While brainstorming dessert ideas for our office St. Patrick's Day party, I decided to look at coconut cake recipes -- not because coconut has anything to do with St. Patrick's Day or Irish cuisine, but because you can easily dye coconut green. Plus, I love coconut.
I decided to make a Coconut Layer Cake recipe from epicurious.com, coating the entire thing in green shredded coconut. I absolutely loved it -- especially the actual cake, which was golden, fine-textured, and absolutely delicious. I didn't get any good photos of the cake at the party, but I got the opportunity to make the cake again -- this time without green dye -- a few days later for a family dinner when my parents were in town for my cousin's wedding.
The cake recipe is straightforward. You beat sugar with softened butter and sweetened cream of coconut until fluffy; add egg yolks and vanilla; beat in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and buttermilk; and fold in egg whites that have been beaten with salt until stiff. You divide the batter between two 9-inch pans and bake.
The cakes baked up fairly flat and required little leveling. However, I still trimmed the cooled layers with my Agbay and practically swooned when I tasted the scraps. The texture was divine: dense but plush and springy. The flavor was not very coconutty and tasted more a classic vanilla yellow cake -- but it was so flavorful, especially the toasted top crust and edges. This is a gorgeous cake that you really could use for any purpose.
The frosting is a mixture of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, sweetened cream of coconut, and vanilla. To assemble the cake, you cover one layer with frosting and the sprinkle on sweetened shredded coconut. You stack on the second cake layer, frost the entire cake, and cover it in more sweetened coconut.
This cake is so lovely. The cream cheese frosting is rich and creamy, and with sweetened coconut between the layers and covering the entire cake, you get lots of coconut flavor and texture in every bite. Everyone cleaned their plates. For me, this is the ultimate coconut cake.
Recipe: "Coconut Layer Cake" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
I decided to make a Coconut Layer Cake recipe from epicurious.com, coating the entire thing in green shredded coconut. I absolutely loved it -- especially the actual cake, which was golden, fine-textured, and absolutely delicious. I didn't get any good photos of the cake at the party, but I got the opportunity to make the cake again -- this time without green dye -- a few days later for a family dinner when my parents were in town for my cousin's wedding.
The cake recipe is straightforward. You beat sugar with softened butter and sweetened cream of coconut until fluffy; add egg yolks and vanilla; beat in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and buttermilk; and fold in egg whites that have been beaten with salt until stiff. You divide the batter between two 9-inch pans and bake.
The frosting is a mixture of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, sweetened cream of coconut, and vanilla. To assemble the cake, you cover one layer with frosting and the sprinkle on sweetened shredded coconut. You stack on the second cake layer, frost the entire cake, and cover it in more sweetened coconut.
Recipe: "Coconut Layer Cake" from epicurious.com.
Previous Posts:
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Dolly's Doughnut (Coconut Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate and Coconut Filling)," January 17, 2016.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Easter Coconut Sheet Cake," April 12, 2015.
- "Now in Technicolor: Coconut Teacakes Redux," October 28, 2011.
- "The Suspense Has Been Killing Me: Strawberry-Coconut Layer Cake," September 23, 2010.
- "The Perfect Wedding Cupcake: Auntie Em's Coconut Cupcake," September 7, 2009.
Comments
Two questions - first, WHERE did you get sweetened cream of coconut? second, would you toast the coconut for the outside of the cake? Thanks!