Coconut Cream Pie recipe!
The cake is covered in coconut buttercream. You have three choices for which buttercream to use on your cake: American Style Buttercream, Italian Meringue Buttercream, or Cream Cheese Buttercream
The Coconut Cream Filling is my Favorite Part of this Cake
The coconut cream filling for this cake is essentially just a coconut flavored version of all-time favorite pastry cream recipe. It's my favorite pastry cream recipe for several good reasons:
It’s super simple, remarkably stable, and comes out perfect every time.
It will hold its own at room temperature for hours without breaking down
It's so thick and rich that you can slather a thick layer of pastry cream between layers of cake and it won't squish out all over the place
One of the reasons this coconut cream filling is so rich is because it contains 6 egg yolks.So, what do you do with the leftover egg whites?
Save two of the egg whites to use in the coconut cake batter.
I've included three different buttercream options for this cake, one of them being Coconut Italian Meringue Buttercream, which requires 7 egg whites. If that's the buttercream you choose to use to frost this cake, save the remaining four egg whites for that.
Freeze the egg whites: The best way to freeze egg whites is in ice cube trays, adding one egg white per ice cub cavity. You can also add them to zip-top bags or another air-tight container. Keep egg whites in the freezer for up to 12 months.
Not incidentally, coconut pastry cream is the exact same filling I use in one of my all-time favorite pies - Extra Creamy Coconut Cream Pie. So, if you're more in the mood for coconut pastry cream in a crispy almond crust, check out that recipe.
Refrigerate the pastry cream in a covered container for at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.
Make the Coconut Cake:
Add the sweetened shredded coconut to a large skillet and set the skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequentluy, until about 50% of the coconut is golden brown. (If you try to continue cooking the coconut until all of it is toasted, you'll end up with burned coconut.) Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Set the toasted coconut aside until you're ready to fill and frost the cake.
Preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C).
Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans, lining the bottom of the pans with parchment paper. More information about how to grease and flour a pan so your cake will not stick.
Add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt to a bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.
Add the 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites to a bowl or large measuring cup and beat with a fork or wire whisk for 10 seconds or so to combine.
Beat the butter, vegetable oil, and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, until the mixture is fluffy and lightened in color.
With the mixer running, add the beaten eggs to the butter-oil- sugar mixture slowly. Pour in the eggs bit by bit, beating continuously, and stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
Add the coconut cream, coconut milk, vanilla extract, and coconut extract to a bowl or measuring cup and stir to combine.
With the mixer running on the lowest speed, add the coconut milk and flour mixtures to the batter in alternating additions: ⅓ of the flour, ½ of the coconut milk, ⅓ of the flour, ½ of the coconut milk, ⅓ of the flour. Mix just long enough to barely incorporate the ingredients. Do not over mix.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans, gently spreading it out in the pans into an even layer.
Bake the cakes in the center of the oven for 28-32 minutes. The cakes are done when they are just barely begining to pull away from the sides of the pan. If you insert a toothpick into the center of the cakes it should come out without any evidence of raw batter. This is a very moist cake, so the toothick will have crumbs clinging to it, it just shouldn't have raw batter on it.
Let the cakes cool in their pans for 5 minutes, then gently turn them out onto wire racks and allow them to cool completely before filling and frosting.
To fill and assemble the cake:
Prepare a batch of your choice of buttercream. Once prepared, beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 teaspoon coconut extract. Taste and add additional extract if you like.
Remove the coconut cream from the refrigerator and stir in ½ cup (50g) of the toasted coconut.
Lay one of the cake layers on a serving plate and spread the coconut cream over the top in an even layer. (*This recipe makes a generous amount of coconut cream; it will be a thick layer.)
Top the coconut cream with the second layer of cake.
Cover the top and sides of the cake with buttercream.
Sprinkle the remaining toasted coconut over the top of the cake.
This cake's fluffy texture is best when served at room temperature. It is safe to store the filled and frosted cake at room temperature for up to 4 hours; any longer than that and it should be refrigerated. The filled and frosted cake can be made 1 - 2 days in advance and refrigerated. Allow the cake to sit out at room temperature for a couple of hours to bring it to room temperature before serving.
Individual cake layers do not need to be refrigerated. Store them, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to 24 hours before filling and assembling the cake.
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