Coconut Cake

A friend of mine turned 23 yesterday. She said she wanted a yummy rainbow cake that wasn't just vanilla...Coconut it is! Since her favorite color is pink, I made a cake that was different shades of pink and purple. It tastes awesome, but the coloring could have been a little better. Next time I think I'll skip the dye.

Coconut Cake

Print Recipe

Adapted from: This Recipe

Let me just say, I tried to make the icing from the recipe above. It says to cook the sugar mixture for 45 minutes over high heat...So I sat down for a few minutes and when I got back up, it was black and smoking. Guess it meant 4-5 minutes, not 45 minutes. Of course I can't make a baking mistake without the fiancé making a comment--"What's burning!? Did you mess something up!?" My comeback..."you don't bake!" Yeah. Needless to say, he made teased me until I redeemed myself with my own icing recipe, which was way easier to make anyway. 

Makes two 9" round cakes

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened (plus more to butter the pans)
• 2 1/2 cups of cake flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (it seems like a lot, but it’s definitely not overpowering)
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 5 eggs at room temperature

FOR THE FROSTING:

• 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 3 heaping cups of powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 cups of grated coconut (I used the sweetened kind because I couldn’t find anything else)
• 1/2 of a cup of coconut water (I found it in an 11oz carton in the organic juice section)

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350°
• Butter two 9” cake pans, cut out pieces of parchment paper to fit in the bottoms, and then butter the top of the parchment paper—set aside
• Make the cake
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda & salt

• In a measuring cup, mix together the buttermilk & vanilla

• In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on high speed, until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes)

• Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition

• On low speed, add dry ingredients alternating with the wet ingredients—add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, and the wet in 2 batches
• Increase speed and mix for a few more seconds until batter is smooth (don’t over mix!)

• Since I was adding colors, I split up the batter into 6 bowls and dyed them different shades of pink and purple

• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and flatten on top
• Drop pans lightly on the counter a few times to get rid of the air bubbles
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges start to pull away from the pan, and a toothpick comes out clean

• Let cakes cool for about 20 minutes in the pans, and then remove from pans and let cool completely on the wire racks

• Make the frosting
• In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the butter until smooth

• Add in the sifted powdered sugar & beat until light and fluffy

• Add 2 tablespoons of the coconut water to moisten the icing a little bit
• Add in half of the 3 cups of coconut and mix thoroughly

• Assemble the cake
• Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or carrier
• With the leftover coconut water, drizzle a little over the top to provide a little extra moistness
• Once it is absorbed, put a pretty thick layer of icing on the top

• Place the second cake on top and repeat the coconut milk drizzle & icing
• Ice the sides of the cake
• Use the remaining coconut and cover the top and sides, patting to make sure it sticks

• If you want the frosting to be harder, throw the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour
• Enjoy!
• Store covered either in the fridge or at room temperature

Approximate Nutrition Information if cut into 20 slices

Let me just say that the average 2 layer 9" round cake has 12 servings...if you like giant pieces of cake. When we ate this, we had small pieces and they were plenty satisfying. Also, I almost cried when I calculated the nutrition information when it had 12 slices...almost 800 calories a slice......the 20 slice version is much better. Nobody needs that big of a slice anyway.

Like I always say, it's good for your soul. Eat some.

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